Open Face Chinese Poker
The game is usually played with all the standard 52 cards. The players in the game are dealt with thirteen hole cards, and they have to fill three cards in the front hand, five cards each in the middle hand and back hand.
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In Open Face Chinese Poker you try to beat your opponent by forming better poker combinations and creating better hands. You score points that will help you to beat your opponent. Another way to almost ensure that you win a lot of points is by getting in Fantasyland. Open-face Chinese Poker, or OFC, has become all the rage recently, especially among high-stakes gamblers, because it’s a fun, quick, and exciting game that can be played at any time with just two to four players. Pokerrrr wants to help you get in on the action. Are you ready to get started?
Open-face Chinese poker (OFC) evolved from closed-face (“regular”) Chinese poker, but it is not necessary to know the rules or strategies of regular Chinese poker in order to enjoy OFC. Like other poker games, OFC players take turns drawing cards from a single deck, trying to make the best possible hand, while their competitors do the same. Open-face Chinese poker is a new and exciting form of poker. It combines simple rules and the drama of drawing for big hands, as in Texas hold’em and seven-card stud, with the high variance of.
The game begins with the left of the dealer, in clockwise direction. The players must also keep in mind the following:
- The back hand must be stronger or equal to the middle hand
- The middle hand must be stronger or equal to the front hand.
- The front hand should be the weakest among the other two hands.
Firstly, the dealer distributes five cardsface up to each of the players. The players then have to fill the five cards in the empty boxes according to the proper order, so as to gain more points. After which, the players are then dealt three cards each face down where they get to make use of only two cards laid face up on the table and discard the other one card face down. The game continues until thirteen hands are made.
Fantasy Land
The main goal of the game is to achieve more units/points than your opponent by winning more hands/rows by collecting royalties on premium hands without fouling. Also, if you get to win more than 222+ points in your top hand, you get 17 cards in the Fantasy land, which gives you more chances of winning.
The minimum possible hand to get into fantasy land is QQ. Subsequently, the combination of KK will give you 15 cards and the combination of AA will give you 16 cards.
Fantasy land is more of a ‘bonus’ to the game. If you get to hit the Fantasy Land, you are dealt all fourteen cards at once, and you set your cards face down. This is a big disadvantage for the other players as they are dealt in normal hand without being able to see your cards.
In order to stay in the Fantasy Land one must score 10-point royalty or higher in any sub-hand.
Dead Hand/Fouling
When a player makes a wrong hand, the player will not get any points. i.e,
- If the front hand is stronger than the other two hands.
- If the back hand is weaker than the front hand or the middle hand, or both.
- If the middle hand is weaker than the front hand.
In such cases, the hand is forfeited and as a result, it is termed as dead hand/fouling. In this case, the player losses 6 points in total i.e, 1 point per row and 3 points for scoop bonus. Players who fouled can also lose additional units if the players with legal hands achieve royalties. Also, the players who fouled, loses all the royalties in his hand and no units are counted.
It is very much important for the players to keep in mind the basic rules of the game: to keep the back hand the strongest, the middle hand slightly weaker than the back hand and the front hand the weakest. Points are added to the winner and subtracted from the loser.
Rules for scoring in OFCP
The scores are calculated by comparing the hands of the players, based on row. In certain cases where both the players have the same hands, none of the players get any units.
- The player gets 1 unit/point for every hand they win.
- If the player wins 2 hands out of 3 hands, they get additional 1 point.
- If the player wins all 3 hands, also known as ‘scoop’, they get additional 6 points.
- If the player makes a combination of wrong hands, they lose 6 points.
Apart from the regular scoring, the players can also get royalties, which are given to the players for making certain combinations. The points are given as a result of the combination of the hands given below:
Scoring table:
Bottom Row Royalties | |
---|---|
Bottom | Units/Points |
Straight | 2 |
Flush | 4 |
Full House | 6 |
Quads (four of a kind) | 10 |
Straight flush | 15 |
Royal flush | 25 |
Middle Row Royalties | |
---|---|
Middle | Units/Points |
Three of a kind | 2 |
Straight | 4 |
Flush | 8 |
Full house | 12 |
Quads (four of a kind) | 20 |
Straight Flush | 30 |
Royal flush | 50 |
Front Row Royalties | |
---|---|
Front (Pairs) | Units/Points |
66 | 1 |
77 | 2 |
88 | 3 |
99 | 4 |
10 10 | 5 |
JJ | 6 |
7 | |
KK | 8 |
AA | 9 |
Front (Trial) | Units/Points |
---|---|
222 | 10 |
333 | 11 |
555 | 13 |
666 | 14 |
777 | 15 |
888 | 16 |
999 | 17 |
10 10 10 | 18 |
JJJ | 19 |
QQQ | 20 |
KKK | 21 |
AAA | 22 |
Tips to play OFCP
Open Face Chinese Poker is a highly addictive and exciting game. In OFCP, the rules are quite different from that of Texas Hold’em. Here are some few tips on how to play Open Face Chinese Poker:
- You should always plan your potential moves from the start.
- Learn the point system and try to make stronger hands accordingly, if you want to earn more points.
- Know your position, as it plays a very important role in this game, if you get to act after your opponent, you know what you have to beat and in which hand. Evidently, as the hand develops, you’ll have an idea about what the other player is likely to have by the end of the hand even if you’re out of position.
