Chinese Poker Sites
Open Face Chinese Poker Online Guide. Open Face Chinese Poker is a fast paced and incredibly popular variant of Chinese Poker. Also known as OFC Poker, the game is enjoyed by beginner poker players through to table veterans and is unique in offering lucrative in-game bonuses. Multi-table tournaments at Red Dragon Poker and PokerClans. The Chinese poker applications didn't stay behind the classic poker rooms, and recently an MTT development occurred. In the beginning, only PPPoker offered at least 1-2 Sunday tournaments per club, but now there are two Asian applications with a tournament lobby and a full MTT grid.
Online poker in Asia is catching up with the rest of the world, and becoming a booming industry there thanks to huge economic growth across the continent. Card games have always traditionally been different in Asia with each Asian country having its own unique card games. Poker has taken a while to become more popular and widespread across Asia but in the past few years a growing number of international poker brands, such as GG Poker, are opening their markets to Asian players. The demand for reliable, secure and reputable poker sites is increasing in Asia, as well as an appetite for tournaments, prizes and exciting poker games. Live poker events are increasingly being held in Asia, particularly the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) which is the largest poker tournament in Asia. It is hosted in cities across the Asia-Pacific, and has brought the first major government-sanctioned real-money live poker tournaments to Korea and China. The Philippines is another Asian country which is quickly becoming an important hub for the online betting industry in South East Asia – it hosts several high-profile poker events in Macau. Check out our list of the ten best online sites for Asian players to get some poker action!
| Rank | Poker Site | US | Rating | Sign Up Bonus | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bet Online Poker | 4.7/5 | 200%up to$2500 | Read Review | |
| 2 | Best Poker | 4.5/5 | 200%up to$1000 | Read Review | |
| 3 | 888 Poker | 4.4/5 | 100%up to£230 | Read Review | |
| 4 | Party Poker | 4.2/5 | 100%up to£500 | Read Review | |
| 5 | GG Poker | 3.9/5 | 200%up to$1000 | Read Review | |
| 6 | Shen Poker | 3.9/5 | 90%up to$1000 | Read Review | |
| 7 | Bodog | 3.7/5 | %up to | Read Review | |
| 8 | TonyBet Poker | 3.6/5 | 100%up to€2400 | Read Review | |
| 9 | Dafabet | 3.5/5 | %up to | Read Review | |
| 10 | Tiger gaming | 3.4/5 | %up to | Read Review |
888 Poker
Another worldwide bookmaking heavyweight, 888 is a well-known brand in Asia also. It os the fastest growing online gaming site in the industry and it promises an “elite, world-class consumer experience” for poker players who join. It has been up and running since 1997 and has amassed 5 million users. It offers high-tech, industry leading software which is easy to download and use. A wide range of poker variants are offered here and plenty of tournaments are always running with huge prizes up for grands
Bodog Poker
This Canadian poker brand was established in 1994 and has recently become popular with some Asian countries. It is a stylish site with excellent features and reliable software. Bodog offers its players fast payouts and speedy deposits. Customer service is noteworthy here and the poker client is easy to use. Tournaments have a decent mix of casual and serious players so the competition is varied.
Dafabet Poker
This Asian site confidently claims to be the best online poker site in the entire continent of Asia. It promises fast, easy and secure payments into your account once you join up. The range of games have enough options to suit any level of poker player. The downloadable poker client is easy to use and straightforward. New players are rewarded with an instant $20 Welcome Bonus once they sign up, with no deposit necessary. There’s plenty of freerolls for new depositors too, as well as high stakes tournaments. Promotions here are updated frequently and are quite attractive.
Pokamania
This Asian-friendly poker room is fairly new on the scene. It is popular for its 200% First Deposit bonus, which rewards new players with a match bonus up to $400. Every hand you play on Pokamania will generate a number of bonus points and for every 2000 points earned you will be playing with a free 10 euros. Software here is easy to use and available both on Mac and PC. All poker games are run in Euros and traffic tends to peak in European evenings and on weekends. The Pokamania site has a feature of “All-In Insurance” which ensures that you don’t have to fear a bad beat. Pokamania’s easy to use cashier offers a large variety of deposit options which include Neteller, Skrill, Credit Card, Bank Wire, Clickandbuy and Ukash. It is an efficient and reliable processor of cash withdrawals from your account.
Partypoker
Partypoker is the world’s largest listed online gaming business and was once the top site in the world. It has high-profile tournaments which run frequently and offers players the chance to win a seat at big events like the WPT. It has a Poker school for new players, which includes a blog full of daily tips from the team of professional poker players on the site.
PokerMonster
Part of the Beijing Lianzhong gaming company which has a huge number of players across Asia – it claims to have in the region of 500 million registered users. PokerMonster hosts a wide range of events and tournaments with big prizepools and has an extensive “how to” section for beginners.
PokerStars
The world’s favourite online poker site has been recently expanding its influence in Asia to take advantage of the emerging online poker markets there, particularly in countries like China and Japan. PokerStars said their ambition was to “grow the game in one of the world’s biggest emerging poker markets,” even though the overwhelming majority of the Asian market views poker as a questionable activity. PokerStars has plenty of online traffic, an average of 15,000 players online at any given time (this number can be closer to 30,000 at times) and it caters for both low and high stakes poker fans. The site has a wide variety of games available and the tournaments here have jackpots that exceed $1 million. There’s always a consistent level of action here and customer service is efficient. Asian players can try their luck against the PokerStars Team Asia – a selection of top professional Asian poker players that play on PokerStars. The site also offers the chance to enter satellites for Asian players to win a spot at the APPT live tournament series.
