🍍 Open Face Chinese (OFC)

We’re Beta testing Open-Face Chinese Poker. Expect tables to launch in the Chinese section in the coming days! Reduced stakes for the beta launch but we will expand the stakes as soon as possible!

— a strategic set-building game where you arrange 13 cards into three hands (Top, Middle, Bottom) while keeping proper hand strength order.

Build your hands across multiple rounds, compete line-by-line for points, and aim for bonuses like sweeps and royalties. Avoid fouling your hand, and chase Fantasyland for a powerful advantage in future rounds.

Multiple variants are supported, including Pineapple, 2-7 and Progressive. (Jokers will be added in a future release).

For more information, check out our blog post - https://www.phenompoker.com/blog/open-face-chinese-(ofc)-rules

Beta Testing Information:

• No Rake will be collected. Play Rake Free!

• A variety of small stakes options of each variant will be available.

• We expect the beta to run for ~1-2 weeks.

• Report any bugs directly to our Help Center -

  https://help.phenompoker.com/en/

🛰️ Satellites & Tournament Tickets

We’re excited to introduce Satellites — a new way to qualify for tournaments and win your seat for a fraction of the buy-in. Over the coming days we will start to include Satellites into the tournament rotation.

🏆 What Are Satellites?

Satellites are special tournaments where the prizes aren’t cash — they’re:

• 🎫 Tournament Tickets or 💰 Tournament Money (T$)

Instead of paying full price for a big event, you can win your way in.

🎫 Tournament Tickets

Tournament Tickets are awarded as prizes in select satellites and promotions.

With Tickets you can:

• Automatically register for the target tournament when you win

• Register manually for eligible tournaments

• Unregister (if eligible) before the event starts

If you win a satellite ticket, you’ll be automatically registered for its target tournament — no extra steps needed.

The Tournament Registration modal will first allow you to Register/Re-Enter using a Ticket (if you have one), then T$ (if you have enough) and finally via your regular balance (a per normal).

💰 Tournament Money (T$)

T$ is a flexible tournament-only currency.

You can:

• Use T$ to buy into tournaments

• Track your available T$ via the Wallet > Tickets panel

T$ cannot be withdrawn and is valid for tournament entries only.

💼 New: Tickets & T$ Wallet Panel

You’ll now find a new Wallet → Tickets panel where you can:

• View all your available Tournament Tickets

• See your T$ balance

• Register and unregister from tournaments using your tickets

• Enter a code word to redeem promotional or competition tickets

This gives you full control over your tournament entries in one place.

📅 Satellite Schedule & Lobby Access

You can find Satellites in two places:

• 🗓️ A dedicated Satellite Schedule

• 🏁 The new Satellites Tab inside the Tournament Lobby

Browse upcoming qualification events and plan your path to the big stages.

✨ Improvements

Global Player Muting
You can now mute players more broadly for a more controlled chat experience.

Waitlist Pop-Up Behaviour Update
The waitlist pop-up flow has been improved to feel clearer and more consistent.

Lobby: Filters UX Redesign
We’ve refreshed the lobby filters experience to make finding the games you want easier.

Chat Panel & Tournament Info Panel – UI Alignment Clean up
We’ve cleaned up panel alignment for a more polished table and tournament interface.

Performance Improvements
We’ve optimized Socket.IO event payloads to help improve performance across server and client interactions.

🛠️ Fixes & Bugs

Tournaments

• Fixed an issue where tournament prize transactions could fail.

• Fixed an issue where the tournament table was missing the dealer button in some cases.

• Fixed a final table break issue where breaks could trigger twice if no hand was played before the break started.

• Fixed an issue where only the first table was viewable in tournament hand history lists.

Tables & Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where players could be unable to join a table from the waitlist.

• Fixed cases where players remained stuck in a table contract after leaving.

• Fixed an admin issue where some players stuck in a table contract could not be removed.

• Fixed a stale action panel issue in Big O after an opponent raised.

• Fixed a mobile issue where observing a table and selecting “Leave Table” from settings could return you to the table instead.

Wallet, Payments & Rewards

• Fixed an issue where Arbitrum USDC deposits could be credited but not appear in the wallet.

• Fixed inflated potential values and incorrect progress shown in the deposit bonus dashboard.

• Fixed missing rake and rakeshare values in parts of the referral dashboard.

• Fixed incorrect balance display after some USDT transfers.

Client & UI

• Fixed streamer links opening incorrectly inside the client.

• Fixed missing seat alert sound effects when the lobby was minimized.

• Fixed a double scrollbar issue in the Player Notes modal.

✨ Behind the Scenes

We also shipped a range of backend and platform improvements to make the experience more stable and reliable, including:

• better tournament hand history infrastructure

• improved admin error handling

• more accurate bonus calculations

• leaderboard query optimizations

• better withdrawal error capture

• reduced unnecessary avatar API calls

• maintenance window UX and guard improvements

📝 Notes

Some changes in this release improve internal systems and platform stability, so while you may not see them directly, they help us deliver a smoother and more reliable experience overall.