Open-face Chinese poker Standard Chinese poker hands Origin Finland Alternative names
Open Face Chinese, OFC, OFCP Players 2–4 Skills Tactics, ♠ strategy Cards 52 Deck French
Rank (high→low) A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ♠ Play Clockwise Playing time 5 -10 min. per
round Chance Medium to High Related games Chinese poker
Pai gow poker
Open-face Chinese
♠ poker, OFCP, commonly known as Open Face Chinese or OFC, is a variant of Chinese poker
where players receive five ♠ cards to start and then one card at a time until each player
has a 13 card hand legal or ♠ not. The game originated in Finland during the mid-2000s
and spread to Russia a few years later. Professional poker player ♠ Alex Kravchenko, who
is credited with introducing the game to the Russian high-stakes community, describes
the game as "spreading like ♠ a virus".[1] The game was introduced to the United States
in 2012.[2]
In December 2014, TonyBet hosted the first-ever World Championship ♠ of OFC
where Jennifer Shahade won the High Roller and Mikal Blomlie won the Main Event.[3][4]
On Monday, Dec. 7th, ♠ 2024, TonyBet Poker Ambassador Isabelle Mercier became the first
Open-Face Chinese Poker Progressive Pineapple world champion.[5]
Gameplay [ edit
]
Open-face Chinese ♠ poker is typically played as a two- to three-person game, though it
can also be played with four people. Each ♠ player must use thirteen cards consisting of
3 cards in the front hand, 5 cards in the middle hand, and ♠ 5 cards in the back hand.
Play is in clockwise order and starts with the player left of the dealer. ♠ As in
standard Chinese poker, the back hand must be stronger than or equal to the middle hand
and the ♠ middle hand must be stronger than or equal to the front hand. The strength of
the hand is determined by ♠ poker hand rankings. The middle and back can make the best
five-card poker hand while the front hand can only ♠ make the best three-card hand. The
best front hand is three aces. Straights, flushes, and straight flushes are not legal
♠ front hands.[6]
Objective [ edit ]
The goal of the game is to achieve more units (also
known as points) than your ♠ opponents by winnings more hands also known as rows and/or
by collecting royalties on premium hands without fouling. See fouling ♠ for more
details.
To win rows, your hand ranking must be higher than your opponents' in that
same row, for example:
Ivey ♠ Hellmuth Winner Front 6 ♠ 6 ♣ 4 ♥ A ♥ K ♦ Q ♦ Ivey Middle
10 ♦ 10 ♠ ♠ 9 ♣ Q ♠ 8 ♣ 9 ♥ 9 ♦ 5 ♥ 5 ♦ 4 ♣ Hellmuth Back 3 ♠ ♥ 3 ♦ 3 ♠ 2 ♥ 2 ♦ K ♠ J ♠ 9 ♠
8 ♠ 7 ♠ Ivey
Ivey ♠ would win the front row and back row, but lose the middle row. See
scoring for more details.
Fouling [ edit ♠ ]
Fouling also known as mis-setting is when an
illegal hand is made and as a result, the hand is forfeited. ♠ The back hand must be
stronger than or equal to the middle and the front, the middle must be stronger ♠ or
equal to the front, otherwise, the hand is not legal and is considered fouled. In this
case the player ♠ who fouled loses six points (one point per line plus three-point scoop
bonus) per non-fouling player and each non-fouling player ♠ gains six points. Players who
fouled can lose additional units if players with legal hands achieved royalties.
Opponents with legal ♠ hands gains six points plus any royalties in their hands, but not
the royalties in fouled hands. When a hand ♠ is fouled the fouling players loses all
royalties in their hands as well. If more than one player foul, then ♠ the players who
foul tie other players who foul and no points are gained or lost between players with
fouled ♠ hands. Unlike standard Chinese poker, players do not receive all thirteen cards
at once. Therefore, fouling plays a large factor, ♠ and strategies are devised to avoid
it.[6]
Legal hand structure Row/Hand Strength of hand Front (3 cards) 3rd / Weakest
hand ♠ Middle (5 cards) 2nd / Stronger Back (5 cards) 1st / Strongest
Dealing [ edit
]
Unlike standard Chinese poker where all ♠ thirteen cards are dealt at once, in open
face Chinese each player is dealt five cards in the beginning and ♠ then one card at a
time until thirteen card hands are made (8 deals after 5 cards are dealt). The ♠ cards
are all set face up. The dealer deals clockwise with the player to the left of the
dealer acting ♠ first. In the beginning it is not necessary to set cards in each row.
Players can set all cards in ♠ three or fewer rows depending on their preference. For
example, if a player receives A♣ 2♦ 3♠ 4♥ 5♣ as ♠ the first five cards he or she can set
them all on the back or middle row if desired. Once ♠ a row has been completed (e.g. 3
cards in the front or 5 cards in the middle or back) then ♠ another open row must be
picked. Once a card has been set it cannot be moved to a different row.
Fantasyland ♠ [
edit ]
Fantasyland is a special bonus awarded to players that make a hand that has a
pair of queens ♠ (QQx) or stronger in the front hand and does not foul. When fantasyland
is achieved, the next hand, the player ♠ receives all thirteen cards dealt at once while
other players must play out the hand as standard open face. Players ♠ in fantasyland set
their hand face down when it is their turn to act. Players can fantasyland repeatedly
if they ♠ are able to make the required hand. If a player makes fantasyland while already
in fantasyland, he or she must ♠ declare it to all opponents.[6] However, to remain in
fantasyland while in fantasyland requires higher royalties, one or more of ♠ the
following conditions must be met:
Remain in Fantasyland Row/Hand Strength of hand Front
(and/or) Any three of a kind Middle ♠ (and/or) Full house or higher Back (and/or) Four of
a kind or higher
More than one player can achieve fantasyland. Another ♠ way of stating
how to stay in fantasyland would be one must score a 10-point royalty or higher in any
♠ sub-hand.
