Some employees are slinging cards in the back!
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You walk through an unmarked door, and find yourself in a breakroom. Disgruntled employees are playing some sort of card game with each other (the ones that aren't sitting in the corner staring into nothingness, anyway). They finish up, looking at you expectantly..
Unlock requirement
Spend 100,000 Ryo or more in one purchase at the Shop, then check your Quests. After unlocking it, the game can be entered from the Shop menu.
Difficulty
A game costs X Appetite (5 base + 15 per win that day), as you sit and eat the tasteless donuts and sandwiches that the other workers eat for lunch. The more you sit and play, the more unappetizing it is (and you don't get any bonus from the food, either - boo!). You have a chance to win a card if you win, and lose a card if you lose - watch out!
Difficulty |
Base card chance |
Special Rules |
Requirement |
Easy |
10% |
Opponent skips first discard |
None |
Normal |
30% |
No modifiers |
Beat Terri |
Hard |
50% |
Opponent shuffles back 2 redraws to start |
Beat Rover |
Crazy |
60% |
Opponent shuffles back 4 redraws to start |
Beat MC Stripey |
Bet a Card |
Extra 30% |
Lose a random card if you lose |
None |
Having A A Ron in your team reduces the Appetite cost by 5. Winning a card you already have gives a 20 Appetite discount for the next game.
The Custom Deck Box from beating Rover gives an additional 10% chance to get a card.
Cards
Outside of individual games, you have a deck of cards that you can collect from winning games. The possible cards you can win are limited by the bosses you've defeated. Once Bones is defeated, all cards are unlocked.
Winning a game without getting a card gives a +20% chance to get a card, which stacks until you win a card you don't already have. Winning a card you already have does not reset this bonus, but doesn't add to it either. Losing a game doesn't wipe your cumulative chance to win a card.
When you win but get a card you already have, it rerolls which card you get up to twice plus one for each game you've won without getting a new card. The reroll message misleadingly says "today", but the rerolls carry over between days.
As such, harder difficulties are good for when you've got a lot of deck to fill out, but if you only have a few cards left to complete the deck it's best to spam easy games. Betting cards without poker buddies is a bad idea.
Every day you plan to seriously play poker you should use the wage purchase "Poker Buddies" in retail, for a mere 200 wage you will be unable to lose cards, that includes losses to bosses and using the "bet a card" option, as such you will be betting a card on every game which massively increases your rate of returns.
Turning in cards
You can turn in cards, losing them for a chance at a bonus. Different cards have different chances at different effects. Winning a card you already have gives a 20% chance not to lose a card on turn-in. Multiple 20%s are only used one per turn-in.
The chance of getting the activation is the number of the card (e.g. 5 of Clubs has a 5% chance to give +1 Levels/Range on quests) or 11% for face cards. Face cards (Jack, Queen, King and Ace) have stronger effects than number cards.
Suit |
Number Effect |
Face Effect |
Clubs |
+1 Levels/Range on Quests |
+1 Levels/Range/Strength on Quests |
Diamonds |
100,000 Party House Ryo |
250,000 Party House Ryo |
Hearts |
a Basic Village Resource |
a set of Basic Village Resources |
Spades |
a Basic Monster Drop |
a Monster Drop |
Titans |
N/A |
All four other suits, +1 Retail Shift |
Cheats
Name |
Effect |
Unlocked by |
Bottom-check |
See the bottom card of the deck |
Defeat Terri |
Card-search |
Find whether a certain card is in your hand, your opponent's hand, the deck or the discards |
Defeat Bones |
Cheats can be used without penalty, even in boss games.
Bosses
Allies lost by looping can be reobtained just by going to the Perfect Poker page. There's no message for this, but they'll reappear in the team menu.
"You gonna eat that?"
Hand needed: Two Pair
Appetite cost: 50
Difficulty: Easy
A girl, ravenously eating everything she can, whips out some cards!
"Whatever. You got anything to eat? I bet you do. HAND IT OVER!"
You got Potatoes!
"Do I have to play every sassy blonde girl?"
Hand needed: Straight
Appetite cost: 100
Difficulty: Normal
Terri idly draws a hand as she sits down. "Surprised to see you here, hero."
"Not bad, not bad, keep it up."
You learned the Bottom-Check Cheat!
"Glee Club?"
Hand needed: Flush
Appetite cost: 150
With a snort, the sleepy-eyed kid in the corner wakes up so he can play you. "The CUSTOMERS.. you have no idea.."
"Ugh, why do I even come in to work.."
You got A A Ron!
