Open Face Chinese Poker Rules

1. Open Face Chinese Poker Rules Against
2. Open Face Chinese Poker Rules 2019
3. How To Play Ofc
4. Open Face Chinese Poker Rules

This page is based partly on information from Ka Lun, Anthony Horsley Sr, Don Smolen, Richard Dewhirst, Alan Ho, Brandon Bahti and several anonymous correspondents.

Open Face Chinese Poker – Progressive (Pineapple OH) – in OFC Pineapple OH a match lasts only 1 hand. Compared to the regular OFC Pineapple Progressive, in which the number of hands in a match equals the number of players (2 or 3). In both variations, fantasy extends a match at least by one hand. HOW TO PLAY PINEAPPLE OPEN FACE CHINESE POKER (OFC) The players in the game are dealt with thirteen hole cards, they have to fill three cards in the front hand, five cards each in the middle hand and back hand. The game begins with the left of the dealer, in clockwise direction.

Introduction

This Chinese gambling game is popular in Hong Kong and parts of Southeast Asia and is also played to some extent in the USA. It is known by several different names.

• In Cantonese it is called Sap Sam Cheung (十三張), which means 13 cards, and in Vietnamese it is known by the similar name Xập Xám Chướng.
• In Chinese, it is also sometimes called Luosong Pai Jiu (羅宋牌九), which I think means Russian Pai Gow. The game is indeed distantly related to Pai Gow.
• In the USA it is often known as Chinese Poker or sometimes Russian Poker, but note that some people also use the name Chinese Poker to refer to the climbing game Big Two. In Hawaii it is called Pepito.
• In the Phillipines it is known as Pusoy, again not to be confused with Pusoy Dos, which is Big Two. Another name sometimes used is Good, Better, Best, referring to the three hands of a player.

The aim is to arrange your 13 cards into three poker hands - two of five cards and one of three cards - which will beat the corresponding poker hands made by the other players.

A recent development is Open Face Chinese Poker, in which after the first five cards, hands are built face up one card at a time.

Players, Cards, Stakes and Deal

There are four players, each playing for themselves. A standard 52 card pack is used.

Before playing it is necessary to agree on a stake. Below I will describe the payments in terms of units; one unit can be worth whatever the players agree in advance - $1, $10, $100, etc.

The cards are shuffled, cut and dealt out singly: 13 cards to each player.

Arrangement of cards

Each player must divide their 13 cards into a 'back' hand of 5 cards, a 'middle' hand of 5 cards and a 'front' hand of 3 cards. Considered as poker hands, the back hand must be better than the middle hand, and the middle hand must be better than the front hand. The standard poker ranking is used - so the hand types from high to low are: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair, high card (see the page on ranking of poker hands). There are no wild cards.

Since the front hand has only 3 cards, only three hand types are possible: three of a kind; one pair; high card. There is no value in having a front hand with three consecutive cards or three cards of the same suit: 'straights' or 'flushes' in the front hand do not count.

Players place their three hands face down in front of them, the front hand nearest the centre of the table and the back hand nearest themselves.

Showdown and Scoring

When everyone is ready, all the players expose their three hands and each pair of players compares the corresponding hands. In the simplest system of payments, you win one unit for each corresponding hand of another player that you beat and lose one for unit each hand that beats you. When the hands are equal you neither win nor lose. Here is an example:

The result would be as follows:

Notice that although West's back hand is the overall best hand (aces full), West loses on balance because of the weaker middle and front hands. East could have done slightly less badly by putting the sevens in the middle hand, which would then have beaten West. Notice also that it is not legal for East to put the jacks in the front hand, because it would then not be possible to make a middle hand that was better and a back hand that was better still from the remaining ten cards.

Special Hands

It is possible to play using just the payments described above. However, many players add two further features to the stakes: increased payments for certain hands, and some special 13-card hands that win automatically. If you are playing with these it is important to agree in advance exactly which ones are allowed and how much each is worth.

A typical scale of increased payments is as follows:

• If you win the front hand with three of a kind, you receive 3 units instead of 1 for that hand.
• If you win the middle hand with a full house, you receive 2 units instead of 1 for that hand.
• If you win the back (or middle) hand with 4 of a kind, you receive 4 units instead of 1.
• If you win the back (or middle) hand with a royal flush or straight flush you win 5 units instead of 1.

