Learn To Play / How To Play Dice Poker

Dice Poker – Dice Poker is very similar to Yahtzee.  Dice Poker is an online board game consisting of thirteen rounds.  In each round, you roll the dice and then score the roll in one of thirteen categories.  You must score once in each category -- which means that towards the end of the game, you may have to settle for scoring zero in some categories.  The object of this online board game is to maximize your total score.  The game ends once all thirteen categories have been scored. 
How to play Dice Poker.Objective of the Game

If you know how to play Yahtzee then you will be very familiar with Dice Poker. This online board game consists of 13 rounds. In each round, you roll the dice and then score the roll in one of 13 categories. You must score once in each category -- which means that towards the end of the game you may have to settle for scoring zero in some categories. The score is determined by a different rule for each category; see the section on Scoring below.

The object of this online board game is to maximize your total score. The game ends once all 13 categories have been scored.

How to Play Dice Poker

You have five dice, which you roll to form suits. To start the game, you roll one die to see who goes first. The player that rolls the highest number will go first. You roll all dice by clicking on the Roll button. After you roll all dice, you can either score the current roll, or re-roll any or all of the five dice.

You can roll the dice a total of three times -- the initial roll (in which you must roll all the dice), plus two re-rolls of any or all dice. After rolling three times, you must score the roll.

Scoring
Once you have the dice face combination you want to score, you score the roll in one of the 13 categories. You do this by clicking on one of the categories in either the Upper Scores or Lower Scores box. Once a category has been scored, it is closed out for the rest of the game; you cannot change a category's score once it's been set. Each category defines its own scoring rules, as described below.

Upper Scores
In the upper scores, you total only the specified die face. So if you roll:
3, 4, 3, 6, 3
and score in the Threes category, your total for that entry would be 9. This same roll would yield zero points if you scored it in the Aces (Ones), Twos, or Fives category, four points if you scored it in the Fours category, or six points if you scored it in the Sixes category.

When the game is links, if you score 63 or more upper points (an average of 3 die faces per category), you will get an upper bonus of 35 points. You do not need to score exactly three die faces in each upper category to get the bonus, as long as the upper total is at least 63.

Lower Scores
In the lower scores, you score either a set amount (defined by the category), or zero if you don't satisfy the category requirements.

3 and 4 of a Kind
For 3 of a Kind, you must have at least three of the same die faces. If so, you total all the die faces and score that total. Similarly for 4 of a Kind, except that you must have 4 of the 5 die faces the same. So for example, if you rolled:

5, 2, 5, 5, 3
you would receive 20 points for 3 of a Kind, but zero points for 4 of a Kind.

Straights
Like in poker, a straight is a sequence of consecutive die faces; a small straight is 4 consecutive faces, and a large straight is 5 consecutive faces. Small straights score 30 points and large straights score 40 points. Thus, if you rolled:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5
you could score either a small straight or a large straight, since this roll satisfies both.

Full House
Again as in poker, a Full House is a roll where you have both a 3 of a kind, and a pair. Full houses score 25 points.

5 of a Kind
A 5 of a kind is a 5 of a Kind (i.e. all the die faces are the same), and it scores 50 points. If you roll more than one 5 of a kind in a single game, you will earn a 100 point bonus for each additional 5 of a kind roll, provided that you have already scored a 50 in the 5 of a kind category. If you have not scored in the 5 of a kind category, you will not receive a bonus. If you have scored a zero in the 5 of a kind category, you cannot receive any bonuses during the current game.

You can also use subsequent 5 of a kinds as jokers in the lower scores section, provided the following criteria have been satisfied:

1. You have scored a zero or 50 in the 5 of a kind category.

2. You have filled the corresponding category in the upper scores section. For example, if you have rolled:

5, 5, 5, 5, 5
the Fives category must also be filled.

If this is the case, you can use the 5 of a kind as a joker to fill in any lower scores category. You score the category as normal. Thus for the Small Straight, Large Straight, and Full House categories, you would score 30, 40, and 25 points respectively. For the 3 of a Kind, 4 of a Kind, and Chance categories, you would score the total of the die face.

Chance
Chance is the catch-all roll. You can roll anything and you simply total all the die faces values.

Tips
Try to get your bonus for the upper section. First use your 4 of a kinds in the upper section to help you get the bonus. Save your chance roll for when you do not have a suit, the chance roll can be very valuable at the end of the game.