On the Subject of Luigi Poker
Well, it’s actually called Picture Poker, but who uses that name? The primary things about this minigame are Luigi and Poker. Thus, Luigi Poker. I guess Nintendo had to get the name to be alliterative, though.
Presented is a felt table with several buttons and two hands of five cards (the hand sitting face up is yours; the one face down is Luigi’s). You start with 10 coins, and your goal is to increase your balance to 100 coins, by gambling. If your balance is 0 or less at the start of a new round, it defaults to 10 coins.
There are six different cards in Luigi Poker: Cloud, Mushroom, Fire Flower, Luigi, Mario and Star. In tie breaks, Cloud is worth the least and Star is worth the most. This priority list is on the module and in Appendix L1F3 54V1NG5.
Also in Appendix L1F3 54V1NG5 is a list of possible hands (best to worst) and the reward for winning a round with each. This list is not on the module.
Select cards from your hand that you want to get rid of, then press “Draw”, or “Hold” if you have none selected. Pressing “Draw” will give the selected cards back to Luigi, who will then deal you new cards, until you have a hand of five again. Afterwards, Luigi will do the same with his own hand.
Once Luigi has finished his turn, your hands will be revealed: whoever has the best hand wins.
- If you win, you gain the reward listed next to the hand you won the round with, multiplied by the amount you bet with.
- If you lose, you lose the coins you bet with.
- If both hands are completely tied, you get the money you bet in this round back.
Ties are broken like so:
- Hand consists of only pairs: Highest pair wins, succeeded by second-highest pair.
- Hand has a three of a kind: Highest three of a kind wins, succeeded by highest pair.
- Hand is four of a kind or five of a kind: Highest four/five of a kind wins.
- Junk: Not tie-broken.
If you would like to, you may increase your bet from one coin to a maximum of five, by pressing the button labelled “BET!”, before pressing “Draw” or “Hold”.
Pressing the status light will toggle “solve hold mode”; if this mode is enabled when the module would normally solve, it will wait until you press the status light again, before solving.