These bonuses only count for you for hands that you win. For example if A and B each have a 3 of a kind in front, but B's is higher, A will pay B 3 units for it. A's 3 of a kind will still count against the other players if it wins.

Example:A has 6-6-6, 4-4-4-9-9, K-K-K-8-8 and B has Q-Q-7, J-J-J-2-2, 5-5-5-5-A. A wins 3 for the front hand, but B wins 2 for the middle and 4 for the back, so altogether A pays 3 units to B.

When special hands are allowed, the following 13-card hands win automatically against any ordinary hand, if declared before the hands are exposed. When two special hands come up against each other, the higher wins the full specified amount and the lower loses its value (though it can still win against the other players). After the special hands have been dealt with, the remaining players expose their cards and settle up among themselves in the normal way. A typical schedule of special hands, in ascending order, is:

• Six pairs: a hand with six pairs and one odd card. When two players have six pair hands, compare the highest pair; if the highest pairs are equal compare the second highest pair, and so on. Win 3 units.
• Three straights: the back and middle hands are five card straights and the front hand is a three card straight (i.e. three cards of consecutive rank). If two players have three straights, compare the highest (back) straights first, then if these are equal the middle straights, and finally, if all else is equal, the front straight. Win 3 units.
• Three flushes: the back and middle hands are flushes, and the front hand is a three-card flush (three cards of one suit). If two players have this, the player with the better back hand wins; if tied the better middle hand; if those are also tied, the better front hand. Win 3 units.
• Complete straight: the hand has one card of each rank: A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K. Suits can be mixed. If two players have this, they are tied. Win 13 units.

A player who has a special hand can choose not to declare it, but instead to set three hands of 5, 5 and 3 cards in the normal way. This loses the right to an automatic win, but it may occasionally be possible to win more units in the normal settlement, when extra payments can be won.

Variations

There seem to be numerous variations in the way the payments are organised. Here are the ones I have so far discovered.

• Three of a kind in the front hand: 2 extra units
• Full house in the middle hand: 1 extra unit
• Four of a kind in the back or middle hand: 3 extra units
• Straight or royal flush in the back or middle hand: 4 extra units

This variation is often combined with the overall point variation above.

• Three of a kind in the front hand: 2 extra units
• Full house in the middle hand: 2 extra units
• Four of a kind in the back hand: 4 extra units
• Four of a kind in the middle hand: 6 extra units
• Straight or royal flush in the back hand: 6 extra units
• Straight or royal flush in the middle hand: 8 extra units

The special hands, in ascending order, are:

• Three flushes: 3 units
• Three straights: 4 units
• Six and a half pairs: 4 units
• Five pairs and one three of a kind: 5 units
• Four threes of a kind and an odd card: 6 units
• All cards are the same colour: 10 points
• Small: all cards are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8: 10 points
• Big: all cards are 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A: 10 points
• Three fours of a kind and one odd card: 16 units
• Three straight flushes: 18 units
• All 12 picture cards plus any 13th card: 18 units
• All thirteen cards of one suit: 26 units

A special hand, if declared before the cards are exposed, beats any normal hand and wins the number of units specified in the table (a player wins from the bank, or the bank wins from all players). If the bank and a player both have special hands, the holder of the higher scoring hand wins the difference between their values.

• Three of a kind in front: 3 units instead of 1
• Full house in the middle: 2 units instead of 1
• Four of a kind at the back: 4 units; in the middle: 8 units
• Straight flush at the back: 5 units; in the middle: 10 units

• Three straights: 3 units
• Three flushes: 3 units
• Six pairs: 3 units
• Five pairs and one triplet: 6 units
• Complete straight A to K with mixed suits: 13 units; if all 13 cards are of one suit: 26 units.

• Three of a kind in front: 3 units instead of 1
• Full house in the middle: 2 units instead of 1
• Four of a kind at the back: 4 units; in the middle: 8 units
• Straight flush at the back 7 units; in the middle: 14 units

• Three straights: 4 units
• Three flushes: 4 units
• 12 red cards and 1 black or 12 black and 1 red: 4 units
• All black or all red: 6 units
• Six pairs: 4 units
• Complete straight A to K with mixed suits: 13 units
• All 13 cards of one suit: 39 units

A player wins two out of three hands against an opponent receives 1 unit from that opponent. For winning all three hands the payment is 6 units. A player who wins all three hands against every other player is paid 9 units (instead of 6) by each. For winning with particular hands in particular positions there are additional payments as follows:

• Straight flush: 5 units at the back; 10 units in the middle
• Four of a kind: 4 units at the back; 8 units in the middle
• Full house: 2 units in the middle
• Three of a kind: 3 units at the front

A player who surrenders pays 3 units to each opponent.

