Open-Face Chinese Poker (OFC) is a variant of Chinese Poker in which each player builds three hands in full view of the table: a three-card top row, a five-card middle row and a five-card bottom row. There's no betting. Players score points by beating their opponents row by row, with bonus royalties for strong hands.
OFC has largely overtaken regular closed-face Chinese Poker as the version people actually play, much as No-Limit Hold'em overtook Limit. Unlike Hold'em, though, it has no betting rounds, bluffs or folds. The only thing it shares with most poker games is the hand rankings. This guide covers the rules, scoring, royalties, Fantasyland and the strategy that wins points.
How to Play Open-Face Chinese Poker
OFC is played by two to four players, with a dealer button that moves clockwise after each hand.
- Each player is dealt five cards and sets them face-up across the three rows.
- Players then receive one card at a time and place it in any row that still has space.
- After eight single-card rounds, everyone has a 13-card hand: three cards on top, five in the middle and five on the bottom.
Once a card is placed, it can't be moved. Every card is also visible to everyone, which is where the "open-face" name comes from. With four players, all 52 cards end up on the table, making OFC one of the few types of poker games where you can see the whole deck by the end of a hand.
What Makes a Hand Foul?
Your three rows must rise in strength from top to bottom. The bottom row has to be at least as strong as the middle, and the middle has to be at least as strong as the top. Rows are compared using standard poker hand rankings.
The top row only holds three cards, so straights and flushes don't count there. Only high cards, pairs and three of a kind matter up top, which makes trip aces the best possible top hand.
A hand that breaks the order is fouled (also called mis-set). A fouled hand loses every row automatically and earns no royalties.
How Is Open-Face Chinese Poker Scored?
Scoring happens once every hand is set. Each player compares their rows against each opponent's rows, one opponent at a time.
- Each row you win (top, middle or bottom) earns one point from that opponent.
- Winning all three rows is a scoop, worth a three-point bonus, so six points in total.
- A player who fouls loses six points to every opponent who didn't foul, plus those opponents' royalties.
- If two players both foul, no points change hands between them.
For example, playing heads-up, you win the top and bottom rows and your opponent wins the middle. You take two points, they take one, so you finish the hand one point up.
In a three- or four-player game, the same comparison runs separately against every opponent, so one strong hand can collect from the whole table.
What Are Royalties in OFC?
Royalties are bonus points for strong hands in a specific row. They're paid on top of the row points, and a fouled hand never collects them.
- Top row: a pair of sixes earns 1 point, and each rank above adds one more, up to 9 points for a pair of aces. Three of a kind starts at 10 points for trip deuces and climbs one point per rank to 22 points for trip aces.
- Middle row: three of a kind earns 2 points, a straight 4, a flush 8, a full house 12, four of a kind 20, a straight flush 30 and a royal flush 50 points, the biggest bonus in the game.
- Bottom row: a straight earns 2 points, a flush 4, a full house 6, four of a kind 10, a straight flush 15 and a royal flush 25.
Middle-row royalties are double the bottom row's because a big hand in the middle forces an even bigger one below it.
When two players earn royalties in the same row, the values offset. Say you have kings full of sevens on the bottom and your opponent has tens full of nines. Both full houses earn six points, which cancel out, and your bigger full house wins the row for one point. The net result is one point to you.
What Is Fantasyland?
Fantasyland is OFC's bonus round. Set a pair of queens or better in the top row without fouling and you enter it on the next hand.
In Fantasyland, you're dealt all 13 cards at once and set them face-down while everyone else plays the hand out one card at a time. Your cards are revealed once all hands are set. More than one player can be in Fantasyland at the same time.
Seeing every card before you place any of them is a huge edge. Fouling becomes easy to avoid, and you can arrange all 13 cards for maximum royalties. That's why most of the big scores in OFC come from Fantasyland hands.
You stay in Fantasyland for another hand if you make any of these without fouling:
- Any three of a kind in the top row
- A full house or better in the middle row
- Four of a kind or better in the bottom row
Under most house rules, the button doesn't move while a player is in Fantasyland, and leaving the game while an opponent is in it is considered poor etiquette.
Open-Face Chinese Poker Strategy
OFC strategy comes down to one tension: every card you place brings you closer to fouling, but playing purely to avoid a foul rarely wins points. These five principles handle most decisions.
Build From the Bottom Up
The bottom row has to be your strongest hand, so it's the natural home for your early pairs and draws. Put high cards up top only when the rows below can already beat them.
Treat Fouling as the Baseline Risk
A foul costs six points plus your opponent's royalties. Every placement should keep a realistic path to a legal hand, and early decisions should leave room for the cards you haven't seen yet.
Take the Risk When You're Losing Every Row Anyway
Getting scooped costs the same six points as a foul. When a safe hand can't win any row, a risky play that might win something costs you almost nothing.
Say your opponent shows a pair of kings up top, two pair in the middle and a flush on the bottom. They're heading to Fantasyland unless they foul. You have an ace up top, a pair of nines and two small cards in the middle, and a pair of jacks with a king and a queen on the bottom. You draw an ace, with three cards still to come.
The safe play puts the ace on the bottom. Your hand stays legal, but ace-high, a pair of nines and a pair of jacks lose all three rows. The aggressive play puts it up top for a pair of aces, worth 9 royalty points and a ticket to Fantasyland if the hand holds. You'll need the middle to improve past aces and the bottom to stay ahead of the middle, which is a long shot, but the downside is barely worse than the scoop you were already facing.
Poker's old line about knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em has an OFC version: knowing when to play it safe and when to go for it.
Chase Fantasyland When the Cards Allow
Fantasyland is where OFC's biggest scores happen, so steer towards it whenever the risk is manageable. A starting hand of A♦️ A♠️ K♥️ K♣️ Q♦️ is ideal: aces on the bottom, kings in the middle and the queen up top. One more queen puts you in Fantasyland with the rows already in the right order. Most hands aren't that clean, so weigh how many live cards you need against the risk of fouling.
Track the Dead Cards
Every placed card is visible, so count what's gone before you chase anything. If you need a heart for a flush and your opponents already show four hearts, your outs have shrunk. The same logic tells you when an opponent's draw is dead.
Open Face Chinese Poker - FAQ
What's the Difference Between OFC and Pineapple OFC?
After the first five cards, standard OFC deals one card per turn. Pineapple deals three cards per turn: you place two and discard one. Each player sees 17 cards, so Pineapple is capped at three players, and Fantasyland deals 14 cards, from which you set 13.
Where Did Open-Face Chinese Poker Come From?
Despite the name, OFC comes from Finland, where it emerged among local players in the early 2010s. It spread to high-stakes pros such as Jason Mercier around 2012, and from there to poker magazines and forums.
How Many Players Can Play OFC?
Standard OFC takes two to four players. Pineapple OFC takes two or three.
Key Takeaways
- OFC is a no-betting Chinese Poker variant where each player builds a three-card top row and two five-card rows face-up.
- The bottom row must be at least as strong as the middle, and the middle at least as strong as the top, or the hand fouls.
- Each row won is worth one point, and a scoop adds a three-point bonus for six in total.
- A foul costs six points plus the opponent's royalties.
- Royalties reward strong hands in each row, with the biggest bonuses in the middle.
- A pair of queens or better up top sends you to Fantasyland, where you set all 13 cards at once.
- Good strategy balances foul risk against points: build from the bottom, chase Fantasyland when it's cheap and gamble when you'd lose every row anyway.
