1. Chinese Pineapple Poker
2. Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple Scoring Sheet
3. Open Face Chinese Poker Play
4. Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple Scoring Interpretation

• 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. This is a high-stakes poker game played alongside larger poker.
• Open Face Chinese Poker Scoring While basic hand scoring and scoops will score points against your opponent, it's the royalty points which will elevate your game. As mentioned before, different point scores are attributed to certain hands, in certain rows.

May 10, 2014 - Today's Open Face Chinese Poker hand is heads up Pineapple-OFC. For complete rules and scoring specifics see our Rules Page. Open Face Odds observes variable-value Fantasyland for Pineapple, so front-row QQ qualifies for 13-card FL, KK front is 14-card FL, and AA+ is 15-card FL. STARTING FIVE CARDS: 4 ⋄ 7 ♥ J ♠ 3 ♠ 5 ⋄.

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'.^[1] The game was introduced to the United States in 2012.^[2]

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.^[3][4]

Gameplay[edit]

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. 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 three aces. Straights, flushes, and straight flushes are not legal front hands.^[5]

Objective[edit]

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.

To win rows, your hand ranking must be higher than your opponents' in that same row, for example:

Ivey would win the front row and back row, but lose the middle row. See scoring for more details.

Fouling[edit]

Fouling also known as mis-setting is when an illegal hand is made and as a result, the hand is forfeited. The back hand must be stronger than or equal to the middle and the front, the middle must be stronger or equal to the front, otherwise, the hand is not legal and is considered fouled. In this case the player who fouled loses six points (one point per line plus three point scoop bonus) per non-fouling player and each non-fouling player gains six points. Players who fouled can lose additional units if players with legal hands achieved royalties. Opponents with legal hands gains six points plus any royalties in their hands, but not the royalties in fouled hands. When a hand is fouled the fouling players loses all royalties in their hands as well. If more than one player foul, then the players who foul tie other players who foul and no points are gained or lost between players with fouled hands. Unlike standard Chinese poker, players do not receive all thirteen cards at once. Therefore, fouling plays a large factor, and strategies are devised to avoid it.^[5]

Chinese Pineapple Poker

Dealing[edit]

Unlike standard Chinese poker where all thirteen cards are dealt at once, in open face Chinese each player is dealt five cards in the beginning and then one card at a time until thirteen card hands are made (8 deals after 5 cards are dealt). The cards are all set face up. The dealer deals clockwise with the player to the left of the dealer acting first. In the beginning it is not necessary to set cards in each row. Players can set all cards in three or fewer rows depending on their preference. For example, if a player receives A♣2♦3♠4♥5♣ as the first five cards he or she can set them all on the back or middle row if desired. Once a row has been completed (e.g. 3 cards in the front or 5 cards in the middle or back) then another open row must be picked. Once a card has been set it cannot be moved to a different row.

Fantasyland[edit]

Fantasyland is a special bonus awarded to players that make a hand that has a pair of queens (QQx) or stronger in the front hand and does not foul. When fantasyland is achieved, the next hand, the player receives all thirteen cards dealt at once while other players must play out the hand as standard open face. Players in fantasyland sets their hand face down when it is their turn to act. Players can fantasyland repeatedly if they are able to make the required hand. If a player makes fantasyland while already in fantasyland, he or she must declare it to all opponents.^[5] However, to remain in fantasyland while in fantasyland requires higher royalties, one or more of the following conditions must be met:

More than one player can achieve fantasyland. Another way of stating how to stay in fantasyland would be one must score a 10-point royalty or higher in any sub-hand.

Shooting the moon[edit]

If a player has J-high in the back hand and does not foul, he or she receives 20 units from all other players. Shooting the moon is rarely found in open face Chinese poker games, and is generally reserved for kitchen table home games.