Some play with an extra side bet on the number of aces held. One aces is worth 1, two aces 2, three aces 6, four aces 8. Between two players, the player with fewer aces pays the difference in units, in addition to the payments for the Chinese Poker game.

Payments are made in chips and it is not possible to win or lose more chips than you had in front of you at the start of the deal. Settlement is in clockwise order staring with the dealer. Any 13-card special hands are settled first, followed by all other payments. Specifically, if the players in clockwise order are A (dealer), B, C, D then settlements are made in the order A vs B, A vs C, A vs D, B vs C, B vs D, C vs D. Example: A starts with only 8 chips. A wins all three hands against B and loses all three against C. B pays A 6 chips, but A pays only 2 chips to C, because each chip is either doubled or lost, and A's first 6 chips have already been 'used' to justify the win from B. Therefore A ends up with 8+6-2=12 chips. A neither pays to nor receives from D since the transactions with B and C have already accounted for all A's chips. Players can buy additional chips from the house after the settlement and before the next deal.

The casino takes a fixed rake per hand, and part of this is used to build jackpots that are offered for certain unusual events - for example when a player has a straight flush, three of a kind, and a pair and loses all three hands to another player.

Other Chinese Poker web pages

Further information can be found on Don Smolen's Chinese Poker page. From there you can also order his excellent book on the tactics of this game, and obtain his CPOKER computer program.

Rules for a version of Chinese Poker can also be found under the name Pusoy on this archive copy the Bicycle Cards web site.

Rules for Chinese Poker can also be found at the Asian Games Site vinagames.com, where it is possible to play Chinese Poker on line.

Playing Chinese Poker Online

With Phong Le's Chinese Poker Analyser you can compare the power of alternative divisions of 13 cards into three hands, and play Chinese Poker (Xap Xam) against one, two or three computer players.

Table Of Contents

Introduction

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. Unlike other poker games, however, there are no bets placed during the rounds of play. Instead, the players agree to play 'per point' and the game is scored in points, similar to card games like hearts or gin rummy.

After all card-placement rounds are complete, each player will have arranged 13 cards into three hands, called the 'top,' the 'middle,' and the 'bottom.'

Each player's top hand is compared to his or her opponents' top hand, the middle to the middle, and the bottom to the bottom. A player will win or lose points, based on how his or her hand measures up.

The three hands are scored and compared as regular poker hands. The bottom and middle are regular five-card hands. The top only contains three cards, but is scored the same way, thus the best possible hand on top would be three-of-a-kind, while most top hands are high-card hands.

Since each player need 13 cards from the deck, OFC is played with a maximum of four players. Most commonly, the game is played heads-up between just two opponents.

Objective

The first objective of OFC is to make a 'qualifying' hand. There is a strict rule that the bottom hand must be at least as good as the middle hand, and that the middle hand must be at least as good as the top hand. Since a player is arranging his cards one at a time, this isn't always possible. If he or she has already played a pair of kings in middle, and has a straight draw on the bottom using cards all lower than a king, he or she must complete the straight.

Otherwise, if you can't make a qualifying hand, the entire hand is 'foul.'

In OFC, as in bowling, if you hand has fouled (failed to qualify), then you get a zero for the frame. There is no fine and no penalty box, but your top, middle, and bottom are all marked as zero. As long as your opponent makes a qualifying hand, he or she will beat your top, middle, and bottom.

First Round & Subsequent Rounds

Like hold'em games, OFC is played with a dealer button. The player to the left of the button acts first on every street, the action moves clockwise, and the button moves after every hand.

At the start, players get five cards to play in turn, playing each card top, middle, or bottom. The cards are arranged face-up on the table, hence 'open-face' Chinese poker. Once a player arranges the cards and indicates that his or her turn is complete, the next player flips over all five cards and starts their own arrangement.

