Poker help before I stab myself with a poker.

[The Guermo]

Harukas request, 3 cheat items still cant get enough, dont understand poker, seems like its all chance, but dont get poker at all

[Two]

Just play the poker slow. Dont raise or call every time you have the option. Fold whenever you feel like youre not gonna win the hand. Just remember, play it SLOW.
I have had to play for like 40 minutes to win 1000 chips to satisfy Harukas gambling needs.

[Johnnius]

Poker is really easy once you've got the hang of it.

Although there are different styles of play, cards held, cards down etc they all share the same common rules or hands.

Here is a list of hands, the weakest at the bottom :

https://www.pokernews.com/poker-rules/

[bmn]

Don't start raising until you've made a hand. Often you can get all the way to the river (last community card) only betting 10 or so chips, and have a very good idea whether you're going to win or not. On the other hand, when you do get a winning hand you can often make 150-300 from raising.

Showdowns in Yakuza follow a certain kind of logic that's less random than real poker.
* If your entire hand is from the community cards, you'll probably lose
* If you have a pair, but it's not the high pair (made using the highest card in the community), you can basically guarantee an opponent will have the high pair and beat you
* If you have 3 of a kind, or a flush, straight or full house you have a very high chance of winning
* Caveat: if you have a straight, but it's not the high straight, there's a decent chance of you losing (e.g. you have 12345, opponent has 23456)

From all this, you'll usually be able to tell early on if a hand's worth staying in. Say you get the flop (first 3 community cards), there's no chance of a straight or flush, and your pocket cards are lower than the highest community card (so you can't get a high pair). You're almost guaranteed to lose the hand, so you can fold with confidence.

In general, try to have an idea of whether you can make a hand from the current position, and whether that hand is likely to win (in Yakuza logic!), and don't be afraid to fold. If you have the option to check (add nothing to the pot), it's a good idea to do so as a lot of the time you'll get one or maybe even two more cards to make your decision. You can have some difficult choices to make if you almost have a hand, or you have a hand that might win but might not, and the problem is that you can end up putting 70-80 chips into the pot on an iffy hand.

You've got to recognise this kind of situation early and decide whether you're going to commit or get out. Folding, you might miss a winning hand or two, but you also won't lose 5-7 hands-worth of chips (or worse) if you lose. A good hand will always come along eventually to get you back on track, and then it's your job to maximise the return.

Obviously if you lose the first 5-10 games then you want to reload your save, but once you get going it's just a case of plugging away until you eventually reach the target.

The Royal Joker Card item is definitely one of the weaker ones in the game, so you have to pick your time to use them wisely. What you want is:
* to make a strong hand
* that the opponents don't also get
* on an expensive hand (or a hand that has the opportunity to get expensive)
So if your pocket cards can make a high straight or flush (one that involves the ace), you can use the RJ for the flop, then start raising. Or if the flop's already out and you're one card away from a very strong hand (that involves one of your pocket cards), you can use it then. But, if people have been checking and folding all game, it's not worth it to waste your card for a small pot.

[PimpToad]

The game becomes more predictable once you have a knack for how the computer will bet. Surprisingly enough their names actually matter, especially that annoying fate chasing Kenta or whatever. Those people will bluff like hell and keep raising when they have absolutely nothing, chasing for a miracle river turn to royally screw you over. Had that dude pull around 3 full houses and a four of a kind on me in the same game...

Anyway if the computer bets/raises (not check/call) preflop, high likelihood they have pocket pairs or suited cards unless it's the aforementioned Kenta. Same applies with the flop, turn, and river cards. Make sure whatever pair you have with the flop/turn is the highest card in play as there is a high chance the computer built a pair around it. If you're not confident with what you have at this point, can fold and lose 5-10 chips.

The sane computer players will actually fold, as in you can actually bluff your way to winning the pot and get up to 80 chips, when they have nothing usually up to the turn. You're screwed if you're bluffing at the river since they're committed at that point or if you're dealing with a fate chaser who may pull off a miracle just cause they can. Who knows? The river may smile down upon you, or you can play the cheat card and hope for the best.

You'll eventually win by just playing it safe, but that can take awhile as you're pretty much slowly grinding wins while folding most of the time. IMO best way to play is to get in a bluffing match with a fate chaser and have a 3/400 pot on the line as you lose to a river full house or win with your pocket two's.

TLDR: Computer tends to bet predictably. Playing the game should allow you to see the pattern to their bets. Become familiarized with it and you'll win...eventually. Or get frustrated and go back to your cabaret club or karaoke? *shrugs*

[The Guermo]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a shot. Right now I just kept taxing Haruka till she stopped asking for Purgatory. Although I don't know why I keep trying that mahjong thing is gonna stop me cold. In kiwami 1 what stopped me was that outrun requirement, I just could not get enough points to get that