How to Play Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC Poker)
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Since Open
Face Chinese Poker doesn’t use any chips 🤑 or betting it’s technically not “poker,” but
its usage of poker hands is what gives the game its name. The 🤑 game is played with 2-4
players, a standard 52-card deck and a few different ways to keep score. Read on 🤑 for
the full rundown of the Open Face Chinese Poker.
About Open Face Chinese Poker
Open
Face Chinese poker is one of 🤑 the fastest growing poker games in the poker world.
Originally developed in Finland it began to catch on in the 🤑 U.S. around 2011/2012, more
or less, and from there to the online poker community. Since then the game has exploded
🤑 in popularity and is a favourite among pro players in particular, who like to gamble
both small and big stakes 🤑 amongst each other.
The object of OFC is the same as standard
Chinese Poker rules. Each player must make (set) three 🤑 poker hands. Two of the hands
are five-card poker hands and one is a three-card poker hand. The bottom five-card 🤑 hand
must be higher in value than the middle five-card hand and the middle hand must be
higher than the 🤑 three-card, or top hand.
How to Play OFC Poker/Pineapple (Video)
Get
started with our easy-to-follow video tutorial on how to play Open 🤑 Face Chinese Poker &
Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple.
Open Face Chinese Poker - How to Deal
In standard
Chinese poker all 🤑 13 cards are dealt at the same time and cards are not exposed while
hands are being set. In Open 🤑 Face Chinese Poker players do not receive all 13 cards to
start. Rather, they begin with five cards and then 🤑 must set them face up.
From this
point each player receives cards one at a time and must set them in 🤑 a row before the
next card is received. This continues until all 13 cards have been set in player
hands.
Open 🤑 Face Chinese Poker Rules
OFC is usually played 3-handed
Most Open Face
Chinese poker games consist of 2-4 players with the standard 🤑 game online consisting of
three-handed tables. A dealer button is used for the sake of determining order of
action and 🤑 moves after each hand. The exception is a hand where one player is in
"Fantasyland." When a player is in 🤑 Fantasyland the button freezes until all players are
playing standard OFC.
Starting with the player to the left of the button, 🤑 each player
is initially dealt five cards which he or she must set. The player to the left of the
🤑 button then sets his five cards face up into whichever row(s) he wishes. This continues
until the player on the 🤑 button has acted. Please note that once you have set your hand
and your turn is concluded, you cannot change 🤑 your hand.
After the first five cards are
dealt another card is then dealt to each player. Starting with the player 🤑 to the left
of the button, that card is placed and action continues to the button player. This
continues until 🤑 each player has placed all 13 cards. Once the last card is placed
players make comparisons and score their hands.
Open 🤑 Face Chinese Poker Scoring
Scoring
in Open Face Chinese poker is done via points, sometimes called units. In aR$1 OFC
game, 🤑 each point or unit is worthR$1. Standard scoring is as follows:
Player is paid 1
unit for each hand he wins 🤑 against opponent
If a player scoops all three hands against
an opponent he gets three bonus units.
If a player surrenders a 🤑 hand he must pay two
units to each opponent.
If a player "fouls" a hand he must pay six units to 🤑 each player
who doesn't foul.
Players also score points by winning royalties.
Units are awarded at
showdown via hand comparisons. In a 🤑 three-handed game the player to the left of the
button would compare first and comparisons would continue clockwise. By learning 🤑 the
right order of counting open face chinese poker points you make make the rounds run
faster and smoother.
Fouling occurs 🤑 when your hands are not set in proper order. For
example you play trip threes in the middle and two 🤑 pair on bottom. Fouling also
forfeits any bonuses you may have received.
Open Face Chinese Royalties
Royalties are
bonus points paid to 🤑 each player for making certain hands. Bonuses are more generous in
OFC since hands tend to be weaker than standard 🤑 Chinese poker.
