OBJECTIVE OF OPEN FACE CHINESE POKER: Collect more points than other players by winning more rows (hands) and collecting royalties.

Four Mistakes You Are Making In Pineapple Open Face Chinese. Not Gambling for FantasyLand Enough. Poker rules, poker strategy articles, poker magazines, poker tools and poker training. Open-Face Chinese Poker was discovered by the online poker community in 2012. Back then, as a piece in Bluff Magazine points out, most of the material on the game online was in Finnish. After some digging and posting on the 2+2 Forum, people online found out that OFC was in fact played in Finnish land casinos – although some players there.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-4 players

Open Face Chinese Poker is played for stakes in the form of units or points, this is an amount of money mutually agreed upon prior to starting the game. Players receive a single unit from each player whose front, middle, or back hand is beaten by their corresponding row.

NUMBER OF CARDS: 52-card deck

RANK OF CARDS: A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

TYPE OF GAME: Casino

AUDIENCE: Adult

INTRODUCTION TO OPEN FACE CHINESE POKER

Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC) is a variant on Chinese poker- both employ 13 cards to construct 3 separate hands. This variant of poker was developed in Finland 2011, spread to Russia, and finally made it’s way to the United States in 2012. This is a high-stakes poker game played alongside larger poker tournaments. These games typically have large buy-ins and are predominantly played in hotel casinos in Las Vegas.

Players in OFC have 13 cards- 3 cards in their front hand, 5 cards in their middle hand, and the remaining five in their back hand. The back hand should be a higher ranking hand than the middle, and the middle higher ranking than the front. The goal of OFC is to gain more units (or points) than opponents by beating their rows (or hands), using classic Poker Hand Rankings, while not fouling (discussed below).

THE DEAL

In traditional Chinese poker, players receive all thirteen cards at once. Open Face Chinese Poker approaches the deal slightly different. The dealer deals each player 5 cards ‘in the hole,’ then one at a time, until each player has 13 cards. All cards are dealt face-up to the players. The deal starts to the left of the dealer and passes clockwise. Some sources claim it is not necessary to immediately form rows during the deal, others claim that you must put a card in a row befoe receiving the next. However, all agree that once a card has been set in a row it cannot be moved. Legal hands gain six points plus possible royalties. If more than one player fouls, they cancel each other out, and do not lose or gain points at each other’s expense. Player’s act one at a time.

FOULING

Fouling, or missetting, is simply an illegal hand that is tossed out of play. The back hand must be equal or greater in than the middle hand, and the middle equal or greater ranking than the front hand. If these stipulations are not met, the hand is fouled. Fouled hands lose six points (one point per row + three point scoop bonus). Players who foul may also lose extra points if their opponents have achieved royalties. However, fouled hands lose their possible royalties.

FANTASYLAND

If a player has a QQX or higher front hand and does not foul, they are awarded special points, this is fantasyland. If a player reaches fantasyland, their next hand is dealt all at once, face-down. Their cards are not placed face-up until they act. Players can repeatedly reach fantasyland if their hand permits. However, if you make fantasyland while there, you must declare it to the table. More than one player may reach Fantasyland at a time. To stay in fantasyland while there, players must have:

Front: (Any) 3 of a Kind

Middle: Full House or greater

Back: Four of a Kind or greater

OR score 10 point royalty (or higher) in a ‘subhand’

SHOOTING THE MOON

This is a house rule often played in home games, not in a casino. If a player has a jack (high) in their back hand AND does not foul, they are to receive 20 units from their opponents.

SCORING

Units (Points)

Open Face Chinese Poker is played for stakes in the form of units or points, this is an amount of money mutually agreed upon prior to starting the game.

Players receive a single unit from each player whose front, middle, or back hand is beaten by their corresponding row. Certain variations also allow players to get paid out an extra unit if they win two or three hands. Commonly, players only receive additional units if they win all three hands- this is called a scoop. Players may agree upon different stakes if played head-to-head. For example, Player X and Player Y place the value of a unit at $20, while Player Z and Player B play for $15 a unit.

1-6 Scoring Method

Most common scoring mechanism in OFC.

Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland Rules 2020

Players get:

1 unit for each hand won (over each player). 3 extra points if they win all three hands against another player (a scoop).

Players lose:

1 unit for each hand lost (to each player). 3 points lost for each player who scoops them.

Points are added and subtracted as the game plays. Points are all dependent on the number of players in the game (players beaten/players lost to). Royalty points, discussed below, are also dependent on the number of players in OFC.

ROYALTIES

Royalties are bonus points for particularly good hands.

Hand/Units

Front Hand/Units Middle Hand/Units Back Hand/Units

6-6-X/1 Three of a Kind/2 Straight/2

7-7-X/2 Straight/4 Flush/4

8-8-X/3 Flush/8 Full House/6

9-9-X/4 Full House/12 Four of a Kind/10

10-10-X/5 Four of a Kind/20 Straight Flush/15

J-J-X/6 Straight Flush/30 Royal Flush/25

Q-Q-X/7 Royal Flush/50

K-K-X/8

A-A-X/9

2-2-2/10

3-3-3/11

4-4-4/12

5-5-5/13

6-6-6/14

7-7-7/15

8-8-8/16

9-9-9/17

Open Face Chinese Poker Play

10-10-10-/18

Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland Rules 34

J-J-J/19

Q-Q-Q/20

K-K-K/21

Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple

A-A-A/22

Royalty hands cancel each other out. For example, if Player V has 3-3-3-4-4 and Player W has 6-6-6-7-7, no player receives the royalties for a Full House, and Player W receives one point for winning the hand.

REFERENCES:

http://www.openfaceodds.com/rules.html

https://www.pokernews.com/poker-rules/chinese-poker.htm

Open Face Chinese Poker Game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-face_Chinese_poker