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Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker Copyright (c) 1989 by John Comeau - All rights Reserved "Vegas Johnny" is a trademark of Top Score Software. Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Before you begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Warranty Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Shareware Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Legal Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 If the program doesn't work . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Program Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Master Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Running from Floppy disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Running from Hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Installing onto a hard or floppy disk . . . . . . . 4 Your display adapter/monitor . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Using your Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Choice menus: General Info . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 End of hand choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Ubiquitous choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Bet choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Param choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Draw choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Main screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Hands screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Scores screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Version/Title screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Rules screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Players screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The TSS products screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Statistics screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Odds Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Draw poker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Showdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Command line arguments/SWITCH.TSS file . . . . . . . . 15 Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Each player ante . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Blind bet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Maximum bet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Minimum bet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Raise limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Check-raising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 How many players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Draw open req . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Casual Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Casual-Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Mixed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Average-Strong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 i Strong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Play speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Alt Play speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Upcard sorting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Hand rankings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Different styles of players . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Casual players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Strong players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Average players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Human players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Topics of General Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Odds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Recommended Poker Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Computer players / Human players . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Top Score Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Dealer's Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Vegas Johnny's Hold'em Poker . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 ii Introduction Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker is a detailed simulation of a draw poker game. It's features include: o Bet limits, blind and ante amounts are user selectable o Six levels of competition - User selectable o Variable playing speed - User selectable o On-line betting and drawing advice o On-Line Odds and Statistics o On-line help with "what beats what" o Scoreboard file to log big winners o User interface allows fast and easy play o and many more It's feature packed, it's fun to play. It's from Top Score Software! Equipment The IBM PC version of Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker requires an IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible with 256k of memory, and DOS version 2.0 or later. It can be run from floppy disk or installed onto and run from a hard disk. A mouse is optional. Before you begin Warranty Information This software is supplied "as-is" with no warranty whatsoever. It is the sole responsibility of the purchaser to determine the suitability and fitness of this product for any purpose. Neither Top Score software, nor any dealer or distributor makes any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning this software's quality, performance, or fitness for any purpose. Top Score Software is not liable for direct, indirect or incidental damages including damage to equipment, interruption of service, loss of business resulting from any defect or omission in this software, manual or media. Shareware Registration Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker is a commercial software product, distributed via Shareware. If you like Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker and are keeping a copy for your personal use, please send the $7.00 registration fee to the address below. If you would like a fresh copy on floppy disk, add $2.95 (total $9.95) and specify 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 inch media. Either way, the benefits of registration are simple: 1. Support for the program by mail or phone. 2. Our sincere thanks you for your support and honesty. - 2 - Whether you register or not, we encourage you to make copies of Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker for any friends, acquaintances and associates you feel may enjoy the program - but only if the executable and document files have not been modified in any way. TOP SCORE SOFTWARE RESERVES ALL RIGHTS ASSOCIATED WITH DERIVATIVE WORKS. Please include both the executable and the document files on any copies you make. That will help insure future users of Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker can get maximum enjoyment from our product. Top Score Software P.O. Box 541 Townsend, MA 01469 (508) 597-8020 Legal Stuff Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker program and document are Copyright (c) 1989 by John Comeau. All rights reserved. "Vegas Johnny" is a trademark of Top Score Software. IBM PC, XT, and AT are registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. If the program doesn't work If you have trouble getting this program to run properly, check the document. Chances are you will find information to help you there. If you can't find the solution to your problem in the document and you are a Registered user, please contact us at the address/phone number below. We are a small company but our policy is to support what we sell as best we can. Note: Please mention your program's registration number in all correspondence. Top Score Software P.O. Box 541 Townsend, MA 01469 (508) 597-8020 Program Operation The sections below describe how to install load and run this program on your system. The Master Disk As supplied by Top Score Software this program comes on a standard DOS format floppy disk. Files on this disk include: File Description POKER.EXE The executable file. - The program itself. - 3 - POKER.DOC The document file. This write-up in machine readable form. README.TXT This file contains the latest information on the program and document. May contain important information that is not in the document, or corrections/changes to the document. QUICKS.TXT The text of your "Yellow sheet". A brief summary of several important operating procedures. Running from Floppy disk To run Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker from floppy disk, take the following steps: 1. Boot DOS (version 2.0 or later) on your system. 2. Put the Vegas Johnny Master disk into drive A. 3. Logon to drive A: by typing: "A:" 4. Type: POKER The floppy drive should start up, and within 10 seconds the title screen, which contains program revision information, should appear on your monitor screen. Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker is up and running! Users of DOS versions 3.00 or later can replace steps 3 and 4 above with a single step 3. Type: A:POKER Running from Hard disk Before you can run this from hard disk you must first install it. Installing is simply a matter of copying the POKER.EXE file onto the hard disk. Once installed on hard disk you can run it by following these steps: 1. Boot DOS (version 2.0 or later) on your system. 2. Use the CD command to go into the directory that this program was installed into. If the directory is mentioned in the DOS system PATH string, you don't need to do this step. 3. Type: POKER The hard drive should start up, and within a few seconds the programs title screen, which contains program revision information, should appear on your monitor screen. Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker is up and running! Installing onto a hard or floppy disk Use the DOS "COPY" command to move the "POKER.EXE" file onto your hard disk(or floppy disk). For example: "COPY A:POKER.EXE C:" copys the POKER.EXE file from the floppy disk in drive "A:" onto hard disk "C:". That's how simple installing can be! - 4 - If you copied Vegas Johnny's Draw poker into a subdirectory you also may want to edit your DOS system's PATH specification to include that subdirectory. On most systems this involves editing a file named 'AUTOEXEC.BAT' in the root directory. The line that needs to be changed begins with 'PATH='. If you are not sure what to do, consult your DOS reference manual. Or don't even worry about changing the PATH specification! If you don't change the path it just means that you may have to use the CD command to go into the directory containing Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker before you run it. Try it and see. After you have installed the program onto your hard disk, be sure to put the original Vegas Johnny Master Disk in a safe place. For a diskette a "safe" place means someplace that is free from magnetic fields, dust, moisture, and extreme temperatures. Your display adapter/monitor This program is compatible with all popular display adapters, including MDA, HGA, CGA, EGA, and VGA. It supports both color and monochrome monitors. If the display looks OK when the program begins running you can skip the rest of this section. Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker uses character graphics suitable for either color or monochrome. Its output was tested compatible with DOS text modes 2, 3 and 7. All commonly used display adapters support at least one of these modes. On start-up the program assumes it has a CGA compatible adapter with monochrome monitor unless the current display mode is 7, 3, or 1. Mode Assumes ---- ---------------- 7 MDA - Monochrome 3 CGA - Color 1 CGA - Color other CGA - