Triple Pocket Hold 'Em

One of the few poker variants I have not analyzed is one they have at Microgaming casinos called Triple Pocket Hold 'Em. That link goes to my description of the game. I'm hoping to analyze it this summer sometime. However, if anyone wishes to rise to the challenge before me, consider yourself welcome. I'd be willing to pay a modest amount, and provide full credit as well.

I could offer some suggestions on short cuts. If you loop through every combination of cards, you'll end up scoring 2,511,587,045,167,200 possible outcomes, which could be prohibitive in terms of calculation time.

sorry answered my own question

Interesting game.

It seems like it could be easily beaten by coming up with the right hands to keep or pass.


The first hand has got to be very good, but the second hand, you can't be so picky.

Q-7 offsuit is called the "Computer hand" because it wins exactly 50% of the time. But that's for heads up. A three handed game like this, the 50% hand might be something else, but I'll stick with Q-7 for now.

Therefore I'd say Q-7 offsuit is the minimum to keep for the second hand.

The minimum for the first hand has to be better, probably something like K-10/A-8/pair (i.e. K with a 10 or better, or A-8 or better or a pair).

Of course, you'll need different, slightly lower minimums, if they are suited, or connected, or suited connectors, etc.



Mind you I've done NO math on this.

I'm just talking out my ass. And I might need an enema. But I have played a lot of poker.

I'd estimate the 1/3 best hands you should keep the first offer. For the second offer, roughly the 1/2 best hands, but also consider the cards you threw away. In the example at WoO, I was unsure about keeping K6 offsuit on the second offer, but kept it because it dominated the 62 of an opponent.

My 3-player Texas Hold 'Em power ratings should give a rough strategy. That shows A-3 offsuit is the lowest hand worth keeping on the first offer, and K-3 offsuit on the second offer.

I'm hoping Miplet will find an interest in this.

Quote: Wizard

I'd estimate the 1/3 best hands you should keep the first offer. For the second offer, roughly the 1/2 best hands, but also consider the cards you threw away. In the example at WoO, I was unsure about keeping K6 offsuit on the second offer, but kept it because it dominated the 62 of an opponent.

My 3-player Texas Hold 'Em power ratings should give a rough strategy. That shows A-3 offsuit is the lowest hand worth keeping on the first offer, and K-3 offsuit on the second offer.

I'm hoping Miplet will find an interest in this.

Miplet is interested, but doesn't have a clue where to start. He only knows php and isn't very good at that.

what makes this difficult is the paytable, id imagine youd keep JTs on the first hand dealt because of the bonuses you get for making a flush/straightflush/royalflush. and T9s and J9s should fair well against two random hands plus you have potential for the bonus for flush/straightflush. on the 2nd hand if you throw away the first hand, id imagine youd keep suited hands that have the first hand dominated as long as they dont have too many cards that you may need. like if you threw away 26, keep 78s, 79s, 7Ts, 89s, 8Ts. if they had two of the same suit as yours throw away some weaker hands. or if you threw away something like 56, toss 78s. if they had none of your suit with the 26, perhaps keep something like 57s.

Quote: miplet

Miplet is interested, but doesn't have a clue where to start. He only knows php and isn't very good at that.

Thanks. I'm sure you have the skills to do this kind of analysis, but it requires a fast compiled language to deal with the vast number of combinations. I'd recommend one of the C-based languages.

Quote: rudeboyoi

what makes this difficult is the paytable, id imagine youd keep JTs on the first hand dealt because of the bonuses you get for making a flush/straightflush/royalflush. and T9s and J9s should fair well against two random hands plus you have potential for the bonus for flush/straightflush. on the 2nd hand if you throw away the first hand, id imagine youd keep suited hands that have the first hand dominated as long as they dont have too many cards that you may need. like if you threw away 26, keep 78s, 79s, 7Ts, 89s, 8Ts. if they had two of the same suit as yours throw away some weaker hands. or if you threw away something like 56, toss 78s. if they had none of your suit with the 26, perhaps keep something like 57s.

The way I would handle it is to let the computer play optimal strategy at every decision point. I would not have to actually quantify what it is. It would be easy to indicate the keepable hands for the first decision point, but it would get more complicated with the second one, a factor of both the first and second offers.