After the first turn, players get cards one at a time, and play them face up, in turn.

Once you play a card top, middle, or bottom, you can't move it to a different row later. There are no take backs.

If you have read this far, and are familiar with the basics of poker hands (a flush beats a straight, quads beat a full house, etc.), then you are ready to play OFC. As long as you trust your opponent, or an impartial judge, to score the hands, go ahead and get a game started.

Scoring

The basics of scoring are simple, but there are a number of detailed cases to account for. Don't get overwhelmed. Like casino slots or Candy Crush, you can start playing the game without knowing all of the scoring details right away and learn as you go.

OFC is played per point, so scoring of the final hands (after all 13 cards are placed) is done on a point basis.
Each row, (top, middle, and bottom), is worth one point to the winner. So if you have a pair of jacks in the middle and your opponent has king high, then you win one point in the middle.

Open Face Chinese Poker Rules Against

In this hand, 'moscow25' wins the bottom and top rows, but loses the middle row. Therefore, he wins one point overall.

If playing OFC three- or four-handed, each player scores against each player independently. Thus, unlike in hold'em, where the best hand that doesn't fold gets everything and everyone else gets nothing, there is no folding. For example, if Bob beats Ted but loses to Joe, Bob still wins points from Ted.

But wait, there's more!

In addition to the +1/-1 points per row, there are a myriad of scoring bonuses that can be worth a lot more than one point.

Scoring Bonuses

The most common OFC scoring bonus is the 'scoop bonus.' If you beat an opponent's top, middle, and bottom, you win an additional three points. This is sometimes referred to as the '1-6' scoring system. If you beat your opponent two out of three rows, you win one point overall. If you scoop him, it's worth six points overall.

To encourage players to take chances for big hands, OFC rewards good hands in every row with different point bonuses. These bonuses are given, as long as a player makes a qualifying hand, regardless of whether the hand wins or loses.

Here, 'moscow25' makes a straight on the bottom, but loses to a his opponent's bigger straight on the bottom. His opponent gets one point for winning the row, plus a two-point bonus for the straight. However, 'moscow25' still gets two points for his straight. Therefore, the straight bonuses cancel each other out, and 'moscow25' loses just one point on the bottom row.

Bonuses for bottom-row hands range from +2 for a straight to +25 for a royal flush. Middle bonuses start with +2 for three-of-a-kind, going up to +50 for a royal flush. Bonuses for the top hand start with +1 for a pair of sixes and then increase from there. The full list is below.

OFC Bonus Scoring System

In addition to the bonuses for big hands, there's a special rule, which started out as another way to add drama to the game, but has since become a standard, big part of OFC strategy.

Playing with 'Fantasyland' is optional, and must be agreed to before an OFC game begins. Most OFC games played online and in public casinos are played with the Fantasyland option. Make sure you know whether you're playing with or without Fantasyland before you join.

Fantasyland

This rule is simple: If you make a qualifying hand with QxQx or better on top, then your next hand will be 'in Fantasyland.'

Fantasyland is treated as a bonus round of OFC. It's common for the button not to move, and a player is not allowed to quit or get dealt out of the hand during his opponent's Fantasyland round.

The player in Fantasyland has a big advantage because he or she is dealt all 13 cards at once, instead of the starting five and then one at a time. The player then sets the cards face down in turn, and then waits for his opponents to play their hands according to standard OFC rules.

Once all players are finished setting, the Fantasyland hand is revealed and scored like a regular OFC hand. Thus, a player in Fantasyland, after rounds and rounds of setting his hand imperfectly because he doesn't know what's coming, is able to set his hand perfectly.

Staying in Fantasyland

It is too easy to make QxQx or better on top while in Fantasyland, which you can see all 13 cards at once, so the rules for remaining in Fantasyland are a bit stricter.

A player in Fantasyland gets to 'stay in Fantasyland' if he makes quads or better on the bottom, a full house or better in the middle, or three-of-a-kind on top. The full list of hands qualifying to stay in Fantasyland are below:

Rules and Ethics

While it's OK to quit the game or to get dealt out to take a smoke or a phone call at the beginning of an OFC hand, any hand started must be completed until scoring.

• Three of a kind in the front hand: 2 extra units
• Full house in the middle hand: 1 extra unit
• Four of a kind in the back or middle hand: 3 extra units
• Straight or royal flush in the back or middle hand: 4 extra units

This variation is often combined with the overall point variation above.

