Open-face Chinese poker

Open-face Chinese poker

Standard Chinese poker hands
Origin	Finland
Alternative names	Open Face Chinese, OFC, OFCP
Players	2 - 4
Skills required	Tactics, strategy
Cards	52
Deck	French
Play	Clockwise
Card rank (highest to lowest)	A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Playing time	5 -10 min. per round
Random chance	Medium to High
Related games
Chinese poker Pai gow poker

Open-face Chinese poker, OFCP, commonly known as Open Face Chinese or OFC, is a variant of Chinese poker where players receive five cards to start and then one card at a time until each player has a 13 card hand legal or not. The game originated in Finland during the mid-2000s and spread to Russia a few years later. Professional poker player Alex Kravchenko, who is credited with introducing the game to the Russian high-stakes community, describes the game as "spreading like a virus". The game was introduced to the United States in 2012.

Open-face Chinese poker is often played as a side game in large poker tournaments. Some high-stakes poker players are known to play as high as $500 or even as high as $5,000 per point. The Venetian, Bellagio and Wynn casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada have been known to spread Chinese poker at their poker tables.

In December 2014, TonyBet hosted the first-ever World Championship of OFC where Jennifer Shahade won the High Roller and Mikal Blomlie won the Main Event.

Open-face Chinese poker is typically played as a two- to three-person game, though it can also be played with four people. Each player must use thirteen cards consisting of 3 cards in the front hand, 5 cards in the middle hand, and 5 cards in the back hand. Play is in clockwise order and starts with the player left of the dealer. Same as in standard Chinese poker the back hand must be stronger than or equal to the middle hand and the middle hand must be stronger than or equal to the front hand. The strength of the hand is determined by poker hand rankings. The middle and back can make the best five-card poker hand while the front hand can only make the best three-card hand. The best front hand is AAA. Straights, flushes, and straight flushes are not legal front hands.

The goal of the game is to achieve more units (also known as points) than your opponents by winnings more hands also known as rows and/or by collecting royalties on premium hands without fouling. See fouling for more details.