Open Chinese Poker Online
Quick Jump
- Open Face Chinese on FTR FTR has created a web client where you can login with your forum account, or connect with your Facebook account, and play against your friends. (Or if you prefer, start a game with one of our ever improving AIs, Glass Joe or Bald Bull.).
- Open Face Chinese Poker Online Anyone who is bored with well-known variants of poker, in which every move and strategy have long since been developed by professionals, will find something for them in Chinese poker.
- 2 The Scoring System
Chinese poker is an exciting type of poker based on making familiar combinations. Chinese open face poker is classically played as a two- to the four-person game. There are more than a dozen types of Chinese poker, the most popular of which in the Russian-speaking environment is Chinese pineapple poker. Open face Chinese is a scintillating online gambling poker game with lots of strategy and opportunities for huge momentum swings due to royalty bonuses and Fantasy Land play. It's a fascinating excursion from the usual betting on streets. The possibility of fouling a hand adds considerable drama to merely assembling great hands. Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC) 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.
Although usually played as a side game for points (which are then converted in a cash amount), OFC’s recent surge in popularity has led to it being introduced in a tournament format both live and online in America.
The Basics of Open Face Chinese
So how exactly do you play Open Face Chinese?
At the start of each game the players involved are all dealt 13 cards each. After this initial deal no more cards are taken from the deck and it’s the player’s job to then make three hands: a back hand (five cards), a middle hand (five cards) and a top hand (three cards). To add an element of skill and forethought to the game, the strength of these hands must be descending, i.e. your strongest hand must be in the back and your weakest hand at the top.
The main difference with OFC compared to Chinese Poker is that instead of receiving all 13 cards face down at once, a round starts with players getting five cards face up.
At this point the player to the left of the dealer is then asked to arrange their opening fives cards. The cards can be placed in any position the player chooses: for example, two up top, two in the middle and one in the back hand. Once the first player has set their hand, the rest of the table are then free to set their hands in a clockwise order.
After setting their first five cards, each player is then dealt one card face up until everyone has received a total of 13 cards. As these cards are being dealt each player is free to put them in either their middle hand or their top hand and once the deal is complete all hands must be set.
After the deal is complete and each player’s hand is set, scoring for each of the three rounds takes place and the winner is the person with the highest score overall.
Five things You Need to Know about Open Face Chinese
- OFC is played with a full deck and each player is dealt 13 cards.
- The aim of the game is to set three hands: back (five cards), middle (five cards) and top (three cards). The strongest must always be at the back and the weakest at the top.
- The winner of a round earns one point. On top of this, six points are given to a player if they scoop all three boards.
- Bonus negative points can impact on a player’s score.
- The winner is determined by the player with the most points at the end of the game.
The Scoring System
Chinese Poker Game
Before starting any OFC cash game, each player must agree on how much money a single point is worth. Once a figure has been agreed, players then assess who has the strongest hand on each street. The strength of a hand is based on traditional poker hand rankings as they evolved in the US and elsewhere.
The player who holds the strongest overall board (that is if they win two of the three hands) is awarded one game point plus any bonuses.
Generally you’ll find that a player might win one or two hands but not all three; however, if they do manage to beat every player in all three sets then it’s known as a “scoop” and they get 6 points. In addition to scoops, a player can also increase their winning score by hitting a Royalty Bonus. These extra points are awarded for the strength of a hand and add an extra element of skill to the game.
Because the size of each OFC board is different, royalty points are handed out for the following hands:
Open Face Chinese Poker – Top, Middle, and Back Hands
Hand Strength: Royalty Points
The final element to OFC’s scoring system is penalties. 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.
Open Face Chinese Poker offers US poker players some very different challenges than they face with other types of card games.
Living in a Fantasy Land
One of the most interesting aspects of OFC that’s developed in recent years is the concept known as Fantasy Land. This part of the game is unlocked if a players holds QQ+ in their top hand. If a player achieves this state then their next 13 cards will be dealt to them facedown. This gives a Fantasy Land player a distinct advantage because they know all of their cards ahead of time and can, thus, set them accordingly. A stay in Fantasy Land can last indefinitely, providing the player makes quads or better in the back, a full house or better in the middle or trips up top.
Final Comments
Open Face Chinese might be a few years away from really establishing itself in the poker world in the United States, but with so many pros already enjoying its blend of skill and luck, there’s no doubt it’s a game on the up. While some will argue that it often favors the luckiest player, there’s still a lot of thinking to be done when setting hands. Moreover, the amount of money that can be made when playing for even moderate stakes is something that will certainly attract a lot of players.
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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:
- 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,
Open Face Chinese Poker Online
- 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.
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.
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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