What is Open Face Chinese Poker?

Although there is very little is known about the origin of Chinese poker, certain types of suppositions have been made based on it being related to other games. However, the name suggests, open face Chinese poker did not originate in China, but has become much more popular than traditional Chinese poker. It was invented in Finland in the mid 2000s, and this recent poker variation was then being popularized in Russia by Alex Kravchenko. It then traveled to the United States and Asia.

There are many similarities with other forms of poker. For instance, every OFC poker player takes turns in drawing cards from a single deck with a goal to create the best possible hand in relation to their competitors.

The only difference is that no bets are placed during the rounds of play. Instead, points are used to score in this game.

With the developing round, every player arranges 13 cards into three hands, known as the “top” hand, the “middle” hand, and the “bottom” hand. Then, each of the hand is compared across the competitors. It means that the “top” hands are compared to opponents “top” hands, the “middle” hands to opponents “middle” hands, and the “bottom” hands to opponents “bottom” hands.

Each of the three hands is being compared and scored as a regular poker hand, and the players in open face Chinese poker win, or lose points depending on how their hands measure up with the opponents. While the middle and bottom hands are just standard five-card hands, the top hand contains only three cards. It is because of these that the best possible configuration for the top hand is the three-of-a-kind. Now because of the scoring system, the bottom hand must be the best, followed by the middle, and then the top.

It is mostly played between two to three people, but it can be played with up to four players. Over the course, each player on the draw rounds must use 13 cards to build three hands, where the bottom hand should consist of five cards, a middle hand should consist of five cards, and the top hand should have three cards. The game takes place in a clockwise manner, starting with the player on the dealer's left. Just like the standard Chinese poker, the bottom hand must be stronger or even equal to the middle hand, while the middle hand must be stronger or equal to the top hand. Here, the poker hand ranking determines each hand's strength with the bottom and middle need the best five-card hand and the top the best three-card hand. You can now play open face Chinese poker online on multiple websites. Checkout BLITZPOKER now for opportunities in their freeroll tournaments.

Three people mainly play OPFC Poker or Pineapple OFC Poker; it is also the OFC's most popular variant. Here, every player dealt with five cards at the beginning of the play. After that, the players dealt with three cards at a time. They then set two and discard one until each player has made three hands in 13 hands.

Here, two decks of cards are used which are then shuffled together and allows more number of people to play. It is also possible to play double deck Pineapple OFC poker. Except for the additional deck, the game is played in the same way as the single-deck varieties. However, there is a possibility of more variable hands as there are two decks.

In this version, each player dealt with five cards similar to the normal OFC poker. Then, however, every player receives four cards during each of their subsequent rounds. There are only three (5+4+4). Except for this, the rules remain the same as regular OFC poker.

Report this Page