Scoring[edit]

The stakes played for in Chinese poker are known as units or points: an amount of money agreed on per unit before the game starts. Basic scoring rules dictate that a player collects one unit from each opponent whose front, middle or back hand is beaten by his own corresponding hand. Thus, unlike most poker games, being second-best at the table is good enough to win money. In some variants players are also paid an additional unit if they win in two or three of the hands. In other variants players only get an additional unit if they win all three hands (known as a scoop). Also, due to the head-to-head nature of the comparisons, it is possible for different players to play for different stakes. For example, A and B could play for $10 per unit versus each other, while all other player pairings play for $1 per unit. Many variations of scoring are in common use; refer to the external links for more information.

The most common scoring system used in Open-face Chinese poker is the 1-6 scoring method.

In the 1-6 method the players receives 1 unit for each hand they win, and 3 bonus units if they win all three hands from a player known as a scoop. Players lose 1 unit for each hand they lose to each player and lose 3 bonus units to each player who scoops them.

In the example above, Hellmuth would pay Ivey 4 units, as Hellmuth scored 5 units, while Ivey scored 9. The difference is 4, and therefore Hellmuth would pay Ivey 4 units. Hellmuth received 5 units by scoring 1 unit for winning the middle hand, and 4 units for a flush royalty in the back. The total becomes 5. Ivey scored 9 units by scoring 1 unit for the winning the top, 1 unit for a pair of 6 royalty up top, 1 unit for winning the bottom, and 6 units for a full house royalty on the bottom. The total becomes 9.

Points are added to the winner and subtracted from the loser as the game progresses. If a game has more than two players, players gain a point for each hand/row they win from each player and lose a point for each hand/row they lose from each player. Royalty points are also scored based on the number of players involved. For example, a player with a completed back hand flush in a three player game would receive an 8-point bonus, 4 per player excluding royalties in any non-fouled opponents' hands. If other players do not have royalties, they would lose 4 points each otherwise, players would calculate the difference between the royalties achieve in their own legal hands.

Royalties[edit]

Royalties, or bonuses as they are sometimes called, are extra units that may be awarded to players with particularly strong hands. Hands that qualify for royalties in Open-face Chinese are lower than that of standard Chinese poker as hands formed are generally weaker.

Other variations play with naturals and can be scored the same as standard Chinese poker or to the players preference.

Like standard Chinese poker, in open face Chinese royalties cancel out. For example, if one player has 7777x in the back and another has 6666x in the back, the player with 7777x would win 1 unit for the back hand/row but not the royalty units. Even if a player loses a hand/row he is eligible for the royalties in the hand as long as it is not fouled.

Variations[edit]

• Pineapple Open Face Chinese poker (POFC) — For a maximum of three players. Each player is dealt five cards to start. Instead of being dealt one at a time players are dealt three cards at a time.^[7] Players set two cards and discards one until 13 card hands are made. If a player achieves fantasyland the player receives 14 cards and discard one. Traditional OFC rules apply to enter fantasyland. Some players suggest AA+ as a minimum requirement. To remain in fantasyland requires three of a kind on top and/or four of a kind or better on the bottom. Full house in the middle does not qualify.
• Double deck open face Chinese poker — in this variant two decks of cards are shuffled together and both used in the game, allowing more people to play, Double deck pineapple can also be played. Apart from this the games are played using the same rules as the single deck games. Some players suggest a AA+ as a minimum requirement for fantasy land. By using two decks it is possible to get 5 of a kind; some suggest giving this hand the same royalties as the straight flush.

Live Tournaments[edit]

PokerStars hosted a live OFC tournament in the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

OFC has never been featured at the World Series of Poker, only in the Carnivale of Poker. The Carnivale of Poker is a smaller tournament series that had a brief run, organized by the WSOP.^[8]

References[edit]

1. ^Dave Behr (2012). 'Not just another pretty face'. Bluff Magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-03-13.
2. ^Jennifer Shahade (2012-10-18). 'How to Play Open-Face Chinese Poker'. Card Player.
3. ^Calvinayre.com: Mikal Blomlie Wins the TonyBet OFC World Championships
4. ^Pokernews.com: Jennifer Shahade Wins Biggest Open-Face Chinese Live Poker Event in History
5. ^ ^abc'Chinese Poker'. PokerNews. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
6. ^'2013 Carnivale of Poker $5000 Open Face Chinese Poker Official Medaillion Event'(PDF). World Series of Poker. 2013-07-13. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
7. ^'Introduction to Pineapple Open Face Chinese Poker'. PokerOpenFace. Archived from the original on 2015-02-07. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
8. ^'OFC Rules'.

