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• Open Face Chinese Poker
• Poker Strategy Hand Rankings

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]

Have you heard of the new game sweeping the poker world: Open Face Chinese Poker? In our ultimate guide, we explain how to play, score your hand, and some strategy tips to get you started. The final element to Open Face Chinese Poker strategy you need to be aware of is the penalties you can receive. If at any point you set your hands incorrectly (i.e. Your hands don't decrease in strength from the back to the top) then you have a pay a foul of six points to your opponent. A Note on Fantasyland. Tonybet Poker, the first-ever global Open Face Chinese Poker site is bringing you the full online poker experience with Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and OFC poker cash games, Sit & Gos, and MTT tournaments.

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]

• 1Gameplay
  • 1.1Objective
• 2Scoring

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.^[5]

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 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.^[5]

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 sets 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.^[5] However, to remain in fantasyland while in fantasyland requires higher royalties, one or more of the following conditions must be met:

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 for $10 per unit versus each other, while all other player pairings play for $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. Ram ddr2 dans slot ddr3. 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

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.^[7] 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.^[8]

References[edit]

1. ^Dave Behr (2012). 'Not just another pretty face'. Bluff Magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-03-13.
2. ^Jennifer Shahade (2012-10-18). 'How to Play Open-Face Chinese Poker'. Card Player.
3. ^Calvinayre.com: Mikal Blomlie Wins the TonyBet OFC World Championships
4. ^Pokernews.com: Jennifer Shahade Wins Biggest Open-Face Chinese Live Poker Event in History
5. ^ ^abc'Chinese Poker'. PokerNews. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
6. ^'2013 Carnivale of Poker $5000 Open Face Chinese Poker Official Medaillion Event'(PDF). World Series of Poker. 2013-07-13. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
7. ^'Introduction to Pineapple Open Face Chinese Poker'. PokerOpenFace.
8. ^'OFC Rules'.

In Open-Face Chinese Poker each player receives 13 cards and needs to arrange these cards into 3 different poker hands.

The hand closest to you (the “Back” hand) should be a 5 card poker hand and should be the strongest of your 3 hands. The hand in the middle should also be a 5 card poker hand and should be weaker than your Back hand. The hand furthest away from you at the top (the “Front” hand) should be a 3-card poker hand and should be the weakest of the 3 hands.

The only site online that offers real-money OFC is TonyBet. Sign up here.

Rules of Open Face Chinese Poker

Hand Ranking for OFC

The ranking for the 5 card hands is the same as for regular poker. Namely the ranks from lowest to highest are: High card, Pair, 2 Pair, 3 of a kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, Straight Flush, Royal Flush.

The ranking for the 3 card hand is simply: High Card, Pair, 3 of a kind. In other words with the 3 card hand you can’t play things like straights and flushes as they are too easy to make. The best hand is therefore AAA.

Ordering these hands correctly in decending strength (bottom to top) is a crucial part of the game of Chinese Poker. For example if you put trips as your Front hand and just 2-pair as your middle hand, then your entire 3 hands will be declared dead. In other words the overall hand is said to be “fouled”.

Dealing Open Face Chinese

The game can be played with 2, 3, or 4 players and is played using a points system. You also use a dealers button similar to other poker games.

• The player with the dealers button shuffles the cards and the person to the right cuts the deck. Cards then get dealt out starting with the player on the dealer’s left. At the first stage 5 cards get dealt to each player facedown (1 at a time, not 5 at a time).
• The players then pick up their 5 cards and start to arrange them faceup on the table, making it clear which cards they are allocating to their Back, Middle, and Front hands.
• Once these cards are placed then you cannot rearrange them at a later point so be careful with where you put them. At this point most commonly you have 2 or 3 of you hands started but not finished. The most extreme case would be that you would have your Back or Middle hand complete from the first 5 cards and neither of the other 2 hands started.
• After this the players receive a single card at a time facedown for the next 8 cards. Upon receiving that single card you must decide in which of your 3 hands to place the card. Again remember that it cannot be moved once you decide, so try to be clear in your mind what you’re aiming for in each hand, and constantly revise this as more cards are placed down.

When it gets down to the final few cards is where the real excitement starts, because you are often sweating draws, or sweating the possibilty of fouling your hand.

Scoring Points in Open-Faced Chinese

The scoring in Open-Faced Chinese is done part on winning one or more of the 3 hands, and part on a Royalty system for good hands. You receive 1 point for beating your oppenent’s corresponding hand (eg Back hand vs Back hand), and a 3 point bonus for scooping (winning all 3).

Sometimes this is also refered to as sweeping. So if you win 2 hands and lose 1 you net gain is 1 point. But if you win all 3 (or lose all 3) then your net gain (or loss) is 6 points.

