Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland Rules
- Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland Rules 2019
- Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland Rules Free
- Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple
Table Of Contents
- Pineapple OFC is a derivative of standard open-face Chinese poker with Fantasyland, the rules for which can be found here. Just as in regular OFC, the players get several cards in turn, and place.
- Open-face-Chinese is a variant of Chinese poker which originated during the mid 2000's in Finland. It spread to Russia a few years later where professional poker player Alex Kravchenko is credited with introducing the game to the high-stakes Russian community.
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.”. Open-Face Chinese Poker was discovered by the online poker community in 2012. Back then, as a piece in Bluff Magazine points out, most of the material on the game online was in Finnish. After some digging and posting on the 2+2 Forum, people online found out that OFC was in fact played in Finnish land casinos – although some players there. 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.
Introduction
Pineapple OFC is a derivative of standard open-face Chinese poker with Fantasyland, the rules for which can be found here.
Just as in regular OFC, the players get several cards in turn, and place them face-up until they make a 13-card hand, consisting of a 'top,' 'middle,' and 'bottom' row of three, five, and five cards, respectively. The players start by placing their first five cards each, but then the “crazy pineapple” part kicks in.
Objective
The first five cards are placed just as in regular OFC, but then players get dealt three cards instead of just one. In turn, each player then places two of the three cards in any of his or her available rows before discarding the third one face down. The procedure is repeated until players have completed their 13-card hands.
It is customary not to show the third card to opponents when discarding, but it should be remembered for your own information. Some players use this hidden information to discard cards purposefully that their opponents need to make their hands. Discarded cards are not shuffled back in the deck.
Scoring
Scoring is the same in Pineapple OFC as it is in regular OFC. You can view the complete scoring rules on our regular OFC rules page.
Fantasyland Changes
The rules for making it to Fantasyland are the same as in regular OFC. You need QxQx or better on top to qualify, and since the players see 50% more cards in Pineapple OFC than in regular OFC, players make it to Fantasyland much more often.
To compensate for the fact that hands are now much stronger than in regular OFC, players who make it to Fantasyland in Pineapple OFC are dealt 14 cards and get to play any 13 of them, discarding one.
Adding that 14th card may not seem like much, but it nearly doubles the chance for a player to stay in Fantasyland by making a big hand in the top, middle, or bottom. See our regular OFC rules for a complete list of hands that allow you to stay in Fantasyland.
Conclusion
There you have it. Welcome to Pineapple OFC, the version of Open Face Chinese Poker in which players make hands that are twice as big in half the rounds, where Fantasyland is not just possible but standard, and where you get a 14th chance at quads or a straight flush.
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.
Must Have Rooms
Home to the biggest tournaments online, these rooms also have the largest player base, great bonuses, tons of action and the best software. If you don't have accounts here, you are missing out on the best that online poker has to offer.
PartyPokerplatinum
Up to $30 of Free Play
RATING
9.9 ★
Key features
- Excellent mobile poker games
- Lots of free and real-money action
- One of the most trusted brands in online gaming
This page is based on information from Dave Holdsworth.
- Variations
- Pineapple OFCP
Introduction
Despite its name, this variant of Chinese Poker, sometimes known as Open Hand Chinese Poker or just as OFCP, originated in Russia and Finland in the early 21st century. It was introduced to the poker tournament circuit by Russian players in the Aviation Club, Paris in early 2012 and has since become generally popular, and the side-game of choice for professional poker players in the US and Europe.
Players and Cards
The game can be played by 2, 3 or 4 players, each playing for themselves. A standard 52-card deck is used. Deal and play are clockwise. Before playing it is necessary to agree on a stake per point.
Arrangement of Cards
The objective of the game is for each player to develop over the course of a deal their best 'back' hand of 5 cards, 'middle' hand of 5 cards and 'front' hand of 3 cards from a total of 13 cards. Initially the player has 5 cards to distribute among the hands. Then further cards are drawn one at a time, and the player has to decide where to place each card before seeing what will come next. 'Open face' in the name of the game refers to the fact that during the game all hands are visible to all players.
For a player's hands to be valid, the back hand must be better than or equal to the middle hand, and the middle hand must be better than the front hand. If these conditions are not met the player's hand is considered 'foul' and does not score. Note that in Open Face Chinese Poker (unlike standard Chinese Poker), a player may easily get into a situation where a foul is unavoidable, if the last few cards are not what the player hoped for.
