Copyright © 1997, 2001 Jochen Tuchbreiter, Andreas Beckermann
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
This is the helpfile of KPoker, a little poker game.
Table of Contents
Introduction
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 avaible at
The KPoker homepage: http://kpoker.sourceforge.net/
The KDE homepage: http://www.kde.org/
Starting a new game
You can start a new game two ways:
By selecting Game->New from the menubar.
Selecting Ctrl+N
Either way, you will be presented with a dialog box.
- 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>).
- Start money of the players
Lets you set the money you start each game with.
- The names of your enemies
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
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!.
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't 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.
To start a two player game, select Game->New Game on the menubar. This will bring up a dialog. Simply select Two players under the drop down box labeled How many players do you want?. Then click OK.
Playing a two player game
There are four phases to a two-player game:
Procedure 4.1.
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 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 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 he has 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 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!
Note
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 (e.g. 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.
The Game menu consists of three options.
- Game->New (Ctrl+N)
Starts a new game of KPoker. For more information, see the section entitled Starting a new game.
- Game->Save (Ctrl+S)
Saves your current game to disk. This will replace any previously saved games.
- Game->Quit (Ctrl+Q)
Quits KPoker
Settings Menu
The settings menu is used to start and pause the game.
- 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 statusbar 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 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.
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 determins the smallest allowable bet for each hand
Note
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->Contents... (F1)
Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the KPoker help pages. (this document).
- Help->What's This? (Shift+F1)
Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within KPoker will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.
- Help->Report Bug...
Opens the Bug report dialog where you can report a bug or request a ‘wishlist’ feature.
- Help->About KPoker
This will display version and author information.
- Help->About KDE
This displays the KDE version and other basic information.
Default Key Bindings
| Key Combo | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+Q | Quit KPoker |
| Ctrl+N | New Game |
| Ctrl+S | Save Game |
| Ctrl+M | Show Menubar |
| Ctrl+F1 | “What is this” help |
| F1 | Help Contents |
Credits and License
KPoker
Program copyright 1997-2000 Jochen Tuchbreiter<whynot@mabi.de>, Andreas Beckermann <b_mann@gmx.de>
Persons helping me:
Chris Holmes - idea of writing this game and for parts of the visual appearence
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 <mpmcbride7@yahoo.com>
This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Installation
KPoker is part of the KDE project http://www.kde.org/.
KPoker can be found in the kdegames package on ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/, the main FTP site of the KDE project.
Compilation and Installation
In order to compile and install KPoker on your system, type the following in the base directory of the KPoker distribution:
% ./configure % make % make install
Since KPoker uses autoconf and automake you should have no trouble compiling it. Should you run into problems please report them to the KDE mailing lists.