How OFC scoring works, with worked examples
One point a row, three for the scoop, royalties on top, and nothing at all if you foul. That's the whole system — but the interaction between those four rules is where the game lives, so here it is with real boards and the arithmetic written out.
Last reviewed 8 September 2026
The three sources of points
- Row points. +1 for each row you win against an opponent. Three rows, so three points available. Ties score nothing for either side.
- The scoop. +3 more if you win all three rows. That makes a clean scoop worth six, and it means the swing between a scoop and being scooped is twelve points.
- Royalties. Bonus points for strong hands, by row. Paid for making the hand, not for winning the row — you can lose a row and still bank its royalty. Full chart here.
Royalties are netted: yours minus theirs. And they're the reason OFC scores look nothing like the row count. A hand can go 2–1 on rows and 20–0 on royalties.
Example 1: a normal hand
You and one opponent, both boards legal.
| Row | You | Them | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | Pair of aces | Pair of nines | +1 |
| Middle | Trip tens | Flush | −1 |
| Bottom | Kings full | Sevens full | +1 |
| Rows | 2 rows to 1 | +1 | |
| Scoop | Neither player took all three | 0 | |
| Royalties | 9 + 2 + 6 = 17 | 4 + 8 + 6 = 18 | −1 |
| Net | Row points minus royalty difference | 0 | |
A hand that felt like a win — a pair of aces up top, a kings full house — and it's a push. Both players made 17-plus royalty points, so they cancelled out, and the single row edge cancelled the single royalty point. This happens constantly in real OFC and it's why people who only count rows misjudge their results.
Example 2: the scoop
Same idea, but this time you win every row. Say you finish with a pair of jacks (top), a flush (middle) and a full house (bottom), against an opponent whose best row is two pair.
| Item | Detail | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Top | Pair of jacks beats pair of fives | +1 |
| Middle | Flush beats two pair | +1 |
| Bottom | Full house beats trips | +1 |
| Scoop bonus | All three rows | +3 |
| Your royalties | Jacks 6 · middle flush 8 · bottom full house 6 | +20 |
| Their royalties | Nothing — two pair and trips pay zero on those rows | 0 |
| Net | 6 row points + 20 royalties | +26 |
Twenty-six points in a game where an average hand is worth two or three. That asymmetry is why OFC is played over a fixed number of rounds: one big hand can carry a whole session, and the number of rounds is what decides how much that matters.
Example 3: a fouled hand
Now the version that hurts. You go for trips on top, get them, and your middle row can't beat them.
| Item | Detail | Points |
|---|---|---|
| All three rows | Automatically lost | −3 |
| Scoop bonus | Conceded to the opponent | −3 |
| Your royalties | 20 + 0 + 0 — all void | 0 |
| Their royalties | Say a bottom flush: they keep it | −4 |
| Net | The worst result available | −10 |
Note the shape of that number: −10 against an opponent who made one flush. Against an opponent who made a good board it's −25 or worse. The gap between "the greedy line worked" and "the greedy line fouled" is routinely thirty points, which is the whole reason foul risk is the most important thing to get right.
Three-handed scoring
With three players, every player is scored separately against every other player. You compare your board with player B, then with player C, and add the two results.
- Scooping both opponents: 6 + 6 = 12 points before royalties.
- Your royalties are netted against each opponent separately, so a big royalty board pays twice.
- Fouling three-handed is catastrophic: you concede a scoop to both players at once.
Practically, three-handed rewards safe boards more than heads-up does. You're paying the foul penalty twice, and there are only 39 cards to go round three boards plus discards, so half your outs will be visibly dead.
Turning points into money
OFC is played at an agreed amount per point, settled after each hand or at the end of a session. At €0.50 a point, the +26 scoop above is €13 and the −10 foul is €5.
A rough guide to what to expect: an average heads-up hand settles for two to four points, and a session of twenty hands can easily swing sixty points in either direction on royalties alone. If you're setting a stake for a home game, pick a number where a fifty-point swing is survivable — because you'll see one.
In the app the same scoring runs on play-money coins over 5, 10, 20 or 50 rounds, which is the cheapest possible way to find out what your real variance looks like.
Questions people actually ask
How is Open Face Chinese poker scored?
You get one point for each of the three rows you win against an opponent, three extra points if you win all three (the scoop), and royalty bonus points for strong hands. Your royalties are netted against theirs, and the difference is the result of the hand.
How many points is a scoop in OFC?
Six: three points for the three rows plus a three-point scoop bonus. Some tables play a six-point bonus instead, making a scoop worth nine, which makes the game much swingier.
What happens to the score when a hand fouls?
The fouled player loses all three rows and the scoop bonus — six points — and collects none of their own royalties. The opponent keeps every royalty they made. Against a big royalty board, a foul can be a twenty-point swing.
Do tied rows score anything?
No. If both players have the identical hand in a row, neither scores that point, and a tied row also blocks the scoop: you need to win all three, not merely avoid losing them.
How is OFC scored with three players?
Every player is scored separately against every other player, so a three-handed hand produces three head-to-head results. Scooping both opponents pays twelve points before royalties, which is why three-handed OFC swings much harder than heads-up.
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