Dragon Poker
Dragon Poker is a fictional card game from the "
MythAdventures" series by
Robert Asprin, featured primarily in the book
Little Myth Marker. The game is an absurdly complex poker variant, with the same basic rules as stud poker (but with different names for the suits and face cards), adding on the concept of "conditional modifiers". A conditional modifier is a modification to the rules based on variables such as the day of the week, the number of player, chair position, which hand of the game it is . . . needless to say, the game quickly gets ridiculously complicated. A few of the modifiers mentioned in
Little Myth Marker:
*Red dragons are wild on even-numbered hands
*Once a night, a player can change the suit of one of his cards
*Every five hands, the sequence of cards is reversed, so the low cards are high and vice versa
*Once a four-of-a-kind is played, that card value is dead and treated as a blank card
*If there's a ten showing in the first two face-up cards in each hand, then sevens will be dead
**Unless there is a second ten showing, then it cancels the first
*If the first card turned face up in a round is an Ogre, the round will be played with an extra hole card, four face up and five face down
Robert Asprin does not provide the full rules for Dragon Poker, and it is used mainly to parody professional gambling.
This has not stopped fans from creating a set of
Rules For Dragon Poker.
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).
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).
With six-card hands, the variations of possible hands now increase rapidly. Thus, the standard order does not necessarily apply.The hands, with descriptions, from lowest to highest:
*High card - Same as in normal poker
*One Pair - Same as in normal poker
*Two Pair - Same as in normal poker
*Three of a Kind - Same as in normal poker
*Three Pair - Just what it sounds like
*Full house - Same as in normal poker
*Straight - Sixth card must follow pattern
*Four of a Kind - Same as in normal poker
*Corps-a-corps - A 'Three Pair' with two 3-card flushes. See below for help.
*Flush - Sixth card must follow pattern
*Full Belly - Two sets of 'Three of a Kind'
*Full Dragon - A 'Four of a Kind' plus a 'Pair'
*Straight Flush - Sixth card must follow pattern
Some explanation is needed on a few hands. "Normal" Suits -- 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.
"Unique" Suits -- 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.
"The Corps-a-Corps" Suit -- 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.
Dragon Poker has 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.
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. It is not known if there exists a set or rules for modifiers that applies to Earth's dimension, and if they exist what they are.
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.
*Red dragons are wild on even-numbered hands
*Once a night, a player can change the suit of one of his cards
*Every five hands, the sequence of cards is reversed, so the low cards are high and vice versa
*Once a four-of-a-kind is played, that card value is dead and treated as a blank card
*If there's a ten showing in the first two face-up cards in each hand, then sevens will be dead
**Unless there is a second ten showing, then it cancels the first
*If the first card turned face up in a round is an Ogre, the round will be played with an extra hole card, four face up and five face down
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
(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, thenthe chart is linear in probability. Eg: 4H, 4S, 6C, 6D, W, Wcould 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 naturalonly hands (because wild-cards can make better hands).