- Keep your eyes on the blockers and see what’s out of the deck so that you don’t chase cards that are already dead.
- The most Big wins come from Fantasy Land.
- You can get great royalties with strong middle hands. But that’s because it’s so difficult to do anything better than trips or two pairs when you still have to beat that hand with your bottom hand.
- Lastly, but not the least try to avoid having better hands at the top, from the very beginning because you might end up fouling. Usually, you’re better off filling up the front row before the last draw, mainly if you don’t have a very strong hand in the middle.
Variations of OFCP:
Pineapple Open Face
In Pineapple Open Face, the game is played by two to three players. The players are dealt with five cards each, and they have to place it anywhere in the three rows. After which, they are dealt three cards at a time. In each round you keep two cards and discard the third face down. The match lasts only one hand and can be extended only if the players get to hit the Fantasy Land.
Turbo Chinese Poker
The Turbo Open Face Chinese Poker is a higher speed variant of OFC. The scoring and gameplay are the same as the regular OFC, but here, the players are dealt four cards at a time in the second and third round. Initially, the players are dealt with five cards each at the beginning of the play, just as on regular OFCP.
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A variation of Chinese Poker called Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC) has been spreading wildly across the world. In OFC the basic gameplay is as follows:
- Each player is dealt five cards initially.
- These cards are set in either the front, middle or back hands in any way the player sees fit.
- Play continues in rounds with each player being dealt one card at a time and placing that card in any available hand.
- Play rotates clockwise with the ‘under the gun‘ player always revealing his cards first. This process is repeated until all players have been dealt 13 total cards.
- The hands and royalties are scored and each player settles with the other players. Rules for fouling a hand are the same as traditional Chinese Poker.
General rules:
- A 52-card deck is used (2 to Ace, excluding Jokers). The card suits are equivalent.
- The maximum 3 number of players at a table
- 17 pocket cards.
13 of 17 cards must be laid out into 3 boxes.
The remaining 4 cards must be discarded. - No community cards.
- No betting rounds (no blinds, ante, etc.)
Every player at a table takes one seat with 3 boxes to lay 13 cards out into (5 cards into the middle and back (the lowest) boxes, 3 cards into the front box (the highest). At the end of a hand, the back box hand must be stronger than or equal to the middle box hand, and the middle box hand must be stronger than or equal to the front box hand. - The game is played for points. The goal of the game is to achieve more points than your opponents by winning more hands and/or by collecting royalties on premium hands.
Point score is the cost of one point (for example, 1 cent for 1 point). The calculation is made at the end of a match. - Cap – the maximum limit of loss in one match. Thus, over a match, a player can lose the maximum amount of money equaling to that specified in Cap.
Hand Structure in Open Face Chinese
In both traditional Chinese Poker and Open Face, players will look at their cards and begin setting up three different poker hands,
- A three card hand, known as the Front
- A five card hand, known as the Middle
- Another five card hand known as the Back
For a hand to be valid, the back hand must be the strongest of the three hands in accordance with traditional poker hand rankings. The middle hand must be of a lower rank than the back hand, but higher than the front hand. The front hand must be the lowest strength. A valid hand would look like:
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- Front – 2 2 7 (Pair of Twos)
- Middle – A A 4 4 J (Two pairs: Aces & Fours)
- Back – 8 9 T J Q (Straight)
Fouling in Open Face Chinese
If the order of strength does not go front to back, weakest to strongest, it is called a fouled hand.
For example,
- Front – 2 2 7 (Pair of Twos)
- Middle – K K 3 3 9 (Two Pairs: Kings & Threes)
- Back – Q Q 8 8 J (Two Pair: Queens & Eights)
Scoring in Open Face Chinese
Once all three hands have been set, players will compare front, middle and back hands. Each hand is worth one point. If one player has won two of the three hands they will score 1 point (winning two points and losing one for a net of +1 points). More points can be earned if the player wins all three hands, known as scooping. Players can also earn points by making high ranking hands known as royalties.
A player scoops the hand by winning all three showdowns with their front, middle, and back holdings. The player is awarded one point for each showdown won, and three bonus points for scooping for a total of six points.
When a player has fouled their hand, it counts as an automatic scoop and is worth six points. If both players have fouled their hand, the game is considered a tie.
Royalties Chart
Front, middle and back rows may earn points for making certain hands as long as the hand does not foul. The type of royalties and how much they are worth varies from game to game. Below is one common scoring chart:
Multi Player Scoring
In a game with more than two players, scores are settled by position. The player under the gun will settle with each player in a clockwise order. The player to the left of the under the gun player will then settle their debts. This continues until are players have paid.
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If a player fouls in a multi-player game, that player will pay 6 units to each player plus any royalties on hands that have not fouled.
Fantasyland
Fantasyland is a type of ‘bonus round’ in Chinese Poker. A player may enter Fantasyland when they have made a pair of Queens or better in the front hand without fouling.
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Entering Fantasyland means that on the next hand, they receive all 13 cards at once. They make all three hands at once, a huge advantage as they’ll be able to see if they hit any straights or flushes in advance, and lay cards perfectly without any risk of fouling.
Other players play as normal, with just one card dealt at a time. The button does not move during Fantasyland – this is considered a continuation on the previous hand.
A player may stay in Fantasyland (and receive the same advantage next hand) if they make any of the following hands:
- Three of a kind in the front
- Full House or better in the middle
- Four of a Kind or better in the back
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