Tiger Poker
A popular Canadian site for online poker which is also being favoured by Asian players and shares a network with BOL Poker so shares a player pool with US players. It’s been running since 1999, offering high stakes poker action and low buy-ins. Tiger Poker had plenty of poker variants like Texas hold’em, Omaha, 7 Card Stud on offer, as well as the chance to play unusual poker games such as Chinese poker, Big 2 Poker and “Guts Poker”. Tiger poker has a range of casino games, like blackjack on offer too. The software is simple to download and it includes handy features like Buddy List and the ability to make player notes. Daily tournaments and freerolls here have the potential for huge cash prizes. An extensive “how to” section is available for inexperience players to introduce them to the world of online poker.
TonyBet Poker
A popular online betting site that has become widely used in Asia. It has the accolade of holding the biggest live Open Face Chinese Poker event in the online gambling world, the Tonybet Poker OFC World Championship. Tonybet is an ideal spot for new and inexperienced players as the games here seems to be still quite soft, making it a great poker room for beginners. Those joining the site will receive a great 100% bonus up to €2,000 on their first deposit. There’s some attractive promotions here, with TonyBet rewarding Sit and Go Heads-Up players with €1,000 (each week the Top 18 Sit and Go players share the €100 leaderboard prize pool, while the best 18 throughout the month are rewarded with €600). The rake system here is very generous and it’s worth becoming a regular player to avail of the rewards!
Quick Jump
- 2 The Scoring System
Although usually played as a side game for points (which are then converted in a cash amount), OFC’s recent surge in popularity has led to it being introduced in a tournament format both live and online in America.
The Basics of Open Face Chinese
How To Play Chinese Poker
So how exactly do you play Open Face Chinese?
At the start of each game the players involved are all dealt 13 cards each. After this initial deal no more cards are taken from the deck and it’s the player’s job to then make three hands: a back hand (five cards), a middle hand (five cards) and a top hand (three cards). To add an element of skill and forethought to the game, the strength of these hands must be descending, i.e. your strongest hand must be in the back and your weakest hand at the top.
The main difference with OFC compared to Chinese Poker is that instead of receiving all 13 cards face down at once, a round starts with players getting five cards face up.
At this point the player to the left of the dealer is then asked to arrange their opening fives cards. The cards can be placed in any position the player chooses: for example, two up top, two in the middle and one in the back hand. Once the first player has set their hand, the rest of the table are then free to set their hands in a clockwise order.
After setting their first five cards, each player is then dealt one card face up until everyone has received a total of 13 cards. As these cards are being dealt each player is free to put them in either their middle hand or their top hand and once the deal is complete all hands must be set.
Open Face Chinese Poker
After the deal is complete and each player’s hand is set, scoring for each of the three rounds takes place and the winner is the person with the highest score overall.
Chinese Poker Online
Five things You Need to Know about Open Face Chinese
- OFC is played with a full deck and each player is dealt 13 cards.
- The aim of the game is to set three hands: back (five cards), middle (five cards) and top (three cards). The strongest must always be at the back and the weakest at the top.
- The winner of a round earns one point. On top of this, six points are given to a player if they scoop all three boards.
- Bonus negative points can impact on a player’s score.
- The winner is determined by the player with the most points at the end of the game.
The Scoring System
Before starting any OFC cash game, each player must agree on how much money a single point is worth. Once a figure has been agreed, players then assess who has the strongest hand on each street. The strength of a hand is based on traditional poker hand rankings as they evolved in the US and elsewhere.
The player who holds the strongest overall board (that is if they win two of the three hands) is awarded one game point plus any bonuses.
Generally you’ll find that a player might win one or two hands but not all three; however, if they do manage to beat every player in all three sets then it’s known as a “scoop” and they get 6 points. In addition to scoops, a player can also increase their winning score by hitting a Royalty Bonus. These extra points are awarded for the strength of a hand and add an extra element of skill to the game.
Because the size of each OFC board is different, royalty points are handed out for the following hands:
Open Face Chinese Poker – Top, Middle, and Back Hands
Hand Strength: Royalty Points
The final element to OFC’s scoring system is penalties. If at any point you set your hands incorrectly (i.e. your hands don’t decrease in strength from the back to the top) then you have a pay a foul of six points to your opponent.
Open Face Chinese Poker offers US poker players some very different challenges than they face with other types of card games.
Living in a Fantasy Land
One of the most interesting aspects of OFC that’s developed in recent years is the concept known as Fantasy Land. This part of the game is unlocked if a players holds QQ+ in their top hand. If a player achieves this state then their next 13 cards will be dealt to them facedown. This gives a Fantasy Land player a distinct advantage because they know all of their cards ahead of time and can, thus, set them accordingly. A stay in Fantasy Land can last indefinitely, providing the player makes quads or better in the back, a full house or better in the middle or trips up top.
Final Comments
Open Face Chinese might be a few years away from really establishing itself in the poker world in the United States, but with so many pros already enjoying its blend of skill and luck, there’s no doubt it’s a game on the up. While some will argue that it often favors the luckiest player, there’s still a lot of thinking to be done when setting hands. Moreover, the amount of money that can be made when playing for even moderate stakes is something that will certainly attract a lot of players.
Related Pages:
Chinese Gambling Sites
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