# &kpoker; Handbook

Jochen Tuchbreiter

    &Jochen.Tuchbreiter.mail;

Andreas Beckermann

    &Andreas.Beckermann.mail;

1997 2001 &Jochen.Tuchbreiter;, &Andreas.Beckermann;
&FDLNotice;
2005-12-14
1.1

This is the helpfile of &kpoker;, a little poker game.

KDE kpoker tdegames games game poker play cards

## Introduction

### What is &kpoker;?

&kpoker; is a &kde; compliant clone of those highly addictive pocket video poker games which are sometimes called Videopoker as well.

### Where do I get the latest version of &kpoker;?

The latest version of &kpoker; is always available at

- The &kpoker; homepage: http://kpoker.sourceforge.net/

## Starting a new game

You can start a new game two ways:

1. By selecting Game New from the menubar.

2. Selecting &Ctrl;N

Either way, you will be presented with a dialog box.

AI Configure Dialog
AI Configure Dialog

How many players do you want?

  Will determine if you play a one player game (against the house), or a two player game.

Your name:

  Lets you personalize &kpoker; so that it calls you by name (instead of Youyou>).

Player's starting money:

  Lets you set the money you start each game with.

The names of your opponents:

  lets you set the name of the other player.

Show this dialog every time on startup

  If this is checked, the first game after you start &kpoker; will show this menu. If this option is not checked, then the game will not show this menu for the first game.

When you are satisfied with your settings, click OK, to start the game. Clicking Cancel, will cancel the start of a new game.

## One player game

### How do I play ?

At the beginning of the game you get $100. You draw five cards and decide which ones you want to keep. You indicate which cards you want to keep by clicking on the face of the card. The word Held will appear above the card.

After doing this you draw new cards for those you did not want to keep. This is accomplished by clicking on Draw New Cards.

The game now looks if you have any poker hand and gives cash according to the kind of hand you got (see scoring).

Now you start over, drawing five cards, deciding which ones you want to keep ...

The game ends if you can not pay for another round or if you close the &kpoker; window.

### What are possible poker hands ?

Possible poker hands are:

Jacks or higher

  Two cards of the same rank, both Jacks or higher

Two pairs

  Two cards of one rank and two cards of another rank

Three of a kind

  Three cards of the same rank

Four of a kind

  Four cards of the same rank

Full House

  Three cards of one rank and two cards of another

Straight

  Five cards of consecutive rank including the combo ace-2-3-4-5

Flush

  Five cards of the same suit

Straight flush

  Five cards of the same suit and of consecutive rank

Royal flush

  Ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of the same suit

### How many bucks do I get for what hand ?

A pair of Jacks or higher cards | $5
Two Pairs | $10
Three of a kind | $15
Straight | $20
Flush | $25
Full House | $40
Four of a kind | $125
Straight Flush | $250
Royal Flush | $2000

## Two player game

The two player game is very different from a one player game.

### Starting a two player game

To start a two player game, select Game New on the menubar. This will bring up a dialog. Simply select the number of players on the slider or in the spinbox labeled How many players do you want?. Then click OK.

### Playing a two player game

There are four phases to a two-player game:

- you begin to draw cards

- then you bet some money

- after that you exchange your cards

- then you raise and finally you will see the cards of the other player and the winner will get all the money.

Draw

  You will begin the game with $100. After clicking on the Draw New Cards button you will get five cards. That's all, here.

Bet

  Now you decide if your cards are good or not. If they are, you bet some money - at least $5 and maximal $20. Just click on the +$5 and similar buttons.

Exchange

  Now you decide which cards you want to keep. Click on them. If you have a royal flush then don't exchange any cards! When you think you are ready then click again on the Draw New Cards button - you will probably get new cards.

  Perhaps you do not get new cards - then the computer player has quite good cards (or at least not very bad cards) and they have raised. You have to decide to adjust your bet or to get out of the round. By default you will adjust your bet. Click again on the Draw New Cards button when ready.

