Chinese Poker is an exciting poker variant that some say has been around for thousands of years, but hit the global gambling scene in 1995. It’s known for having unique and simple gameplay compared to other poker games which makes it the perfect choice for beginners. The game has several variations, and in this guide, we will focus on Open Face Chinese Poker, the most prominent and well recognized variation of the game today.
Chinese Poker Rules
Below are select rules you need to keep in mind:
- Number of players: Because the deck has only 52 cards, you’ll find that online poker sites only allow up to 4 players to play at the poker table. The game can be played with a min. of 2 players and a max. of 4.
- Amount of cards: Each player is dealt 13 cards at the beginning of each round.
- Winning outright: If you make three flushes or straights in your three hands, you will win the entire hand by default, regardless of whether or not other players have better hands than you.
- Mis-set hand / foul: The strongest hand must go into the back hand spot, the second strongest hand into the middle hand spot, and the weakest hand into the front hand spot. Any player who places their hands in the wrong order will have to pay each player 3 units. However, the player who mis-sets their hands will not need to pay players who had already surrendered.
- Surrender: This poker rule is optional; players should decide whether to apply it before the game begins. By rule, players can decide whether they want to surrender their hand or continue playing it. However, players who surrender their hands will have to pay a predetermined amount.
How Chinese Poker is Different from Other Poker Games
13 Card Poker is different in many ways compared to other poker games such as Texas Hold’em, Three Card Poker, and Two Card Poker.
- In this game, it is possible to have two players winning some money in one round. Remember, your hand is treated individually, so even if you don’t have the strongest hand, you can make the second-best hand that is better than other players. This is not the case with other poker games like Texas Hold’em that reward one winner (except for a split pot).
- Chinese Poker is also unique in that you can have different values awarded without other players being affected. This is because your hand is compared individually to another particular player. For instance, one unit between you and another player could be worth $100, while another unit awarded between other players is worth $30.
- Cards dealt in China poker are many compared to other poker games. You will receive 13 cards to make two five-card hands and one three-card hand. In other poker games, such as Three Card Poker and Texas Hold’em, you are dealt 3 cards and 7 cards, respectively. These variants require you to form one best hand instead of three.
How to Play OFC Poker: The Gameplay
Unlike standard Chinese Poker, where the game starts with the dealer dealing 13 cards at the same time, in open face Chinese Poker, the dealer deals 5 cards to each player from left to right at the beginning and one card at a time to follow until all 13 card hands are made. In this variant the cards are all set face up.
Objective
The primary objective of OFC Poker is to make two five-card hands and one three-card hand. The first five-card hand is called the back hand, the second five-card hand is the middle hand, and the three-card hand is the front hand. Moreover, the back hand must be stronger than the middle hand, and the middle hand must be stronger than the front hand. If you don’t arrange these hands in order, you won’t score any points.
First Round & Subsequent Rounds
Just like other poker variants, the player to the left of the dealer/button will always act first. To begin the game, players are dealt five cards each to place on the back hand spot, middle hand pot, or front hand spot. Once the player next to the dealer arranges their cards face up, other players will flip their 5 cards and arrange them in different spots.
Each player will get one card at a time dealt face up until they receive a total of 13 cards. The cards must be placed on the spot they want. Once placed on the back, middle, or front spot, you cannot move it to a different spot.
Scoring
Unlike other poker games, the Open Face Chinese Poker scoring system is based on points. After each player arranges their 13 cards, each of the hands (back, middle, and front) is compared individually against a specific player. If your back hand beats your opponent’s back hand, you will get 1 point. For each hand you beat your opponent, you’ll be awarded 1 point. However, if your opponent beats you, you will pay them one point.
Bonuses
Open Face Chinese Poker rewards players with bonuses if they have specific strong holdings. The scoop bonus, which rewards 3 points, is the most common, and you will get it once you beat your opponent’s back, middle, and front hand. If you beat your opponent with at least two hands, you will get one point overall. But if you scoop, you will get 6 points overall.
