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".[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] 🍊 On Monday, Dec. 7th, 2024, TonyBet Poker Ambassador Isabelle Mercier became the first Open-Face Chinese Poker Progressive Pineapple world champion.[5]

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.[6]