This month I’ve been teaching myself how to play Crazy Pineapple Open Face Chinese Poker with Fantasyland. It is an awesome game, but needs a new name. For now, we’ll call it “OFC.”

Using Corvid’s OFC Poker app on my iPad ($5.99), anyone with an iPad or iPhone (I suspect this is also available for other smart device formats – Samsung, Droid, whatever…) can play OFC with friends, in much the same manner of Words With Friends and similar games. The app does not accept deposits or settle up monetary bets.

Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple Scoring Sheet

OFC is designed for 2 players, although it can be played with 3 players. Leave out the Crazy Pineapple part, and 4 players can play. But never more than that. The OFC app is set up for 2 players only (if there is a setting to add a 3rd player, I haven’t discovered it yet). In this game, players take turns, so when it is your turn, the app simply waits for you to act. When you do, your opponent gets a prompt that the action is now on him or her.

Open Face Chinese Poker Play

How to play, you might ask?

OFC is built on traditional Chinese Poker. In traditional Chinese poker, each player is dealt 13 cards. You then organize the cards into 3 poker hands: Two 5-card hands, and one 3-card hand. The 3-card hand is placed on the table above (or in front of) one of the 5-card hands, which is placed above the other 5-card hand. There is a requirement for the bottom hand to be the strongest, followed by the middle hand, with the top hand being the weakest. No straights or flushes can count for the top hand since it only has 3 cards. So an arrangement might look like this:

Top 8d 8c 3s One pair of eights

Middle Ts 9d Tc 9s Kd Two pair, tens and nines

Bottom Ah Kh Jh 4h 2h Flush, ace high

Next, you compare your top hand to your opponents top hand, middle v. middle and bottom v. bottom. Whoever has the strongest hand on each row wins one “point” for that row.

If real money is involved (this is poker, after all), each point has an agreed upon monetary value. While at the WSOP this summer, I saw OFC being played in the cash games area for $10 per point and higher.

Next, you determine whether any bonus (or “royalty”) points have been won. If you win all three rows, in addition to 3 points, you also get a bonus of 3 more points for scooping. There are also bonuses based on hand strength. The minimum requirement is a straight on the bottom (worth 2 bonus points), or three of a kind in the middle (worth 2 points), or a pair of sixes on the top (worth 1 point). In my sample hand above, the flush on the bottom is worth 4 bonus points, and the pair of eights on the top is worth 3 bonus points.

Notice that I could have arranged these cards differently, with two pair of nines and eights in the middle and one pair of tens at the top. The pair of tens would be worth 5 bonus points, so that would be a more profitable play.

If the top hand is stronger than the middle, or the middle is stronger than the bottom, your entire hand is “foul” (a/k/a “misset” or simply disqualified) and you are not eligible to win ANY points on the hand regardless of the strength of any individual row.

Got it? That’s just traditional Chinese Poker. Now for the Open Face part.

In OFC, each player is dealt 5 cards and takes turns setting these initial cards in the 3 rows. It might look like this:

Top 2c Useless card

Middle 7d 7h Setting a pair

Bottom Qs Js 9s Setting up for a flush or straight

Once a card is placed at the top/middle/bottom, it cannot be later moved to another row. OFC is a button game, so the player with the dealer button acts last, and has the benefit of seeing the opponent’s first 5 cards before acting. In the example above, if I had the button and my opponent showed 4 spades in his arrangement, I might try a different strategy instead of going for a flush on the bottom.