The OFC bonus scoring system for various poker hands is as follows:
Front hand
| Straight | +2 units |
| Flush | +4 units |
| Full House | +6 units |
| Quads | +10 units |
| Straight Flush | +15 units |
| Royal Flush | +25 units |
Middle hand
| Set | +2 units |
| Straight | +4 units |
| Flush | +8 units |
| Full House | +12 units |
| Quads | +20 units |
| Straight Flush | +30 units |
| Royal Flush | +50 units |
Back hand
| Sixes | +1 unit |
| Sevens | +2 units |
| Eights | +3 units |
| Nines | +4 units |
| Tens | +5 units |
| Jacks | +6 units |
| Queens | +7 units |
| Kings | + 8 units |
| Aces | +9 units |
| Trip Deuces | +10 units |
| Trip Threes | +11 units |
| Trip Fours | +12 units |
| Trip Fives | +13 units |
| Trip Sixes | +14 units |
| Trip sevens | +15 units |
| Trip Eights | +16 units |
| Trip Nines | +17 units |
| Trip Tens | +18 units |
| Trip Jacks | +19 units |
| Trip Queens | +20 units |
| Trip Kings | +21 units |
| Trip Aces | +22 units |
Chinese Poker Hands
Your chances of winning in Chinese poker depend on how conversant you are with standard poker hands ranking. It’s important to learn how to arrange your hands from strongest to weakest before you start playing the game.
Take note of the various poker hands you need to be aware of:
- Royal flush: A-K-Q-J-10 – This is the strongest hand made up of five cards in sequence, all of the same suit.
- Straight flush: 8-7-6-5-4 – The hand has five cards in sequence belonging to the same suit.
- 4 of a Kind: 5-5-5-5-3 – The hand has four cards of the same rank and another unmatched card.
- Full House (Boat): A-A-A-J-J – The hand contains three matching cards of the same rank and two matching cards of another rank.
- Flush: A-J-8-4-2 – The five cards in this hand are of the same suit but not in sequence.
- Straight: 8-7-6-5-4 – Contain 5 cards in sequence, but of different suits.
- Three of a Kind: Q-Q-Q-5-9 – The hand contains three cards of the same rank and two other cards not of the same rank.
- Two Pair: A-A-J-J-2 – A poker hand containing two cards of the same rank and another pair of cards of another rank.
- One Pair: A-A-9-7-4 – The hand contains two cards of one rank and three other cards not of the same rank and not the same.
- High Card: A-Q-9-6-3 – Also known as no pair, this is a poker hand that doesn’t fit in any other categories mentioned above.
Scoring for Open Face Poker
Instead of using chips like other poker variants, Open Face Chinese Poker uses points. Players can predetermine their monetary value before starting the game.
- For example, players can decide to play with 1 unit representing $1. When it comes to scoring, every player receives 1 point for every opponent’s hand they beat.
- For example, if your back hand beats the opponent’s hand, you will get 1 point. This process will continue until all the back, middle, and front hands have been compared separately.
Suppose there are two players at the table, and you make the following hands:
1. Back Hand
- Your hand: 9-9-9-5-5
- Opponent’s hand: A-J-5-8-3
- In this case, your back hand beats the opponent’s back hand, so you receive +1 point.
2. Middle Hand
- Your hand: 2-2-2-6-6
- Opponent’s hand: 6-5-4-3-2
- Your middle beats the opponent’s hand, so you receive +1 point
3. Front Hand
- Your hand: Q-J-8
- Opponents hand: K-8-8
- Your opponent’s front hand beats your hand, so you receive -1 point.
In the above example, you won two hands (back and middle) and lost one hand (front). This will earn you (+2+-1) = +1 point in that round.
Awarding Points
The Chinese Poker scoring system awards points in the following scenarios:
- If a player beats all opponent’s hands (back, middle, and front), they get 3 units plus a bonus of 3 units. In total, they will receive +6 units.
