Chinese Poker
Overview of Chinese Poker Rules One of the major differences for Chinese Poker game is experienced right at the start of the game -when you receive 13 cards instead of the maximum four cards that are possibly dealt with other poker variants. The other difference is that there are no bets to be placed during the various rounds of play. Pai gow poker got started in the United States. It’s inspired by – but not to be confused with – pai gow, the Chinese domino game. Pai gow poker was created in the USA by Sam Torosian and Fred Wolf. Sam Torosian is the one who invented the game. But no one really knows who he is. The reason why is sort of sad. Download and play Chinese Poker 2 Thirteen for FREE! This is a unique type of Asian poker, unlike other card games poker you’ve ever tried. The rule is simple and it’s pretty easy to calculate.
Introduction to Chinese Poker
Chinese Poker is a poker variation that is played on a standard 52 card deck in which every player receives 13 cards. That means that the maximum number of players that can play this game at a time is four.
Some historians believe that Chinese poker has been existant for thousands of years and that it was developed at the same time Pai Gow had been introduced. There is also another theory about the origins of this game according to which this version of poker is actually a more recent development and that it came to be around the time when western poker had been incorporated into the ancient game of Pai Gow.
This variation of poker has been quite popular among the gambling community ever since it was introduced to the global gambling scene back in 1995 when the prestigious World Series of Poker Bracelet event took place.
Chinese poker is a straightforward game and you’ll only need basic knowledge of poker hand rankings to get right on it. Also, unexpected outcomes are frequent, and luck plays a huge in this in this version of poker. Therefore, even if you’re a beginner, you’ll have a good shot of winning in the short term, even against more adept opponents.
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If you’re interested to know more about why this version of poker is so prevalent in the western world to date, do go through our article as we discuss the main features of the game.
Chinese Poker Rules
In Chinese poker, each player will be dealt with 13 cards at once. When a player receives the cards, he/she needs to line up their cards up in two rows of 5 (the middle and the back rows) and one row of three cards (the front row).
Players must arrange the cards in rows so that the back row consists of high cards (highest hand possible), while the front row consists of low cards (lowest hand). Straights and flushes don’t count in the three card hand.
When players receive their cards, they need to arrange them in three lines (rows), each placed face down on the table. When all the players have placed all of their cards on the table, they will announce whether or not they want to play. The round starts with the player that sits left to the dealer and continues clockwise.
Once all the cards are set, players compare each of their three hands with their opponents’ corresponding hands. In the most common scoring system, the player wins two points when two of his hands are stronger than his opponent’s, and if the player’s all three hands are better than his opponent’s, he/she will win a bonus point. That means that if a player sweeps all three hands, he will win four points.
Some players that have certain hands (royalties) are awarded additional points. Depending on which Chinese poker variation you play, the points per royalty can differ. These bonus points make the game incredibly exciting, especially when one player fails to create three hands according to the rules − ascending in value from bottom to top.
There are a few variations that derived from the original game. These include:
- Open-Face Chinese Poker
- Low In the Middle
- Criss Cross
- The Will
- 11-Point Game
How To Play Chinese Poker
Chinese poker is a game played by two to four players. The luck element plays a much greater role in this version of poker than in regular poker and only requires a basic knowledge of poker hands, making it much more appealing to beginners. Each game (round) lasts approximately 20 minutes, depending on how many players are participating. To start the game, each player receives 13 cards.
Each player must create three groups or rows using those 13 cards − two rows that contains five cards each, and one row that contains three cards. The two rows that consist of five cards are known as the back and the middle, while the row that consists of three cards is called the front (row).
The sets must be arranged according to the following rules:
- The front (three) card row must be the lowest hand
- The back (five) card row must be the highest hand
- The middle (five) card row must be the middle hand
- Straight and flushes don’t count in the back row.
Once each player arranges their cards in three rows, they need to place them face down in front of them − first comes the front, then the middle, and then comes the back.
Showdown
Once all players have arranged their cards in three rows, they need to place them face down in front of him − first the front, then the middle, then the back.
Players must place their back hands so that they are closest to the center of the table. Back hands are then followed by the middle hand and the front hand.
The showdown begins by players flipping the cards over and comparing them group by group:
- Back hands are compared to back hands
- Middle hands are compared to middle hands
- Front hands are compared to front hands
Points are distributed according to a pre-defined scoring system. There are several scoring systems in this poker version, but we’ll talk about the standard Chinese poker scoring system.
In the standard Chinese poker scoring system, you win one point for each winning hand.
For example, you win the Back and Front hand but lose the Middle hand. You win one point for Back, and one point for Front but lose one point for the middle hand. So your total score is +1 point.
![Chinese Chinese](https://image.winudf.com/v1/image/Y29tLnZpZXRnYW1lcGxheS5nYW1lcy50aGlydGVlbnBva2VyX3NjcmVlbnNob3RzXzdfZTE5MDExOWI/screen-7=x800.jpg)
Casino top 10. Players who opt for the standard playing style cannot fold their cards. However, if the Surrender rule is included, it is possible for a player to withdraw from the round. In some variations, surrendering will cost you a certain amount of points.
