Open Face Chinese Poker Online
Open Face Chinese Poker Variations Pictures
Open Face Chinese Poker Scoring
Open Face Chinese Poker

There are so many places to play poker out there, the top poker sites are always looking for a way to get the edge over their competitors! One of the best ways to do this is by offering a wide variety of types of poker. From Omaha to Hold ‘Em you’re sure to find a site offering your favorite game, whichever it may be. We’ve found some of the best poker sites out there, all of which offer plenty of different games, so the only thing you need to do is pick which variation you want to play!

Pineapple is a variant of Open Face Chinese that can be played 2 or 3 handed. Each player is dealt 5 cards face down, like in regular Open Face, but after that they get 3 cards at a time. From the three cards they place 2 and discard 1 face down. Open-Face Chinese Poker with 2-7 in the Middle — a.k.a. “2-7 OFC” or “Deuce Pineapple” — is a turn-based card game that is played heads up, or sometimes three-handed. Players take turns, drawing cards and placing them into three separate poker hands. 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.

5 Card Draw

Try a simple poker variant that’s great for beginners. But lots of bluffing means that 5 card draw is popular with longtime players as well!

Omaha Hi-Lo

Get two chances to win with this tactical poker variant; the pot is split in Omaha Hi-Lo. Find out where to play here.

Pot Limit Omaha

A popular, and potentially very rewarding, variation. Pot Limit Omaha is probably the second most popular type of poker played online. Try it now!

Stud Poker

Takes a while to master, but it’s worth it. Stud poker’s mix of face up and face down cards means it’s time to get strategic and put your bluffing hat on.

Stud Hi-Lo

Another poker variation in which the pot is split. Demands a lot of attention, but Stud Hi-Lo is well worth it. Try playing a hand today!

Texas Hold’em

Play the Internet’s most popular poker variation! Texas Hold ‘Em is as popular among tournament players as it is casual gamblers. Give it a shot here.

H.O.R.S.E.

Can’t decide between Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and 8 or Better? HORSE combines them all and you can play at the top US poker sites now.

Open Face Chinese

Open Face Chinese Poker has taken the world by storm, with large tournaments now the norm around the world. And now you can play online. Find out more.

Many Types of Poker to Play

There are LOTS of poker variants and, thanks to the ever growing popularity of the game both online and in land-based casinos, more are being cooked up all the time. Our poker experts are always on the lookout for new poker variations, and the best new poker sites at which to play them, and we regularly add new content.

Wondering which poker variation is for you? Most beginners get started with 5 Card Draw, while the popularity of Texas Hold ‘Em among competitions and tournaments means that people who are hoping to make some real money sometimes stick solely with that. As for the other games, players should take advantage of the ability to play for free and get a feel for different types of poker online. Given that you might find a game that you have a natural knack for, it’s an easy choice!

It’s also worth pointing out that the number of players, thus the availability of tables at which to play, and the average stakes of each type of poker game can vary hugely – for example, it’s much easier to find a low stakes Texas Hold ‘Em game than it is to find a high stakes 5 Card Draw tournament. You’ll probably want to bear this in mind if you’re planning to spend a lot of time on US poker sites playing a particular poker variation!

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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.

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 sc

Open Face Chinese Poker Variations