• Three of a kind in the front hand: 2 extra units
• Full house in the middle hand: 2 extra units
• Four of a kind in the back hand: 4 extra units
• Four of a kind in the middle hand: 6 extra units
• Straight or royal flush in the back hand: 6 extra units
• Straight or royal flush in the middle hand: 8 extra units

The special hands, in ascending order, are:

• Three flushes: 3 units
• Three straights: 4 units
• Six and a half pairs: 4 units
• Five pairs and one three of a kind: 5 units
• Four threes of a kind and an odd card: 6 units
• All cards are the same colour: 10 points
• Small: all cards are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8: 10 points
• Big: all cards are 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A: 10 points
• Three fours of a kind and one odd card: 16 units
• Three straight flushes: 18 units
• All 12 picture cards plus any 13th card: 18 units
• All thirteen cards of one suit: 26 units

A special hand, if declared before the cards are exposed, beats any normal hand and wins the number of units specified in the table (a player wins from the bank, or the bank wins from all players). If the bank and a player both have special hands, the holder of the higher scoring hand wins the difference between their values.

• Three of a kind in front: 3 units instead of 1
• Full house in the middle: 2 units instead of 1
• Four of a kind at the back: 4 units; in the middle: 8 units
• Straight flush at the back: 5 units; in the middle: 10 units

• Three straights: 3 units
• Three flushes: 3 units
• Six pairs: 3 units
• Five pairs and one triplet: 6 units
• Complete straight A to K with mixed suits: 13 units; if all 13 cards are of one suit: 26 units.

• Three of a kind in front: 3 units instead of 1
• Full house in the middle: 2 units instead of 1
• Four of a kind at the back: 4 units; in the middle: 8 units
• Straight flush at the back 7 units; in the middle: 14 units

• Three straights: 4 units
• Three flushes: 4 units
• 12 red cards and 1 black or 12 black and 1 red: 4 units
• All black or all red: 6 units
• Six pairs: 4 units
• Complete straight A to K with mixed suits: 13 units
• All 13 cards of one suit: 39 units

A player wins two out of three hands against an opponent receives 1 unit from that opponent. For winning all three hands the payment is 6 units. A player who wins all three hands against every other player is paid 9 units (instead of 6) by each. For winning with particular hands in particular positions there are additional payments as follows:

• Straight flush: 5 units at the back; 10 units in the middle
• Four of a kind: 4 units at the back; 8 units in the middle
• Full house: 2 units in the middle
• Three of a kind: 3 units at the front

A player who surrenders pays 3 units to each opponent.

Some play with an extra side bet on the number of aces held. One aces is worth 1, two aces 2, three aces 6, four aces 8. Between two players, the player with fewer aces pays the difference in units, in addition to the payments for the Chinese Poker game.

Payments are made in chips and it is not possible to win or lose more chips than you had in front of you at the start of the deal. Settlement is in clockwise order staring with the dealer. Any 13-card special hands are settled first, followed by all other payments. Specifically, if the players in clockwise order are A (dealer), B, C, D then settlements are made in the order A vs B, A vs C, A vs D, B vs C, B vs D, C vs D. Example: A starts with only 8 chips. A wins all three hands against B and loses all three against C. B pays A 6 chips, but A pays only 2 chips to C, because each chip is either doubled or lost, and A's first 6 chips have already been 'used' to justify the win from B. Therefore A ends up with 8+6-2=12 chips. A neither pays to nor receives from D since the transactions with B and C have already accounted for all A's chips. Players can buy additional chips from the house after the settlement and before the next deal.

The casino takes a fixed rake per hand, and part of this is used to build jackpots that are offered for certain unusual events - for example when a player has a straight flush, three of a kind, and a pair and loses all three hands to another player.

Other Chinese Poker web pages

Further information can be found on Don Smolen's Chinese Poker page. From there you can also order his excellent book on the tactics of this game, and obtain his CPOKER computer program.

Rules for a version of Chinese Poker can also be found under the name Pusoy on this archive copy the Bicycle Cards web site.

Rules for Chinese Poker can also be found at the Asian Games Site vinagames.com, where it is possible to play Chinese Poker on line.