Royalties for Bottom
Hand:
Straight +2 units Flush +4 units Full House +6 units Quads +10 units Straight
Flush +15 🤑 units Royal Flush +25 units
Royalties for Middle Hand:
Set +2 units Straight
+4 units Flush +8 units Full House +12 units 🤑 Quads +20 units Straight Flush +30 units
Royal Flush +50 units
Royalties for Top Hand:
Sixes +1 unit Sevens +2 units Eights 🤑 +3
units Nines +4 units Tens +5 units Jacks +6 units Queens +7 units Kings +8 units Aces
+9 units 🤑 Trip Deuces +10 units Trip Threes +11 units Trip Fours +12 units Trip Fives
+13 units Trip Sixes +14 units 🤑 Trip Sevens +15 units Trip Eights +16 units Trip Nines
+17 units Trip Tens +18 units Trip Jacks +19 units 🤑 Trip Queens +20 units Trip Kings +21
units Trip Aces +22 units
Bonuses are paid during comparison. As an example, aces 🤑 on
the top in a three-handed game would net the holder nine units from each player.
Please
note that bonuses are 🤑 paid regardless of whether a player wins that row. Also, bonuses
negate each other in OFC. For example should two 🤑 players hit quads on the bottom, no
bonus would be paid.
Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland
In some OFC games Fantasyland
rules 🤑 apply. To enter Fantasyland a player must make queens or better in his or her top
hand without fouling.
If this 🤑 happens the next hand they will be dealt all 13 cards at
once and can set the hand like a 🤑 standard Chinese Poker hand. The player that's in
Fantasyland will not have their cards exposed until the other players have 🤑 completed
their hands.
A player can remain in Fantasyland if they makes trips in the top hand, a
full house or 🤑 better in the middle hand or quads or better in the bottom hand.
Open
Face Chinese Poker Pineapple
A popular variation of 🤑 OFC is Pineapple OFC (Pineapple
Open Face Chinese). The primary difference between Pineapple OFC and standard OFC is
the number 🤑 of cards given to each player after the initial deal.
Both games start with
five cards dealt all at once on 🤑 the initial deal but in Pineapple players are then
dealt three cards for every subsequent deal.
From those three cards players 🤑 must set
two of those cards into their hands and then discard the last one.
The main difference
between this and 🤑 regular OFC is that there are just 5 rounds of play instead of 9 and
each player goes through more 🤑 card.
Because of that Pineapple OFC is always played with
a maximum of three players. Scoring, bonuses and Fantasyland rules all 🤑 remain the
same.
Pineapple OFC is a faster-paced version of the game that is really catching on
and developing a significant 🤑 following online. Read more about how to play Pineapple
Poker on our dedicated page about Pineapple Poker rules.
Play Open Face 🤑 Chinese Poker
Online
If you want to play Open Face Chinese Poker online you can play for free on your
smartphone 🤑 or mobile device on apps such as the Chinese Open Face Poker app or the
Secure Open Face Chinese Poker 🤑 app.
For real-money Chinese Poker cash games and
tournaments, create a new account at any of our best online poker sites.You 🤑 can get an
exclusive bonus from PokerListings to start you off.
What Makes OFC Poker Rules
Different From Regular Chinese Poker?
OFC 🤑 poker rules are close to Chinese poker rules
but one big difference separates these two poker games from each other 🤑 and affects the
gameplay significantly. In OFC poker, you don’t see all your cards in the beginning but
build your 🤑 three OFC hands by drawing 1 card (or 3 cards in OFC pineapple), from the
deck at the time. At 🤑 the start of OFC poker round, each player is dealt 5 cards, and
after the rest 8 cards are drawn 🤑 from the deck until total of thirteen cards are facing
up on the table in three rows - top row 🤑 (3 cards), mid row (5 cards) and bottom row (5
cards).
Not knowing your cards and building your hands requires skill 🤑 and is very
exciting. These elements of randomness and OFC strategy make this poker variant so fun
to play.
Then there 🤑 are the special rules you can only find in OFC poker such as
Fantasyland and OFC Pineapple max. 3-player rule. 🤑 Fantasyland is based on drawn cards
and hand results, which is not part of the normal variant since no cards 🤑 are drawn from
the deck.