- If a player is beaten in all hands, they get -6 points.
- If a player wins at least 2 of their hands, they receive +1 point.
- If a player loses 2 hands out of three, they receive -1 point.
- If a player surrenders, they must pay 2 units to opponents.
- Each opponent who doesn’t foul must receive 6 units from a player who has committed a foul.
Bonus Points
Open Face Chinese Poker also awards bonus points to the player who wins a varying combination of multiple hands. However, players must agree on whether this bonus point rule will apply or not before starting the game. Players must also decide if they want to use 1-6 or 2-6 methods when awarding bonus points.
In the 1-6 method, the player who wins all three hands must receive 3 bonus points from each player in that round. But if the player wins 2 of the three hands, they won’t receive any bonus points. On the other hand, the 4-6 method requires opponents to give one bonus point to the player who wins the majority of hands.
How to Keep Score
The easiest way to keep scores in Chinese Poker is to compare the scores of each player separately and record them on a score sheet.
For example, assuming you are player 1, you must compare your back hand with player 2 back hand and record the scores. You should do the same for the middle hand and front hand. Once you are done with player 2, follow the same process to compare the hands of player 3 and player 4.
Your score sheet should look something like this:
| Your Hand | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Total |
| Back Hand | +1 | +1 | -1 | +1 |
| Middle Hand | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 |
| Front Hand | -1 | +1 | +1 | +1 |
| Total | +1 | +3 | +1 | +5 |
Chinese Poker Strategy
The strategies of the game are far different from other poker strategies you may know. Unlike other games, there are no bets to call or raise in OFC Poker. This means you can’t study your opponents’ facial expressions before making a decision. So it all comes down to a mix of luck, skill, and experience.
We’ve found the best gambling strategy that comprises of the following tips:
- Don’t overlook your front hand: Although the front hand is the weakest hand, it makes up 33% of the total points you will score in a round. As a result, you should give this hand the same focus as the back and middle hands.
- Take note of opponents’ face-up cards: Paying attention to opponents’ face-up cards can help you determine which cards are still in the deck. This way, you can know whether or not you have any chance of getting the card you want to make a strong hand.
- Get confident and Understand standard poker hands ranking: The main goal of OFC Poker is to form three poker hands and arrange them from strongest to weakest according to standard poker hands ranking. So, if you want to have an edge over your opponents, you need to learn how to arrange each of the poker hands. You can play free poker online and learn all this without spending your money.
- Don’t foul: Committing a foul is a serious mistake that can cost you a fortune. Make sure you put your strongest hand in the back spot, the second-best hand in the middle spot, and the weakest hand in the front spot.
- Play small: OFC poker is a high variance game, meaning that the bets are riskier. Therefore, you should only play with stakes you can afford to lose. It is also good you exercise responsible gambling practices to remain safe.
If you’re looking for more tips, check out our comprehensive online gambling casino guide.
Other Variations of Chinese Poker
When playing at offshore poker sites, you’ll likely come across other variations of Chinese poker including the following:
1. Pineapple
This game is very similar to OFC but the cards are dealt differently. However, in both games, if a player gets a Q or better in their front hand they’ll enter Fantasy Land where they receive 13 cards for their next hand.Criss Cross – This is a two-player game where each player is dealt 2 hands of 13 cards. Each of these hands will go head to head with corresponding hands across the table.
2. 7-2 Lowball
With this poker variant, the second best hand (middle hand) is played as a 2-7 low hand.
The Wheel Straight – In this variant, the wheel straight (A-2-3-4-5) is considered the second-best straight after A-K-Q-J-10
Conclusion
Although Chinese Poker is not as popular as other poker variants, it can deliver immersive gameplay and massive wins, especially to beginner players. The game is known for awarding exciting loyalties and allowing players to place different stakes in the same game.
Besides, you can still win some money as long as you have the second-best hand in a round. Make sure you understand the standard poker hands ranking if you want to make the most out of this poker game.