"Spot called off, so here I am."
Hand needed: Full House
Appetite cost: 200
"HEY WHAT'S UP YO I GOT A JOB HERE this is so awesome LETS PLAY CARDS!" whoa.
"Hey that was pretty neat is your break over my break is over GOTTA GO BACK TO WORK YAY hey watch my fish"
You've gotten a Custom Deck Box!
"GET BACK TO WORK"
Hand needed: Four of a Kind
Appetite cost: 250
"You would not believe how expensive pet food is, I so need this job. You want to play?"
"I am never going to finish my shift at this rate.."
You learned the Card-Search Cheat!
"Hey, do you work here?"
Hand needed: Royal Flush
Appetite cost: 300
"Hey, Terri told me you were here in the back. Did you want a job or something?"
"You should probably work here. Let me know if you've got a shift free!"
+1 Shifts in Retail!
"YES WE CAN (gamble)"
Hand needed: Five Aces
Appetite cost: 350
"Play some cards? YES. WE. SHOULD!" (Oh, man, what a missed opportunity for a joke..)
He makes a mark on the side of the register. "Please, proceed to use my discount!"
You now have a 10% chance not to lose a card you cash in!
|
You've unlocked the
Aces High Trophy!
Congratulations! |
10 Points |
Strategy
Since you have to discard a card every turn, five-card hands only last for one turn before you're forced to break them. As such, your efforts should go towards getting three- and four-of-a-kinds, and only aim for five-card hands if the opponent consistently keeps showing down on you and you're sure they'll still be doing it when you get your hand. If you do get a straight, flush or straight flush, showdown and use the extra draw to try for a more permanent hand.
When you don't have any pairs, discard the cards in your hand that have the least matches in the discard pile (and thus the most in the deck). If you have a choice between a higher card and a lower one, keep the higher one (duh). To not burn through the deck too fast, only discard two to three cards a turn.
If you have a pair or three of a kind, discard all the cards that aren't part of it to fish for more matches. If the discard pile shows that you can't get any more matches, go for a two pair or even discard the first pair if there's enough cards left in the deck.
On the other hand, if you have a two pair, check the discard pile for whether any of the pairs can still be matched into threes or fours. Three of a kind is worth more than two pair. If there's too few cards left in the deck (less than 10) it may be safer to only discard the one card that's not in the pairs, but if the discard pile shows that there's potential for a three or four and there's enough cards left for a good chance, especially if you just got a showdown, then it's better to discard one pair and go with the pair with more potential.
On obtaining a four of a kind, showdown every round until you can Prove It. The game's probably in the bag by this point.
The Poker Prover script helps by telling you when it's safe to Prove It.
In Easy games, a pair is enough to start showing down right from the start, while in Hard a two pair or higher is a good idea. The extra draws improve the opponent's starting hand significantly, which is an important factor in judging when to showdown.
It's possible to bluff the AI by showing down without a good hand. If the AI checks, this usually means it doesn't have a good hand either unless it's been showing down previously and hasn't discarded a good part of its hand or anything. Thus, nine times out of ten, it's beneficial to showdown in response to a check. On the other hand, it's much more risky to showdown without a sign of how good the opponent's hand is. The AI will only respond to showdowns if it has a king pair or higher, so showing down right after it discards its whole hand from a five-card is mostly safe.
On the other hand, the AI will also bluff sometimes in the harder difficulties. If you watch how many cards it discards, you can get a good idea of how many cards its hand needs and call when yours is better. Trying to counterbluff without a hand is dumb and will almost certainly net you a loss.
The bottom-check cheat is rarely useful except as an inferior version of the card-search or when you're approaching the bottom of the deck, while the card-search can help you see if the card you're fishing for is in your opponent's hand.
King Omaha is a semi puzzle boss, he always starts with 4 kings and an Ace, he will choose showdown every turn. This means that you cannot get 4 aces, cannot get a royal flush, and cannot get a king high flush, as such the only way to beat him is to go for a straight-flush that does not include a king nor an ace. Fold every turn until you get that, meaning he eats up 2 random cards from the deck every round. The reason it is only a semi puzzle is that your hand is not fixed, so based on luck you will either win or lose a few times. Just go for the easiest straight-flush you can acquire, even a 2-3-4-5-6 straight-flush beats his hand.
Trivia
- King Omaha hails from Gamble Fish, a rather eccentric manga about high stakes gambling. Yes, he's an Obama expy in the original, too.
Disclaimer
Because Perfect Poker is still very new, much of this wiki page is subject to change.