Shooting the moon [ edit ]
If a player has J-high in the back hand and does
not foul, he or ♠ she receives 20 units from all other players. Shooting the moon is
rarely found in open face Chinese poker games, ♠ and is generally reserved for kitchen
table home games.
Scoring [ edit ]
The stakes played for in Chinese poker are known ♠ as
units or points: an amount of money agreed on per unit before the game starts. Basic
scoring rules dictate ♠ that a player collects one unit from each opponent whose front,
middle or back hand is beaten by his own ♠ corresponding hand. Thus, unlike most poker
games, being second-best at the table is good enough to win money. In some ♠ variants
players are also paid an additional unit if they win in two or three of the hands. In
other ♠ variants players only get an additional unit if they win all three hands (known
as a scoop). Also, due to ♠ the head-to-head nature of the comparisons, it is possible
for different players to play for different stakes. For example, A ♠ and B could play
forR$10 per unit versus each other, while all other player pairings play forR$1 per
unit. Many ♠ variations of scoring are in common use; refer to the external links for
more information.
The most common scoring system used ♠ in Open-face Chinese poker is the
1–6 scoring method.
In the 1–6 method the players receives 1 unit for each hand ♠ they
win, and 3 bonus units if they win all three hands from a player known as a scoop.
Players ♠ lose 1 unit for each hand they lose to each player and lose 3 bonus units to
each player who ♠ scoops them.
In the example above, Hellmuth would pay Ivey 4 units, as
Hellmuth scored 5 units, while Ivey scored 9. ♠ The difference is 4, and therefore
Hellmuth would pay Ivey 4 units. Hellmuth received 5 units by scoring 1 unit ♠ for
winning the middle hand, and 4 units for a flush royalty in the back. The total becomes
5. Ivey ♠ scored 9 units by scoring 1 unit for the winning the top, 1 unit for a pair of
6 royalty ♠ up top, 1 unit for winning the bottom, and 6 units for a full house royalty
on the bottom. The ♠ total becomes 9.
Points are added to the winner and subtracted from
the loser as the game progresses. If a game ♠ has more than two players, players gain a
point for each hand/row they win from each player and lose a ♠ point for each hand/row
they lose from each player. Royalty points are also scored based on the number of
players ♠ involved. For example, a player with a completed back hand flush in a three
player game would receive an 8-point ♠ bonus, 4 per player excluding royalties in any
non-fouled opponents' hands. If other players do not have royalties, they would ♠ lose 4
points each otherwise, players would calculate the difference between the royalties
achieve in their own legal hands.
Royalties [ ♠ edit ]
Royalties, or bonuses as they are
sometimes called, are extra units that may be awarded to players with particularly
♠ strong hands. Hands that qualify for royalties in Open-face Chinese are lower than that
of standard Chinese poker as hands ♠ formed are generally weaker.
Open Face Chinese poker
royalties[7] Front Units Middle Units Back Units 66 1 Three of a kind ♠ 2 Straight 2 77 2
Straight 4 Flush 4 88 3 Flush 8 Full house 6 99 4 Full house ♠ 12 Four of a kind 10 TT 5
Four of a kind 20 Straight flush 15 JJ 6 Straight flush ♠ 30 Royal flush 25 QQ 7 Royal
flush 50 KK 8 AA 9 222 10 333 11 444 12 555 ♠ 13 666 14 777 15 888 16 999 17 TTT 18 JJJ
19 QQQ 20 KKK 21 AAA 22
Other variations ♠ play with naturals and can be scored the same
as standard Chinese poker or to the players preference.
Like standard Chinese ♠ poker, in
open face Chinese royalties cancel out. For example, if one player has 7777x in the
back and another ♠ has 6666x in the back, the player with 7777x would win 1 unit for the
back hand/row but not the ♠ royalty units. Even if a player loses a hand/row he is
eligible for the royalties in the hand as long ♠ as it is not fouled.
Variations [ edit
]
Pineapple Open Face Chinese poker (POFC) For a maximum of three players. Each ♠ player
is dealt five cards to start. Instead of being dealt one at a time players are dealt
three cards ♠ at a time.[8] Players set two cards and discards one until 13 card hands
are made. If a player achieves ♠ fantasyland the player receives 14 cards and discard
one. Traditional OFC rules apply to enter fantasyland. Some players suggest AA+ ♠ as a
minimum requirement. To remain in fantasyland requires three of a kind on top and/or
four of a kind ♠ or better on the bottom. Full house in the middle does not qualify.
Double deck open face Chinese poker In ♠ this variant two decks of cards are shuffled
together and both used in the game, allowing more people to play, ♠ Double deck pineapple
can also be played. Apart from this the games are played using the same rules as the
♠ single deck games. Some players suggest a AA+ as a minimum requirement for fantasy
land. By using two decks it ♠ is possible to get 5 of a kind; some suggest giving this
hand the same royalties as the straight flush.
Live ♠ tournaments [ edit ]
PokerStars
hosted a live OFC tournament in the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
OFC has never
been featured at ♠ the World Series of Poker, only in the Carnivale of Poker. The
Carnivale of Poker is a smaller tournament series ♠ that had a brief run, organized by
the WSOP.[9]
OFC is not common in live tournaments. This is mainly due to ♠ not being
mainstream like other variants of poker such as no-limit hold'em. However, other issues
are caused by having 3 ♠ players maximum per table, unlike other poker tournaments that
can have 10 players per table, and the number of dealers ♠ that would therefore be
required. These factors make live tournaments logistically difficult and unprofitable
for operators.[10]
