Caribbean Poker Tour

The Caribbean Poker Tour is one of the hottest poker tours on the circuit, literally, as these events are held in beautiful, sun-drenched Caribbean destinations and often in the height of summer. In truth, the last place you’ll probably want to be when you’re in an island paradise is stuffed up inside a casino, but these tournaments kick off during the evening, when the sun goes down and you’re looking for some entertainment.

The next stop on the Caribbean Poker Tour is in the island of St Martin, a country with split sovereignty between the French and the Dutch. There are many tournaments here and although the first one takes place on the 30th of October, the final one doesn’t begin until the 8th of November. The main event is what draws the most attention, and also the television cameras, and that kicks off on the 4th of November, running for several days and finishing on the 7th. A day later, on the final day of the tour, is when the Open-Face Chinese Poker event takes place. This is becoming one of the most popular tournaments on the tour and is certainly eagerly anticipated this time around.

OFC Pineapple is the aim of the game here and as it’s the last tournament on the final day, it closes the curtain on the whole tour. The buy-in is $330, so many might be priced out, but there might be some satellite competitions available if you want to win your entry. You might also be able to get sponsored for the event if you have made some significant ITM finishes in other games and can find someone to spot you.

Poker Caribbean Adventure

For some more fun in the Caribbean sun, albeit with significantly less heat, then hit the PCA event at the beginning of the year. At the time of writing the event schedule has yet to go up, but OFC is sure to be featured here. In fact, at the 2014 event, Open-Face Chinese was one of the biggest tournaments. A $2200 re-buy tournament attracted 40 high-rolling OFC players and a total prize-pool of over $100.000, with Shaun Deeb taking home the grand prize.

European Poker Tour

The EPT is the top choice for European players and for those from further afield. This televised tour stops off at some of the biggest gambling destinations in Europe, including Prague, London and Monte Carlo. Open-Face Chinese has featured here since late 2012, with events taken down by players such as Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier. The next event is in London in October, but although OFC featured on this stop last time (and was won by Phil Helmuth) it is not scheduled for it this time. Nevertheless, after that it’s the turn of Prague and then Deauville, so keep an eye on these stops and you’ll be sure to find at least one OFC Poker tournament.

World Poker Tour

The WPT is often considered to be the the North American equivalent of the EPT, but in reality both of these tours are universal and as big as each other. The WPT has featured OFC on many of its stops, including the Las Vegas stop in 2013, when it was held at the Bellagio. Next up for the WPT is Borgata in September. The main stops on the tour have already finished this year, but they will start again next year so be sure to keep a close eye on this tour as wherever you are in the world you’ll be sure to find a stop close to you.

World Series of Poker

The WSOP is the biggest poker tournament in the world, so if you want to play Open-Face Chinese on the big stage then you’ll struggle to find one bigger. The WSOP Main Event final table is just around the corner and the next WSOP tour is a good 8 months away, but with the momentum behind OFC, next year promises to be a very interesting one. In fact, at the WSOP this year, although Open-Face Chinese didn’t dominate the schedule, it was all the big players talked about. When many of them weren’t grinding the big No-Limit Hold’em tournaments they were hitting the Vegas tables to play OFC cash games. There were also many reports of the top players playing OFC on their mobiles as they sat at the tables playing Hold’em. The tournament organisers will have taken note of this and everyone is predicting that next year at the World Series of Poker will be the year of Open-Face Chinese Poker. This also applies to the World Series of Poker Europe, which will surely follow suit. The European version isn’t as big of course, but it still attracts a huge following, with those who can’t make it to the City of Sin choosing the cooler climate of the WSOP Europe instead.