The standard poker ranking is used - so the hand types from high to low are: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair, high card (see the page on ranking of poker hands). There are no wild cards.
Since the front hand has only 3 cards, only three hand types are possible: three of a kind; one pair; high card. There is no value in having a front hand with three consecutive cards or three cards of the same suit: 'straights' or 'flushes' in the front hand do not count.
Deal and Play
One player is designated dealer and deals 5 cards to each player, one at a time face down. The player to dealer's left now sets his or her 5 cards, placing them face up on the table, assigning each card to the front, middle or back hand. The other players do the same, in turn, ending with the dealer.
Once all players have set their first 5 cards, play continues clockwise, starting with the player on the dealer's left. Each player in turn draws the top card of the stock, exposes it, and adds it to one of his or her three hands. Once played, cards cannot be moved from one hand to another, and when a hand has its full complement of cards (5 in the back or middle, 3 in the front), no more can be added. When everyone has 13 cards, the hands are compared and scored.
The deal moves to the left after each hand.
Scoring
Each pair of players compares corresponding hands. So with three players there are three pairs of hands to be compared and scored: A against B, A against C and B against C. With four players there are six pairs: A against B, A against C, A against D, B against C, C against D, C against D.
For each pair of players, scores are calculated as follows.
- For each of the three hands, back, middle and front, the player with the better hand scores one point.
- If the same player wins all three hands, that player scores an extra bonus of 3 points.
- Points are also awarded for royalties: making certain hand values in the different hand positions, which are then added to the score. Unlike standard Chinese Poker, royalties are usually counted for both players being compared.
- The player who has fewer points pays the difference between the scores to the player who has more.
- A player who has a foul hand scores nothing for any hand, but instead pays 6 points for the foul plus points for any royalties the opponent may have. If both players being compared have foul hands then neither scores.
The standard scoring system is as follows:
Points for Winning hands, foul and sweep
- Each hand won: 1 point
- Bonus for winning all three hands (sweep): 3 points
- Opponent's Foul: 6 points
(Note: There are two common methods for scoring normal Chinese Poker
- 1 point per hand plus 3 points for a sweep, called 1-6 scoring because a player wins 1 point (2-1) for winning two out of three hands and 6 points (3+3) for winning all three
- 1 point per hand plus 1 point for winning the majority of hands, called 2-4 scoring. because a player wins 2 points (2-1+1) for winning two out of three hands and 4 points (3+1) for winning all three.
OFCP is normally played with 1-6 scoring as shown above.)
Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland Rules 2019
Points for Royalties
- Back Hand:
- Straight = 2 points
- Flush = 4 points
- Full House = 6 points
- Four of A Kind = 10 points
- Straight Flush = 15 points
- Royal Flush = 25 points
- Middle Hand (double the bonus for back hand):
- Straight = 4 points
- Flush = 8 points
- Full House = 12 points
- Four of a Kind = 20 points
- Straight Flush = 30 points
- Royal Flush = 50 points
- Front Hand
- Pair of Sixes (6, 6) = 1 point
- Pair of Sevens (7, 7) = 2 points
- Pair of Eights (8, 8) = 3 points
- Pair of Nines (9, 9) = 4 points
- Pair of Tens (10, 10) = 5 points
- Pair of Jacks (J, J) = 6 points
- Pair of Queens (Q, Q) = 7 points
- Pair of Kings (K, K) = 8 points
- Pair of Aces (A, A) = 9 points
- 3 of a Kind = 20 points
Variations
OFCP is evolving and many minor variations in scoring can be seen, even in the casino game.
Scoring Variations
Some play with different scoring for 3 of a kind in the Front hand:
- 3 of a Kind Twos (2, 2, 2) = 10 points
- 3 of a Kind Threes (3, 3, 3) = 11 points
- 3 of a Kind Fours (4, 4, 4) = 12 points
- 3 of a Kind Fives (5, 5, 5) = 13 points
- 3 of a Kind Sixes (6, 6, 6) = 14 points
- 3 of a Kind Sevens (7, 7, 7) = 15 points
- 3 of a Kind Eights (8, 8, 8) = 16 points
- 3 of a Kind Nines (9, 9, 9) = 17 points
- 3 of a Kind Tens (10, 10, 10) = 18 points
- 3 of a Kind Jacks (J, J, J) = 19 points
- 3 of a Kind Queens (Q, Q, Q) = 20 points
- 3 of a Kind Kings (K, K, K) = 21 points
- 3 of a Kind Aces (A, A, A) = 22 points
Some play that Trips in the Middle = 2 points
Some play that Trips in the Middle = 2 points and Trips in the Back = 1 point
Some play:
- Back Hand:
- Four of A Kind = 8 points
- Straight Flush = 10 points
- Royal Flush = 20 points
- Middle Hand: double the bonus for back hand.
