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Using Poker Dice

Started by iago, July 22, 2003, 03:28:41 AM

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Lxndr

Fred, how did you calculate those statistics for the various hands?  I'm trying to calculate the statistics for Stud hands, including the possibility of Short Straights, and can't figure it out.  (I managed to cobble together something for the other hands, since they're relatively simpler, but I'd like to see a statistic spread for Studs w/ Short Straights, and can't figure out how to do it).  Btw, through my own number crunching and research, it's possible a short-straight might be worth more than just "between one and two pairs."

On a different note, I finally ordered the 8-siders and they're on their way.  I also found a set of 12-sided poker dice... in the set of five, between them, there's supposed to be all 52 cards.  The other 8 sides are, apparently, wilds.  I'll find out, again, when I get them.
Alexander Cherry, Twisted Confessions Game Design
Maker of many fine story-games!
Moderator of Indie Netgaming

iago

Quote from: LxndrFred, how did you calculate those statistics for the various hands?  I'm trying to calculate the statistics for Stud hands, including the possibility of Short Straights, and can't figure it out.  (I managed to cobble together something for the other hands, since they're relatively simpler, but I'd like to see a statistic spread for Studs w/ Short Straights, and can't figure out how to do it).  Btw, through my own number crunching and research, it's possible a short-straight might be worth more than just "between one and two pairs."

On a different note, I finally ordered the 8-siders and they're on their way.  I also found a set of 12-sided poker dice... in the set of five, between them, there's supposed to be all 52 cards.  The other 8 sides are, apparently, wilds.  I'll find out, again, when I get them.

I used a possibly-flawed perl script I wrote that tried to work out the problem.  But my numbers may be all wrong.  When all else fails, write something that runs through _all_ the combinations (216 of 'em) and just count 'em up.  I may have tried to get clever with my script, though, so I'm not sure if I did it completely right. :(

Brian Leybourne

Quote from: LxndrOn a different note, I finally ordered the 8-siders and they're on their way.  I also found a set of 12-sided poker dice... in the set of five, between them, there's supposed to be all 52 cards.  The other 8 sides are, apparently, wilds.  I'll find out, again, when I get them.

The essential problem with this concept is that some combinations are simply impossible. If the Jack of Spades and the ten of spades are on the same die, you'll never have a spades royal flush, for example.

Really, the only way poker dice work properly is to have them suitless. Five suitless D13's (is that possible? I don't think there's a 13-sided geometric shape, but you could do a 14-sider with Ace-King and a joker) would then let you have any combination except flushes (and a minor risk of getting 5-of a kind).

Brian.
Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

Lxndr

When I actually GET the dice (should be today, maybe today) I'll post a report.  I agree, it's potentially frustrating how few combinations one can have... but hopefully, they've figured out a way to maximize the potential useful combinations, even if the odds don't turn out exactly the same.

I also finally found a different set of pictures for a DIFFERENT set of 8 sided poker dice, which were created by Marlboro in the seventies or something like that.  If the eight-sided poker dice I'm getting were based off those, then the sides are as follows:

Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Seven, Five

I also ordered a roulette wheel, which came today... I'll be posting about that in another thread.
Alexander Cherry, Twisted Confessions Game Design
Maker of many fine story-games!
Moderator of Indie Netgaming

Lxndr

The eight sided poker dice arrived today.  I'm sad they weren't like the six-sided poker dice (i.e. interchangeable).  But they're still interesting, though likely NOT the quite as useful for Texorami.

(although if you were to use them for Texorami, it would probably work like this:  "Roll five dice, and add the card(s) in your hand.  Choose the best five.")

Die 1:[list=1][*]Ace/Clubs
[*]Queen/Spades
[*]Jack/Hearts
[*]Ten/Diamonds
[*]Nine/Clubs
[*]Seven/Spades
[*]Six/Hearts
[*]Five/Diamonds
[/list:o]Die 2:[list=1][*]Ace/Hearts
[*]King/Diamonds
[*]Queen/Clubs
[*]Ten/Spades
[*]Nine/Hearts
[*]Eight/Diamonds
[*]Seven/Clubs
[*]Five/Spades
[/list:o]Die 3[list=1][*]Ace/Diamonds
[*]King/Clubs
[*]Jack/Spades
[*]Ten/Hearts
[*]Nine/Diamonds
[*]Eight/Clubs
[*]Six/Spades
[*]Five/um... it's red, but it looks like a spade... but I think it's supposed to be a heart.
[/list:o]Die 4[list=1][*]Ace/Spades
[*]King/Hearts
[*]Queen/Diamonds
[*]Jack/Clubs
[*]Nine/Spades
[*]Eight/Hearts
[*]Seven/Diamonds
[*]Six/Clubs
[/list:o]Die 5[list=1][*]King/Spades
[*]Queen/Hearts
[*]Jack/Diamonds
[*]Ten/Clubs
[*]Eight/Spades
[*]Seven/Hearts
[*]Six/Diamonds
[*]Five/Clubs[/list:o]

These were weird to type out.  If anyone is interested in the 12-sider configuration, it'll take longer.
Alexander Cherry, Twisted Confessions Game Design
Maker of many fine story-games!
Moderator of Indie Netgaming

iago

Quote from: LxndrThe eight sided poker dice arrived today.  I'm sad they weren't like the six-sided poker dice (i.e. interchangeable).  But they're still interesting, though likely NOT the quite as useful for Texorami.

(although if you were to use them for Texorami, it would probably work like this:  "Roll five dice, and add the card(s) in your hand.  Choose the best five.")

Hm.  I think you could use them for Texorami with the standard roll 3 dice thing, you'd just be making stuff which matched card(s) in your stat rarer.  Though your 5-dice one probably keeps to the spirit a little better.

Lxndr

problem with rolling three is... WHICH three?  choose them randomly?
Alexander Cherry, Twisted Confessions Game Design
Maker of many fine story-games!
Moderator of Indie Netgaming

iago

Quote from: Lxndrproblem with rolling three is... WHICH three?  choose them randomly?

Good question.

First off, I'd get rid of the one that doesn't have an eight on it (die 1)... ah, I just noticed something I hadn't before.  I had figured on the gaps only existing in the lower stuff, but we're missing a King on one, a Jack on another... yeah.  My bad, you're probably far more on the ball with the "roll 5, add your cards, select best 5" idea.

iago

This deserves entry as a final footnote on this thread:

Someone came across the 24 Hour Games yahoo group I had set up and took up the challenge, independent (near as I can tell) from Forge exposure.  The resulting game, Ye Olde West! has been posted to that group's file area and -- you guessed it -- uses poker dice as its central mechanic.

On top of this, the setting is a *real* grabber (for me, anyway), enough so that I'm going to be stealing it to run my own face to face Texorami! game.