I've written a Naive Poker Evaluation algorithm for a Hold 'Em Poker game I'm developing and I'm wondering what would be the best way to evaluate Jokers within these hands.
A thought I had would be to replace the joker with each card from the deck and reevaluate the hand iteratively to find the best possible hand. However there can be upto 3 jokers and it doesn't seem to be the most efficient way to do this? Thoughts?
P.S. - Yes I am aware that there are several faster poker hand evaluators available but these cards are slightly different and I have been unable to find one to suit my needs(Jokers etc), hence have written one from scratch.
Note that to try every combination of five cards from seven means trying 21 combinations, which isn't so bad.
For each of the hands, #: where # is a number indicates the # jokers in hand case.
Also note that once you've found a hand, you don't have to look for hands that are worse than that in any of the other combinations out of seven cards - you can stop early.
You can form a straight flush if:
0: All of the cards are the same suit and the highest and lowest card have a difference of 4 (which implies the other three cards must be in between those)
1: All of the non-jokers are the same suit and the highest and lowest card have a difference of 4 or 3. (which implies the other cards fill in the straight, with one gap - which the joker fills)
2: All of the non-jokers are the same suit and the highest and lowest card have a difference of 4, 3 or 2.
3: All of the non-jokers are the same suit and the highest and lowest card have a difference of 4, 3, 2 or 1.
You can form a four of a kind if:
0: You have four cards the same rank.
1: You have three cards the same rank.
2: You have two cards the same rank.
3: You have a four of a kind - stop evaluating.
You can form a full house if:
0: You have a three of a kind and a pair.
1: You have a three of a kind, or you have two pairs.
2: You have a three of a kind, or you have a pair.
You can form a flush if:
All non-jokers are the same suit.
You can form a straight if:
See straight flush logic but take away the flush requirement.
You can form a three of a kind if:
0: You have three cards the same rank.
1: You have two cards the same rank.
2: You have a three of a kind - stop evaluating.
You can form a two pair if:
0: You have two cards the same rank, for two different ranks.
1: You have two cards the same rank (one pair).
You can form a pair if:
0: You have two cards the same rank.
1: You have a pair - stop evaluating.
You have highest card - stop evaluating