Playing Chinese Poker Online

With Phong Le's Chinese Poker Analyser you can compare the power of alternative divisions of 13 cards into three hands, and play Chinese Poker (Xap Xam) against one, two or three computer players.

Table Of Contents

Introduction

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. Unlike other poker games, however, there are no bets placed during the rounds of play. Instead, the players agree to play 'per point' and the game is scored in points, similar to card games like hearts or gin rummy.

After all card-placement rounds are complete, each player will have arranged 13 cards into three hands, called the 'top,' the 'middle,' and the 'bottom.'

Each player's top hand is compared to his or her opponents' top hand, the middle to the middle, and the bottom to the bottom. A player will win or lose points, based on how his or her hand measures up.

The three hands are scored and compared as regular poker hands. The bottom and middle are regular five-card hands. The top only contains three cards, but is scored the same way, thus the best possible hand on top would be three-of-a-kind, while most top hands are high-card hands.

Since each player need 13 cards from the deck, OFC is played with a maximum of four players. Most commonly, the game is played heads-up between just two opponents.

Objective

The first objective of OFC is to make a 'qualifying' hand. There is a strict rule that the bottom hand must be at least as good as the middle hand, and that the middle hand must be at least as good as the top hand. Since a player is arranging his cards one at a time, this isn't always possible. If he or she has already played a pair of kings in middle, and has a straight draw on the bottom using cards all lower than a king, he or she must complete the straight.

Otherwise, if you can't make a qualifying hand, the entire hand is 'foul.'

In OFC, as in bowling, if you hand has fouled (failed to qualify), then you get a zero for the frame. There is no fine and no penalty box, but your top, middle, and bottom are all marked as zero. As long as your opponent makes a qualifying hand, he or she will beat your top, middle, and bottom.

First Round & Subsequent Rounds

Like hold'em games, OFC is played with a dealer button. The player to the left of the button acts first on every street, the action moves clockwise, and the button moves after every hand.

At the start, players get five cards to play in turn, playing each card top, middle, or bottom. The cards are arranged face-up on the table, hence 'open-face' Chinese poker. Once a player arranges the cards and indicates that his or her turn is complete, the next player flips over all five cards and starts their own arrangement.

After the first turn, players get cards one at a time, and play them face up, in turn.

Once you play a card top, middle, or bottom, you can't move it to a different row later. There are no take backs.

If you have read this far, and are familiar with the basics of poker hands (a flush beats a straight, quads beat a full house, etc.), then you are ready to play OFC. As long as you trust your opponent, or an impartial judge, to score the hands, go ahead and get a game started.

Scoring

The basics of scoring are simple, but there are a number of detailed cases to account for. Don't get overwhelmed. Like casino slots or Candy Crush, you can start playing the game without knowing all of the scoring details right away and learn as you go.

OFC is played per point, so scoring of the final hands (after all 13 cards are placed) is done on a point basis.
Each row, (top, middle, and bottom), is worth one point to the winner. So if you have a pair of jacks in the middle and your opponent has king high, then you win one point in the middle.

Open Face Chinese Poker Rules Against

In this hand, 'moscow25' wins the bottom and top rows, but loses the middle row. Therefore, he wins one point overall.

If playing OFC three- or four-handed, each player scores against each player independently. Thus, unlike in hold'em, where the best hand that doesn't fold gets everything and everyone else gets nothing, there is no folding. For example, if Bob beats Ted but loses to Joe, Bob still wins points from Ted.

But wait, there's more!

In addition to the +1/-1 points per row, there are a myriad of scoring bonuses that can be worth a lot more than one point.

Scoring Bonuses

The most common OFC scoring bonus is the 'scoop bonus.' If you beat an opponent's top, middle, and bottom, you win an additional three points. This is sometimes referred to as the '1-6' scoring system. If you beat your opponent two out of three rows, you win one point overall. If you scoop him, it's worth six points overall.

To encourage players to take chances for big hands, OFC rewards good hands in every row with different point bonuses. These bonuses are given, as long as a player makes a qualifying hand, regardless of whether the hand wins or loses.

Here, 'moscow25' makes a straight on the bottom, but loses to a his opponent's bigger straight on the bottom. His opponent gets one point for winning the row, plus a two-point bonus for the straight. However, 'moscow25' still gets two points for his straight. Therefore, the straight bonuses cancel each other out, and 'moscow25' loses just one point on the bottom row.

Bonuses for bottom-row hands range from +2 for a straight to +25 for a royal flush. Middle bonuses start with +2 for three-of-a-kind, going up to +50 for a royal flush. Bonuses for the top hand start with +1 for a pair of sixes and then increase from there. The full list is below.

OFC Bonus Scoring System

In addition to the bonuses for big hands, there's a special rule, which started out as another way to add drama to the game, but has since become a standard, big part of OFC strategy.

Playing with 'Fantasyland' is optional, and must be agreed to before an OFC game begins. Most OFC games played online and in public casinos are played with the Fantasyland option. Make sure you know whether you're playing with or without Fantasyland before you join.

Fantasyland

This rule is simple: If you make a qualifying hand with QxQx or better on top, then your next hand will be 'in Fantasyland.'

Fantasyland is treated as a bonus round of OFC. It's common for the button not to move, and a player is not allowed to quit or get dealt out of the hand during his opponent's Fantasyland round.

The player in Fantasyland has a big advantage because he or she is dealt all 13 cards at once, instead of the starting five and then one at a time. The player then sets the cards face down in turn, and then waits for his opponents to play their hands according to standard OFC rules.

Once all players are finished setting, the Fantasyland hand is revealed and scored like a regular OFC hand. Thus, a player in Fantasyland, after rounds and rounds of setting his hand imperfectly because he doesn't know what's coming, is able to set his hand perfectly.

Staying in Fantasyland

It is too easy to make QxQx or better on top while in Fantasyland, which you can see all 13 cards at once, so the rules for remaining in Fantasyland are a bit stricter.

A player in Fantasyland gets to 'stay in Fantasyland' if he makes quads or better on the bottom, a full house or better in the middle, or three-of-a-kind on top. The full list of hands qualifying to stay in Fantasyland are below:

Rules and Ethics

While it's OK to quit the game or to get dealt out to take a smoke or a phone call at the beginning of an OFC hand, any hand started must be completed until scoring.

Since Fantasyland is treated as the extension of a previous hand, and the player in Fantasyland has a clear advantage, players at the table are not allowed to quit or skip the Fantasyland hand, if they played the hand that led to it. There is also a common-courtesy rule that asks the player in Fantasyland to announce that he or she is 'staying' in Fantasyland.

House rules vary, but it's also common for the Fantasyland player to set the hand face-down, and not change it before the other players start their round.

Variants

OFC is still a new game, however, the common rules for 'standard OFC with Fantasyland' described above are nearly universal, both online and in the casinos that increasingly spread OFC whenever the poker tournament circuit comes to town.

There are also a few variants of the game that have caught a bit of steam in the poker community. One well-known variant is 'criss-cross OFC,' which simply consists of two player playing two hands each, to form a four-handed OFC game. The hottest new variant of OFC that actually changes some rules is called 'pineapple OFC.'

Like other 'pineapple' variants of poker games like Omaha and Texas hold'em, pineapple OFC deals each player three cards instead of one card per round, and that player must play two cards in turn, while discarding one.

Open Face Chinese Poker Rules 2019

Conclusion

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 games like blackjack.

The game is easy to learn and intuitive to play (don't be scared by the table of bonuses), and like any good poker game, a beginner can win right away. Even better, unlike hearts, gin rummy, or even Texas hold'em (without the hole-card camera), you can learn the game by watching top players play. The game is played face up, so at every point in time, the player and the spectators have the same exact information.

Since the beginning of 2013, OFC has taken off as a mobile game. The screenshots used above to illustrate OFC rules are from the ABC Open-Face Chinese Poker App, available for the iPhone and iPad. There are several other good apps for playing OFC on mobile, against friends, against strangers, or against a computer opponent.

We'll see you in Fantasyland!

OFC rules have been contributed by Nikolai Yakovenko. Known as 'Googles,' Yakovenko is originally from Moscow, Russia and is now a poker player and software developer residing in Brooklyn, New York. Yakovenko has made both World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour final tables. Meanwhile after several years at Google New York working on ranking algorithms, he's been developing independent software projects ever since. He also helped create the ABC Open-Face Chinese Poker iPhone App. You can follow Yakovenko on Twittter at @ivan_bezdomny.

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