With Royalties you receive the following points for Back hands:

• 20 for a Royal
• 10 for Straight Flush
• 8 for Quads
• 6 for a Full House
• 4 for a Flush
• 2 for a Straight

(Some players might play 10 for Quads, 15 for a Straight Flush, and 25 for a Royal, so it is wise to agree the Royalites system beforehand just in case)

You receive the following points for Middle hands:

• 20 for Straight Flush
• 16 for Quads
• 12 for a Full House
• 8 for a Flush
• 4 for a Straight

You receive the following points for Front hands (the 3 card hand):

• Pair of Aces: 9 points
• Pair of Kings: 8 points
• Pair of Queens: 7 points
• Pair of Jacks: 6 points
• Pair of Tens: 5 points
• Pair of Nines: 4 points
• Pair of Eights: 3 points
• Pair of Sevens: 2 points
• Paid of Sixes: 1 point

Of crucial importance you don’t receive any points at all if you foul your hand, but you still must pay out all points to other valid hands, including all Royalties.

Remember that before you start playing you normally agree a certain price per point. eg $1 a point. And then only when the games ends (after multiple hands) do you pay/receive the money. So make sure you keep a running points total if you are playing live. Often players will also set a stop-loss of the maximum they are want to lose. Once reached that amount will be paid out and no more, regardless of the final points totals.

Basic Open Face Chinese Poker Strategy

A good strategy to avoid fouling is to place higher cards in the Back hand, and slightly lower in the Middle hand, and then the lowest denomination cards in the Front hand. That way when pairs are made the 3 hands remain in descending order (bottom to top). This approach can be tweaked if say your first 5 cards have 4 to a flush or 4 to a straight. Then you can make this the basis of your Back hand with confidence you’ll complete that hand in the next 8 cards.

If you’ve got a bit more gamble then you might choose to aim mainly for royalty points even as the number of cards left to be dealt get less and less. By doing so you are taking a bigger risk that you foul your hand, or end up with busted draws (weak hands). The rewards can be big for this if you hit, so it is often a balancing act between how big the reward can be and how often you mind giving up a minimum of 6 points each time if you foul.

You should always keep a good eye on what upcards there are on the board as a whole (eg your opponent(s) hands as well as your own) as this will tell you how live your draws are. You can in fact calculate this very accurately if you are good with odds, hence part of the reason Open-face Chinese is a very skillful game.

To give a simple example you could decide that going for a spade flush is going to be a good idea because of the lack of spades currently on the board, or you could decide that a straight draw is a good idea because of the number of live cards still in the deck which would complete that particular straight.

Talking of straights, be careful not to place too much value to making a straight, because the royalty for this is only 2 points in the Back hand. Remember you could lose 6 points alone by fouling so know when to give it up if it’s looking unlikely.

If you seem to be getting dealt a very poor hand (eg after 7 to 10 cards) it can be a good idea to play defensive to try to win one specific hand, because you are looking at just a 1 point net loss by losing 2 out of 3 hands, and a 6 point net loss if you lose all 3. A good way to do this is to make a strongish hand at the Front (whilst not fouling obviously) because often players have a couple of really good hands (Back and Middle) but the Front hand gets neglected as just any old high card. Another way (when the deal/board dictates) is to make a strong as possible Back hand but effectively abandon the Middle and Front.

It is also important to factor which hands your opponents are aiming for and what their likelihood is of getting there. For example if it looks like there is a strong chance of them fouling their hand you could change your focus from drawing to a big hand yourself, to just making sure you don’t foul.

What is Fantasy Land in OFC?

Fantasy Land gets triggered if you get a pair of Queens as your Front hand without fouling. This can be tricky to do because it does mean you need a pair of Kings or higher in the middle and a pair of Aces or higher in the Back hand. If you manage to make a valid hand with Queens up Front then on the next hand you will get dealt all 13 cards face down right from the deal.

This can obviously give you a strong advantage as you are not reliant on draws, and you can place those 13 cards optimally into their 3 hands.

The fun/skill to this comes from the fact that there are only 4 queens, and the chances of them arriving at the ideal time are slim. So often you might need to make a choice early or mid-hand as to whether to pair the Queen up front, with the knowledge that you still need to make better hands than that in the Back and Middle. It’s a gamble, with good rewards if you make it.

What is Pineapple Open Face Chinese?

We’ve got a guide to Pineapple Open Face Chinese here.

Additional strategy resources for OFC

For more tips on Open Face Chinese strategy, check out this video from well-regarded player Shaun Deeb:

Courtney Harrington has written a number of OFC strategy articles at PocketFives.com.

Here’s the official strategy thread for OFC at TwoPlusTwo.

Playing Open Face Chinese Online

Real money OFC

The only site we’re aware of offering open-face chinese poker online for real money is TonyBet. Click here to sign up at TonyBet, which offers both OFC and Pineapple OFC.

Play OFC or POFC at TonyBet.

OFC Apps

The most popular app for playing open-face Chinese online is the Chinese Open Face Poker app (available for iPhone & iPad here). There was some recent controversy surrounding the app when Barry Greenstein claimed he had been cheated at OFC by someone exploiting a flaw in the game, but it appears that the bug in question has now been fixed. There have also been some questions raised about the quality of the AI employed by the app and its general stability. But due to the lack of a competitor, it remains the primary app for playing OFC on a mobile device.

Poker Strategy Hand Rankings

There is another app for OFC in the App Store which is newer than the COFP app, but has garnered generally positive reviews:Secure Open Face Chinese Poker.

We cannot stress the following point enough: Be very careful about playing OFC for money using apps as the game is still in the very early stages of adoption and you just don’t know for sure what you’re getting.