What Is OFC Poker (Open Face Chinese) and How Do You Play It?

Table of content: What is Open Face Chinese Poker? How to Play OFC Poker? How does Scoring work in OFC Poker? Variations in OFC Poker OFC Poker Rules Open face chinese poker apps What is Open Face Chinese Poker/OFC poker meaning? OFC Poker meaning is a variant of Chinese Poker . One of the key differences between OFC Poker and Chinese Poker is how the hands are dealt; Chinese Poker dealers deal all 13 cards in one go to each player, whereas OFC Poker dealers deal 5 cards in one go and then the rest of the cards until all 13 cards have been dealt to all the players.

OFC Poker was invented in Finland in the mid-2000s and spread like a virus in Russia, courtesy of Alex Kravchenko. This game was introduced in the United States of America in 2012 and has since become very popular in the high-stakes industry.

GetMega is an amazing platform that lets you play Hold'em Poker with friends & family with real money. Sounds fun, isn't it? Download the GetMega Hold 'em Poker now! How to Play OFC Poker? The game of OFC Poker is played between 2 to 4 players. Each player is dealt 13 cards and is supposed to play with three hands- Front, Middle and Back. The front hand consists of 3 cards, the middle hand consists of 5 cards, and the back hand consists of 5 cards.

Among these three hands, the backhand is supposed to be stronger or should have equal strength compared to the middle hand and the middle hand is supposed to be stronger or should have equal strength compared to the front hand. Due to the number of cards in each hand, the front card can only make hand combinations with the 3 allowed cards, whereas the middle and the back hands can make hand combinations with the 5 allowed cards.

Due to the restricted number of cards in the first hand- 3, the best front hand is AAA, three aces. A Straight , a Flush and a Straight Flush is not considered hand combinations in the front hand. The game aims to win as many points as possible from the other players and increase the bonus points without fouling.

Fouling is when an illegal hand combination is made on one of the hands. For example, Straights, Flushes and Straight Flushes are considered illegal hand combinations for the front hand. So, if a player makes either of these three hand combinations on his front hand, a fouling penalty is put on the player. In such an event, the fouled player will lose 6 points to every non-fouling player sitting on the table. In this case, the opponents win any royalties coming their way in addition to the 6 points they win from the fouling player. If multiple players foul, they have a tie, and no points are lost. Fouling is a very serious offence in OFC Poker, and players can lose a lot of points over this.

The process of dealing cards in OFC Poker is very different from the process of dealing cards in standard Chinese poker. In standard Chinese poker, all 13 cards are dealt to the players simultaneously. In OFC Poker, the players get dealt with only 5 cards initially. The rest of the cards are dealt individually, starting from the dealer's left. The players can set the cards in different rows, front, middle and back, at their discretion. This process needs to happen before the game begins, and once the cards are set in a particular row, the arrangement cannot be changed.

There is a special bonus award in the game of OFC Poker. This is called Fantasyland. This bonus is only awarded to players with QQ or higher in their front hand, provided their front row hand combination does not foul. In Fantasyland, the player who achieves it gets all 13 cards dealt to them simultaneously and can keep them face down on the table until it is their turn to play. A player can achieve the Fantasyland bonus while they are already in Fantasyland. They must meet one or more of the Fantasyland conditions to achieve this. These conditions are:

Row Strength Front Three of a Kind Middle Full house or higher Back Four of a kind or higher Multiple players can achieve the Fantasyland bonus in one game while playing online.

If a player is found to have a J-High in his back row hand combination, they win 20 points or units from all the other players, provided their back row hand combination does not foul. This bonus is called Shooting the Moon.

Also Read Worst Bad Beats In The History Of Poker & How Players Dealt With Them Poker Chips And Denominations For The Same How To Play And Rules Of Criss Cross Poker? How does Scoring work in OFC Poker? In the game of OFC Poker, bets and wagers are not made with money. They are made with points or units. The monetary value of these points and units is decided before the game begins. When scoring in the game OFC Poker, players that win a round, i.e., whose front, middle or back hand combinations are better than their opponents, get to take one unit each from their opponent. Unlike traditional poker games, in this variant, the players who come in second also win some money. Thanks to the head-to-head nature of OFC Poker, players can play for comfortable stakes. There doesn’t have to be a common monetary value per point or unit that every player has to abide by. For example, two players can play for Rs.100 per point or unit, whereas two other players can play for Rs.10 per point or unit.