If you’re playing Chinese poker with the 6-1 rule, a scoop (victory in three hands) will earn you +6 points. If at least one of your three hands is strong, the risk of getting scooped is very low. On the other hand, if you can set at least a flush in the back hand, or a pair of eights or better in the front hand, then you should give up the hand and avoid losing all six points.
Variations of Chinese Poker
As we have mentioned earlier in the article, there are a couple of variations of Chinese poker. The most popular one is Open-face Chinese Poker (OFCP).
Like other poker variations, OFCP players receive cards from the dealer and try to make the best possible hands, while their opponents try to do the same. The difference between OFCP and most poker games is that no bets are placed during the rounds of play. Instead, players play on ‘per point’ system where the game is scored in points, similar to card games like gin rummy or hearts.
If you’re familiar with standard Chinese Poker, you’ll quickly get acquainted with OFCP. There are some notable differences between the two variants. In standard Chinese poker, players receive all 13 cards at once, while the dealing procedure in OFCP is different.
Dealing the Cards in OFCP
OFCP is also played on a 52-card deck, and the maximum number of players that can play at once is four.
The players receive cards one at a time, starting from the player sitting left to the dealer. Players in Open-face Chinese poker receive five cards at the beginning of the round, unlike in the standard version where they receive all 13 at once.
Once all players receive their cards, they must arrange them (according to the rules) face up on the table and create their Back, Middle, and Front rows. Once these cards are placed, they cannot be rearranged later on.
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After the initial five cards are placed face up on the table, players will receive one card face down at a time, until all remaining cards have been dealt out. Players will then take turns to complete their rows with the remaining cards.
After all the cards are in place, the showdown begins. As in standard Chinese poker, OFCP players will compare their corresponding hands, and players who beat their opponent’s corresponding hand will win one point. A sweep (win all three hands) provides three points.
OFCP also features royalty bonus points. For example, you can win 25 points for a Royal Flash, 10 for quads, and 2 for straights.
Conclusion
Although Chinese poker is more of a game of chance than a game of skill, you’ll need to develop some strategy to be successful. You can’t just jump in and rely completely on luck, because you’ll get beaten more times than not. Form a working strategy, and build the three strongest hands that you can.
Don’t forget to arrange your hands or rows in the correct order and in line with the rules. Remember that the back hand has to be ‘stronger’ than the middle hand which in turn has to beat the front hand. Don’t risk getting swept, and if you don’t have at least one strong hand, surrender whenever possible.
Finally, use a pen and paper to keep up with what units you have won or lost and to whom.
10 Feb 2020 | Adam Shaw | 0 Comments
Table Of Contents
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.
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Once you play a card top, middle, or bottom, you can’t move it to a different row later. There are no take backs.
![Games Games](https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/zA39Pmcb0BV_XwTI.rCG.A--/YXBwaWQ9eWdhbWVzO3c9MzUwO2g9MzUwO2ZpPWZpbGw7cHhvZmY9NTA7cHlvZmY9MTAwO2ZpbGVfZm9ybWF0PWpwZztxPTgw/http://l.yimg.com/os/games/global/157beadc-e882-34ea-9079-2593c726e659/square/1424297272431/d43f84b5197e60b83fe5be8999600507.jpg)
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.
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! Ignition casino withdrawal fees.
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 scoring bonus is the “scoop bonus.” If you beat an opponent's top, middle, and bottom, you win an additional three points. This is sometimes referred to as the “1-6” scoring system. If you beat your opponent two out of three rows, you win one point overall. If you scoop him, it’s worth six points overall.
To encourage players to take chances for big hands, OFC rewards good hands in every row with different point bonuses. These bonuses are given, as long as a player makes a qualifying hand, regardless of whether the hand wins or loses.
Here, 'moscow25' makes a straight on the bottom, but loses to a his opponent’s bigger straight on the bottom. His opponent gets one point for winning the row, plus a two-point bonus for the straight. However, 'moscow25' still gets two points for his straight. Therefore, the straight bonuses cancel each other out, and 'moscow25' loses just one point on the bottom row.
Bonuses for bottom-row hands range from +2 for a straight to +25 for a royal flush. Middle bonuses start with +2 for three-of-a-kind, going up to +50 for a royal flush. Bonuses for the top hand start with +1 for a pair of sixes and then increase from there. The full list is below.
OFC Bonus Scoring System
Bottom Hand | Bonus | Middle Hand | Bonus | Top Hand | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
-- | -- | Three of a Kind | +2 | 6x6x | +1 |
Straight | +2 | Straight | +4 | 7x7x | +2 |
Flush | +4 | Flush | +8 | 8x8x | +3 |
Full House | +6 | Full House | +12 | 9x9x | +4 |
Quads | +10 | Quads | +20 | 10x10x | +5 |
Straight Flush | +15 | Straight Flush | +30 | JxJx | +6 |
Royal Flush | +25 | Royal Flush | +50 | QxQx | +7 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | KxKx | +8 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | AxAx | +9 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 2x2x2x | +10 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 3x3x3x | +11 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 4x4x4x | +12 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 5x5x5x | +13 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 6x6x6x | +14 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 7x7x7x | +15 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 8x8x8x | +16 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 9x9x9x | +17 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 10x10x10x | +18 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | JxJxJx | +19 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | QxQxQx | +20 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | KxKxKx | +21 |
-- | -- | -- | -- | AxAxAx | +22 |
In addition to the bonuses for big hands, there’s a special rule, which started out as another way to add drama to the game, but has since become a standard, big part of OFC strategy.