Raise

  After you got new cards you are allowed to raise a little bit. It is the same as the bet phase so I don't explain it again. Click on the draw button (which is now labeled with See!) when ready.

See / Draw

  I know I said there are four phases and this one is the fifth. But it is nearly the same as the draw phase. You will also see the cards of the computer player and the winning cards are blinking. The winner gets all money. Click on draw to begin a new round!

  The blinking cards are not necessarily the best cards of that player. Only the cards which caused the win are blinking. So if you have two pairs (⪚ 2 * 2 and 2 * 3) and an ace, but only the ace is blinking, then the computer player also has these two pairs (2 * 2 and 2 * 3) but not an ace.

## Commands and Keyboard Shortcuts

The following sections briefly describe each menubar option.

### Game Menu

The Game menu consists of three options.

&Ctrl;N Game New

  Starts a new game of &kpoker;. For more information, see the section entitled Starting a new game.

&Ctrl;S Game Save

  Saves your current game to disk. This will replace any previously saved games.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

  Quits &kpoker;

### Settings Menu

The settings menu is used to adjust the sound, look and behavior of &kpoker;.

&Ctrl;M Settings Show Menubar

  This toggles the menubar on or off. If it is off, and you need to use the menubar, you can right click in the playing area of &kpoker; and a menu will appear. You can then select Show Menubar to turn it back on.

Settings Show Statusbar

  This option will toggle the status bar on or off. The status bar is located at the bottom of the &kpoker; window, and contains instructions for play, and how much you won on the previous hand.

Settings Sound

  This option will toggle the sound on or off.

Settings Blinking Cards

  If this option has a check beside it, then when you win a hand, the cards which won you the money will blink. If this option is not checked, no cards blink.

Settings Adjust Bet is Default.

  If this option does not have a check in front of it, and you are playing a 2 person game, you will be responsible for clicking Adjust Bet, if your opponent raises the stakes, because the default action will be to fold your hand in defeat.

  If, on the other hand, the option does have a check in front of it, and you are in the same situation, the default action of the game, is to match your opponents bet, and you will be responsible for folding your hand.

Settings Save Settings

  This saves all your options to your hard drive. These options will be restored automatically when you restart &kpoker;.

Settings Configure Shortcuts...

  Customize the keyboard shortcuts.

Settings Configure Carddecks...

  This will open a new window where you can select the front and back of the cards for &kpoker;.

Settings Configure KPoker...

  This opens a dialog box.

  AI Configure Dialog

  There are either one or three options to adjust:

  The top text box determines in milliseconds how long to delay before showing the next card. This can be used to speed up the deals, if you are not interested in the more realistic default speed.

  The text box labeled Maximal bet:, determines the maximum bet for each hand.

  The text box labeled Minimal bet: determines the smallest allowable bet for each hand.

  The Maximal bet: and Minimal bet: lines are not shown in one player mode. In single player mode, only the card delay can be adjusted.

  As you can see, the changes will not go into effect until a new round is started.

### Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

### Default Keyboard Shortcuts

Key Combo | Action
--- | ---
&Enter; | Draw
1 | Exchange Card 1
2 | Exchange Card 2
3 | Exchange Card 3
4 | Exchange Card 4
5 | Exchange Card 5
&Ctrl;Q | Quit &kpoker;
&Ctrl;N | New Game
&Ctrl;S | Save Game
&Ctrl;M | Show Menubar
&Ctrl;F1 | What's This Help
F1 | Help Contents

## Credits and License

&kpoker;

Program copyright 1997-2000 &Jochen.Tuchbreiter;&Jochen.Tuchbreiter.mail;, &Andreas.Beckermann; &Andreas.Beckermann.mail;

Persons helping me:

- Chris Holmes - idea of writing this game and for parts of the visual appearance

- John Fitzgibbon - provided the card images

- Nico Schirwing - drew the backs of the cards

- &Andreas.Beckermann; - currently maintaining the game

Documentation updated for &kde; 2.0 by &Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

### How to obtain &kpoker;

&install.intro.documentation;

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;