Some play:
- Back Hand:
- Straight = 4 points
- Straight Flush = 15 points
- Royal Flush = 25 points
- Middle Hand:
- treble the bonus for back hand, and
- Trips in the Middle = 2 points
Some play that only the winning hand of the pair being compared counts when adding up royalties.
Some play using 2-4 scoring instead of 1-6 scoring
Table Stakes
In tournament play and when played in a casino, it may be required to play table stakes, which means that the player is liable only for those chips which he has in front of him.
When playing table stakes the payoff must be conducted in strict sequence. First the hand of player to dealer's left is compared with those of the other players in clockwise order, ending with the dealer, then the next player 's hand is compared with those of the remaining players, and so on. So for example if there are four players West, North, East and South and South has dealt, then the hands are compared in the following order: W vs N, W vs E, W vs S, N vs E, N vs S, E vs S.
Since you cannot lose more than the amount you have on the table, it is reasonable to have a rule that you also cannot win more than this amount. Therefore, if at any point in the payoff a player has won as much as he or she had on the table at the start of that deal, the player's win is capped at this amount. The opponent pays enough so that the player has won in total an amount equal to their stake at the start of that deal, and from that point onward the player's hand is 'complete'. The player cannot win or lose any further chips (even if without the cap he or she would have subsequently lost chips to another player) and the comparison moves on to the other pairs of players.
Fantasyland
Fantasyland is a very popular variant which awards a special bonus for setting a Pair of Queens or higher in the Front hand. On the subsequent hand the player is said to be in Fantasyland, and is dealt all 13 cards at the beginning of the deal. The player sets his hand face down before play begins. The hands are scored as normal when the other players finish setting their hands.
The dealer button does not move for the Fantasyland hand. Normal play resumes after the hand.
Some play that if a player in Fantasyland sets at least four of a kind in the back, full house in the middle or trips in front he can stay in Fantasyland for another hand.
Some play that a player must announce if he is staying in Fantasyland when he sets his hand.
Some play that a player in Fantasyland sets his hand face down in the normal course of play rather than before any other players set their hands.
Final Cards Face Down
Some play the final 3 cards face down to speed up the four-handed game.
Open Face Chinese Poker Fantasyland Rules Free
Pineapple OFCP
Pineapple is a relatively recent variant for two or three players, which is played in some Las Vegas casinos.
Players are dealt 5 cards to start and set them as usual. After that they take 3 cards on each turn, setting two of the cards and discarding one card face down.
In Pineapple OFCP, some play the Fantasyland variant with 14 cards dealt at the start of the hand and 1 discarded. In Progressive Pineapple a player with a hand better than QQ in front is dealt more cards: 15 cards for KK, 16 cards for AA and 17 cards for triplets. The player keeps 13 cards, discarding the remainder before setting the hands. A player in Fantasyland who sets a front hand of QQ or better will be dealt a 14-card Fantasyland hand next time, even if the front hand was better than QQ.
Pineapple 2-7 OFCP
In this variant, the aim is to set strong hands front and back and a low hand in the middle. For the middle hand, 2-7 ranking is used: straights and flushes count and ace is always high, so that the lowest hand is 7-5-4-3-2 in mixed suits. In order not to foul the hand, your back hand must be higher than your front hand and your middle hand cannot be stringer than 10 high. Royalties for the middle hand are:
- 9 high – 1 point,
- 8 high – 2 points,
- 7 high – 4 points,
- 75432 – 8 points.
Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple
KK or better in the top row or 75432 in the middle row results in a 14-card Fantasyland. Both KK or better in the top row and 75432 in the middle row at the same time results in a 15-card Fantasyland (15 cards dealt at once and two discarded). A Fantasyland player who makes a set in front or quads or better in the back hand is rewarded with another 14-card Fanstasyland hand.
Websites and Online Games
Open Face Chinese Poker and Pineapple OFCP can be played online at flopturnriver, either between 2-4 live players or as a 2-player (heads up) game against a bot.
There are many information sites and blogs appearing. Strategy discussions can be found at www.openfaceodds.com and on www.twoplustwo.com.