Then each player is dealt one card at a time, in sequence (button still last to act), and places each card in one of the rows to try to score the most points. After the first 5 cards are set, back and forth you go for 8 more cards, one at a time, until all 13 have been set. There are 3 simultaneous equations to solve here: 1) not fouling the hand, by making sure the bottom beats the middle, which beats the top; 2) having enough strength in each row to beat the opponent’s corresponding row; and 3) winning bonus/royalty points. Here is a good article with full details of bonus/royalty scoring.

Got it? But wait, there’s more. Whenever the top hand is QQ or higher (QQ earns 7 bonus points, and the hand is not fouled, you get to go to “Fantasyland.” This simply means that on the next hand, you get all 13 cards at once (like traditional Chinese Poker) and have complete information to use in arranging your 3 rows. Not only is there no risk of fouling your hand, but you never miss out on a huge hand like quads or a straight flush by splitting these up into different rows early in the hand. When you finish arranging the hand, you place all of the cards face down in their respective rows, so your opponent has no knowledge of which cards he might need to complete his rows are already dead. To your opponent, your hand looks like this:

Top x x x

Middle x x x x x

Bottom x x x x x

Obviously, going to Fantasyland is a huge benefit. But there is also a lot of risk of fouling the entire hand, if for example your first five cards include two Kings, and you decide to place them on the top row prior to having stronger hands in the middle and bottom. Gulp!

Got it? But wait, so far I’ve only covered OFC with Fantasyland. What about Crazy Pineapple?

In the Crazy Pineapple version, after the first 5 cards are set, each player is dealt 3 cards at a time. When it is your turn, you set 2 of 3 on the board, selecting the optimal row, and the 3rd card is discarded. Instead of 9 turns per player to complete a hand (initial 5 cards, then 8 turns with 1 card at a time), it only takes 5 turns per player (initial 5 cards, then 4 turns of setting 2 cards and discarding 1). This speeds up the game. Crazy Pineapple also gives you more total cards to choose from, resulting in more bonus points and trips to Fantasyland, making this the most popular version of the game for high rollers and gamblers. Since your opponent is looking at more total cards, when you do get to Fantasyland in the Crazy Pineapple version, you get dealt 14 cards instead of 13, and sometimes that last card is just what you need to score extra points.

Thus the final full name: “Crazy Pineapple Open Face Chinese Poker, with Fantasyland.”

About that name… it is hilarious when I mention this game to some of my poker-addicted friends. They screw their faces all up and say, oh my gosh, I could never learn a game as complicated as “Crazy Fantasy Island Open Face, Closed Mouth, Ancient Chinese Parcheesi Poker with a Twist” or whatever that was you just said. It’s just too complicated. This reaction comes before they even hear how the game is played.

Now that I’ve played a few dozen games, I can tell you dear readers, this game is not really so complicated. The mechanics are actually pretty straightforward: make 3 hands of progressive strength, then compare to your opponent’s 3 hands.

What is needed is a simpler name. When you first heard of Texas Hold’em or Omaha, surely that didn’t sound as difficult as building the entire Great Wall of China. I think I’m going to try “Open Face” as a short-hand name. Regular OFC players tend to fall back on the 3-letter acronym (“TLA”) OFC, but I’m not a big fan of TLAs in the first place. I mean, WTF, some people have trouble deciphering the acronyms, and the short-hand becomes a big WOT (waste of time) when you could have gotten TTP (to the point) by simply pronouncing the words rather than the letters. OMG. Let’s rein in the acronyms. LOL.

If you want to try some Open Face with me, for fun or money, download this app on your smart device. My ID is KKing David. I’m currently playing with 3 friends for $0.10 per point. The app sets up a game as 20 hands in the Crazy Pineapple version, or 10 hands of the regular OFC version, but this appears to be an arbitrary cutoff. In a live, casino OFC game, the loser of each hand would pass chips to the winner based on the net points for that hand. Since the app doesn’t facilitate the exchange of money, settling up after each batch of 20 hands makes sense. So far the largest scores have been about 100 points over a game of 20 hands, which at $0.10 per point is ten bucks.

Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple Scoring Interpretation

Hopefully more posts to follow exploring some of the strategic and tactical issues, which I am still very much in the infancy of learning.