Playing with 'Fantasyland” is optional, and must be agreed to before an OFC game begins. Most OFC games played online and in public casinos are played with the Fantasyland option. Make sure you know whether you’re playing with or without Fantasyland before you join.
Fantasyland
This rule is simple: If you make a qualifying hand with QxQx or better on top, then your next hand will be “in Fantasyland.”
Fantasyland is treated as a bonus round of OFC. It’s common for the button not to move, and a player is not allowed to quit or get dealt out of the hand during his opponent’s Fantasyland round.
The player in Fantasyland has a big advantage because he or she is dealt all 13 cards at once, instead of the starting five and then one at a time. The player then sets the cards face down in turn, and then waits for his opponents to play their hands according to standard OFC rules.
Once all players are finished setting, the Fantasyland hand is revealed and scored like a regular OFC hand. Thus, a player in Fantasyland, after rounds and rounds of setting his hand imperfectly because he doesn’t know what’s coming, is able to set his hand perfectly.
Staying in Fantasyland
It is too easy to make QxQx or better on top while in Fantasyland, which you can see all 13 cards at once, so the rules for remaining in Fantasyland are a bit stricter.
A player in Fantasyland gets to “stay in Fantasyland” if he makes quads or better on the bottom, a full house or better in the middle, or three-of-a-kind on top. The full list of hands qualifying to stay in Fantasyland are below:
Bottom hand | Stay in FL? | Middle hand | Stay in FL? | Top Hand | Stay in FL? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
-- | -- | Full House | YES | Three-of-a-kind 2x2x2x | YES |
Quads | YES | Quads | YES | 3x3x3x | YES |
Straight Flush | YES | Straight Flush | YES | 4x4x4x | YES |
Royal Flush | YES | Royal Flush | YES | 5x5x5x | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 6x6x6x | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 7x7x7x | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 8x8x8x | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 9x9x9x | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | 10x10x10x | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | JxJxJx | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | QxQxQx | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | KxKxKx | YES |
-- | -- | -- | -- | AxAxAx | YES |
Rules and Ethics
While it’s OK to quit the game or to get dealt out to take a smoke or a phone call at the beginning of an OFC hand, any hand started must be completed until scoring.
Since Fantasyland is treated as the extension of a previous hand, and the player in Fantasyland has a clear advantage, players at the table are not allowed to quit or skip the Fantasyland hand, if they played the hand that led to it. There is also a common-courtesy rule that asks the player in Fantasyland to announce that he or she is “staying” in Fantasyland.
House rules vary, but it’s also common for the Fantasyland player to set the hand face-down, and not change it before the other players start their round.
Variants
OFC is still a new game, however, the common rules for “standard OFC with Fantasyland” described above are nearly universal, both online and in the casinos that increasingly spread OFC whenever the poker tournament circuit comes to town.
There are also a few variants of the game that have caught a bit of steam in the poker community. One well-known variant is “criss-cross OFC,” which simply consists of two player playing two hands each, to form a four-handed OFC game. The hottest new variant of OFC that actually changes some rules is called 'pineapple OFC.'
Like other “pineapple” variants of poker games like Omaha and Texas hold’em, pineapple OFC deals each player three cards instead of one card per round, and that player must play two cards in turn, while discarding one.
Conclusion
Open-face Chinese poker is a new and exciting form of poker. It combines simple rules and the drama of drawing for big hands, as in Texas hold’em and seven-card stud, with the high variance of games like blackjack.
The game is easy to learn and intuitive to play (don’t be scared by the table of bonuses), and like any good poker game, a beginner can win right away. Even better, unlike hearts, gin rummy, or even Texas hold’em (without the hole-card camera), you can learn the game by watching top players play. The game is played face up, so at every point in time, the player and the spectators have the same exact information.
Since the beginning of 2013, OFC has taken off as a mobile game. The screenshots used above to illustrate OFC rules are from the ABC Open-Face Chinese Poker App, available for the iPhone and iPad. There are several other good apps for playing OFC on mobile, against friends, against strangers, or against a computer opponent.
We’ll see you in Fantasyland!
OFC rules have been contributed by Nikolai Yakovenko. Known as 'Googles,' Yakovenko is originally from Moscow, Russia and is now a poker player and software developer residing in Brooklyn, New York. Yakovenko has made both World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour final tables. Meanwhile after several years at Google New York working on ranking algorithms, he's been developing independent software projects ever since. He also helped create the ABC Open-Face Chinese Poker iPhone App. You can follow Yakovenko on Twittter at @ivan_bezdomny.
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