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Dragon Poker Rules. For anyone who's read Asprin (but more so for those who are written by him), you either love it or hate it. Or love to hate it. Or hate to lo -- But anyway. However, how many really know how to play dragon poker? That's what I thought. It is this impetus that started me to cull the basic rules for dragon poker; the conditional rules will come later for we need to master the essentials first. THE DECK The deck that dragon poker uses has 52 cards, much like our standard decks. It also boasts four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. However, instead of the normal face cards a dragon poker deck has the ranks of Elves, Ogres, Unicorns, and Dragons. Elves correspond to Jacks, Ogres to Queens, Unicorns to Kings, and Dragons to Aces. Also, Dragons can normally be either the high rank or the low rank, but not both (this means no runs including Unicorn - Dragon - Two). THE DEAL Dragon poker is a 'stud' game, that is, what cards you get, you play, and no chance to draw to better your hand. Rather than most poker variations, hands are made of six cards, not five. Also, a total of nine cards are dealt. Thus a total of five players can play for each deck. The game is played with all cards on the table, with four 'hole' cards (face down) and five cards face up. The hole cards are the first three and the last one to each player. (Down - down - down - up - up - up - up - up - down). THE RANKS With six-card hands, the variations of possible hands now increase rapidly. Thus, the standard order does not necessarily apply. The following links are short tables of the various hands, including the combinations of each when drawn as a set of six cards. Also included are the odds of getting each type of hand. Note that the odds given are for getting the given hand in a set of six cards: in dragon poker, where the hand is the best of nine cards, the odds are significantly higher. Some explanation is needed on a few hands. First, one and two pairs, three of a kind, full house, and four of a kind are exactly the same as in five-card poker, with an extra, "don't care" card. Flushes, straights, and straight flushes are similar to their counterparts, but that the sixth card must fit with the same rule as the other five. Three pairs is as it would seem: three pairs of cards put together. A full belly is two sets of threes of a kind, and a full dragon is a four of a kind plus a pair. You probably notice two other points: First, the position for straights is out of order in regards to the list given in Little Myth Marker. This is because the number of possible straights is higher than that of flushes and fours of a kind. Second, book fans realize that there's an extra hand, that was invalid for the game played in Little Myth Marker. This hand, the corps-a-corps, was given no official definition in the book, so we decided to reason it out from its name (and what seems to be missing from the hands). This hand is a subset of the three pairs hand, in which the three pairs are also two three-card flushes. An example would be: 2H - 2S - 7H - 7S - OH - OS, or in English, the 2, 7, and ogre of hearts, and the 2, 7, and ogre of spades. THE BET One important aspect of dragon poker is when to bet. There are six rounds of betting: once after each round of up cards is dealt (the fourth through eighth), plus a final betting round before everyone shows their hole cards. As in traditional poker, the person who starts each round is the one with the best hand "showing", that is, from just all the face-up cards. THE CONDITIONAL MODIFIERS What makes dragon poker so intriguing (and confusing) is the concept of conditional modifiers. Think of these as a standard set of rules that, depending on the day, weather, number of people playing, and other factors, determines what cards are wild, what cards are 'dead' (unusable), and other subtle changes in how the game is played. In the books, the rules delineating conditional modifiers vary as well, depending on the dimension where the game is being played. The question arises: Is there a set for Earth? My answer is 'not yet, or not that I know.' Look in this space for a link, as modifiers are put together, and if you see a condition without a modifier, please send feedback suggesting it! One final and important note about conditional modifiers: They do not have to be pointed out by an opponent. Though they may if they wish, no rule exists that forces a player to inform you that your junk hand really does beat their own through some bizarre set of modifiers.
THE CREDITS First and foremost, this page would not exist without the inspiration of Robert Asprin and his MYTH series of novels, especially Little Myth Marker and M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action. My main source of commentary and feedback is the _alt.fan.asprin_ newsgroup. James A Whitney has helped me greatly, both through email and the newsgroup: He fixed my initial probability miscalculations, and pointed out a more elegant version to my initial corps-a-corps proposal. (The odds values are courtesy of James, too. :) Also of help to me in this endeavor is the (Unofficial) _Nitpicker's Guide_ to Robert Asprin's MYTH Series. From this I got more info, and was where I came up with the original idea for the corps-a-corps. Web posting early 1990's or before? by Bob Galley // sarobert@ucsu.colorado.edu DRAGON POKER HANDS (NATURAL DECK) Hand Combinations Odds (6 Of 6) All 20358520 1.00000000 High card 4203876 0.20649222 One Pair 9884160 0.48550484 Two Pair 4942080 0.24275242 Three of a Kind 732160 0.03596332 Three Pair 360360 0.01770070 Full house 164736 0.00809175 Straight (6) 36828 0.00180897 Four of a Kind 13728 0.00067431 Three Matched Pair 10296 0.00050573 Flush (6) 6828 0.00033539 Full Belly (3+3) 2496 0.00012260 Full Dragon (4+2) 936 0.00004598 Straight Flush (6) 36 0.00000177 DRAGON POKER HANDS (4-JOKERS DECK) (We use 4 jokers to avoid the 2's vs. 7's effects on Straights) (Assumes wild-cards promote to best hand as ordered here) Hand Combinations Odds (6 Of 6) N=natural, W=Wild All 32468436 1.0000000 High/Pair(W) 4817536 0.1483759 One Pair (N) 9884160 0.3044236 Two Pair (N Only) 4942080 0.1522118 Three of a Kind 5125120 0.1578493 Three Pair(N Only) 370656 0.0114130 Full house 1153152 0.0355160 Straight (6) 4231116 0.1303147 Four of a Kind 947232 0.0291739 Flush (6) 902196 0.0277868 Full Belly (N Only) 2496 0.0000768 Full Dragon (4+2) 49608 0.0015278 Five of a Kind 34944 0.0010762 Straight Flush (N/W) 7560 0.0002328 Six of a Kind 364 0.0000112 Straight Flush (N) 36 0.0000011 Notes: --At least 1 Wild ==> 13,915,044 (43%) --exactly 1 Wild ==> 10,395,840 (32%) Wild cards promote hands which causes oddities: If you calculate POTENTIAL, rather than ACTUAL hands, then the chart is linear in probability. Eg: 4H, 4S, 6C, 6D, W, W could be 3-pair, or Full House, or Full Belly, or Full Dragon, but is only counted as a Full Dragon (best). Thus certain hands (2 pair, 3 pair, full belly) will be natural only hands (because wild-cards can make better hands). |
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