The 1-6 method is another way of scoring in OFC Poker involving a scoop. Winning all three hands against another player is known as the scoop. In this type of scoring, if a player receives 1 unit for each hand, they win against their opponent and 3 bonus units on top of the 3 units they already won if they win all 3 hands against their opponent. Similarly, players will lose 1 unit to every hand they lose to their opponent and 3 bonus units on top of the 3 units they already lost to the opponent if they lose all three hands.

In the game of OFC Poker, the winner’s points keep increasing, and the loser’s points keep decreasing. In the case of more than 2 players playing the game, each player will gain a point from their opponent for winning a hand against them, and, similarly, each player will lose a point to the opponent for losing a hand against them.

At times, the bonus awarded to each player is also known as a royalty. These are bonus points awarded to players with exceptionally strong hand combinations. Below is the table, including the hand combinations and the royalties that go with them.

Front Units Middle Units Back Units 66 1 Three of a kind 2 Straight 2 77 2 Straight 4 Flush 4 88 3 Flush 8 Full House 6 99 4 Full House 12 Four of a Kind 10 TT 5 Four of a Kind 20 Straight Flush 15 JJ 6 Straight Flush 30 Royal Flush 25 QQ 7 Royal Flush 50 KK 8 AA 9 222 10 333 11 444 12 555 13 666 14 777 15 888 16 999 17 TTT 18 JJJ 19 QQQ 20 KKK 21 AAA 22

Variations in OFC Poker OFC Poker is not just available in its standard form but also in two other variations. These variations make the game more engaging and fun. Read about the two variants of this game below:

Pineapple Open Face Chinese Poker In this variation of OFC Poker, a maximum of only 3 players can play. 5 cards are dealt to each player. In this variant, instead of each player being dealt one card at a time, each player is dealt 3 cards at a time. The players are supposed to set 2 cards and discard 1 of the cards from their hand until 13 card combinations can be made. On the achievement of Fantasyland, the player gets 14 new cards and can discard 1 of them. The rules of Fantasyland are the same as those of the standard OFC Poker. For a player to stat in Fantasyland, they require either three of a kind on top, four of a kind , or better on the bottom. A full house in the middle is exempted in this variant.

Double Deck Open Face Chinese Poker In this variant, to allow more people to stay, 2 decks of cards are shuffled and stacked together to distribute. With these two decks of playing cards shuffled, players can also play Double Deck Pineapple Open Face Chinese Poker. Double Deck Open Face Chinese Poker rules are the same as those for standard OFC Poker. Due to the shuffling of 2 decks together, players sometimes get 5 of a kind. This hand is given the same royalty as the Straight Flush.

OFC Poker Rules The Open Face Chinese poker rules/OFC poker rules are significantly similar to Chinese poker rules. The basic rules one must follow in the game are:

· Ensure all the players have settled and agreed on a common point value.

· Must follow the rule of playing in turns and not interrogate and interrupt a player while in the game.

· Once the cards are placed, there’s no option to change them repeatedly.

· The game commences once the dealer gives a heads-up

Open face chinese poker apps Below is the list of best online OFC Apps available for free:

a. ABC Open Face Chinese Poker with Pineapple for iPhone, iPad and PC: The app was discovered in 2013, but the conditions applied are that you need to pay $5 to get full access.

b. Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC) for iPhone and iPad: This app was discovered in 2016 and is amazing for those with prior knowledge of OFC.

c. DH Pineapple Poker OFC for Android: It was discovered in 2017, and the thing which makes it unique is that you shall be able to play privately with your buddies using the private room feature.

d. Chinese Poker 3 – Multiplayer for Android and iPhone: This is the most recently developed app created in 2018.

e. Tonybet for Android and iPhone: a conventional website yet an appreciable market app.

f. Pokamaax for Android and iPhone: You can play on all the listed apps via this single application.

g. Poker for Android and iPhone: It is one of the most renowned apps and has captured a huge market share because of the innovation it brings with it

With this information, you can play and win in OFC Poker. Download the GetMega Poker app now to play and win!

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