Poker Roguelike is a free online deck-building card game where poker hands are the scoring system rather than the game. Each round deals you eight cards and gives you four hands and three discards to beat a points target. Play up to five cards: the hand type sets a base in chips and a multiplier, the cards that actually make the hand add their own chips, and the score is chips times multiplier. Clear the round and you choose one relic from three — extra chips, extra multiplier, a multiplier that only fires on a flush or a straight, or a perk that hands you another discard every round. You can carry five, so by round six the choice is about what you are giving up. Relics always apply in the same order — chips, then flat multiplier, then multiplied multiplier — so the order you collected them in never quietly changes what they are worth. Eight rounds, targets from 300 to 10,000, and a seed you can replay: the same seed deals the same eight rounds and the same relic offers, so a run that died on round six can be played differently rather than merely played again. Nothing here is gambling: the chips are points, there is nothing to wager and nothing pays out.
How to play Poker Roguelike
- Press Play. You are dealt eight cards, with a round target, four hands and three discards shown above them.
- Click up to five cards to pick them, or press 1 to 8. Picked cards lift up, and the line above the row shows what they would score right now.
- Press Play hand — or Enter — to score them. That spends one of your hands, the cards are replaced from the deck, and the points go on the round total.
- The score is chips times multiplier. The hand type sets both: a Pair starts at 10 chips and 2 mult, a Flush at 35 and 4, a Straight Flush at 100 and 8.
- Only the cards that make the hand add their own chips. The kicker beside a pair is played but contributes nothing, so a two-card Pair often beats a five-card near-miss.
- Press Discard — or Backspace — to throw the picked cards away and draw replacements without spending a hand. Three per round, and they do not carry over.
- Beat the target and the round is cleared immediately, even mid-hand. You are then offered three relics and take one, or take none.
- Relics come in two sorts. Most change the arithmetic: extra chips, extra multiplier, or a multiplier that only fires on a particular hand. Two change the round instead, giving you an extra hand or an extra discard every round from then on.
- They always apply in the same order — all the chips first, then every flat multiplier, then every multiplied one — so picking a "mult ×1.4" before or after a "+4 mult" makes no difference to the total.
- You can carry five relics. Once the shelf is full the game stops offering, so the fifth pick is the one that matters most.
- Eight rounds, with targets from 300 up to 10,000. Miss one and the run ends; when it does, Replay this run deals the same eight rounds and the same relic offers.
Tips
- Points per hand is what matters, not the size of the hand. Three of a Kind with nothing else scores more than a five-card High Card every time.
- Discard toward a single idea. Keeping two pairs and a flush draw usually gets you neither — throw four cards at the flush or four at the trips.
- Read the target against the hands you have left. If you need 900 in two hands, a 200-point Pair is not progress, and that is the moment to spend a discard.
- Chip relics are strongest early, multiplier relics late. At round two a +30 chips nearly doubles a small hand; at round seven it is rounding error next to a ×2.
- The two multiplied relics — ×1.4 always, ×2 on a straight — are worth far more with flat multipliers already on the shelf. Take the flat ones first if you can.
- A relic that only fires on one hand type is a promise you have to keep. Flush Fan is excellent if you are willing to build every hand as a flush, and dead weight otherwise.
- Taking none is a real move once you have four good relics. A fifth that does not fit your plan locks the shelf and stops every future offer.
- Clearing a round early is worth nothing — there is no carry-over — so on a round you have already beaten, there is no reason not to have spent the discards.
FAQ
Is Poker Roguelike free to play?
Yes. It runs free in your browser with no download, no install and no account. Your best round is saved on your own device.
Is this gambling?
No. There is no wager, no stake, no purchase and no payout of any kind — the chips are a scoring unit with no money attached. Poker hands are used here only as a way of ranking five cards.
Do I need to know poker?
No. The game names every hand as you pick it and shows the arithmetic before you commit, so the ranking is learnable in a round or two. Knowing which hands are rare helps, but nothing is hidden.
Why did some of my cards score nothing?
Only the cards that make the hand count. Play a pair with three other cards and the pair scores; the other three are discarded with it and add nothing. That is why a small, tight hand often beats a big loose one.
In what order do relics apply?
Always chips first, then every flat multiplier, then every multiplied one, whatever order you collected them in. The score is rounded down once at the very end, never between relics.
How many relics can I have?
Five. Once you hold five the game stops offering after a cleared round, so the last pick is the one worth thinking hardest about. You can also decline an offer entirely.
How hard is it?
A player who picks relics at random and always plays their best hand gets to about round five of eight and rarely finishes. Clearing all eight needs the relics to work together, which is the whole game.
Can I play the same run again?
Yes. Every run has a seed, and Replay this run deals exactly the same eight rounds and the same relic offers. New run deals a different one.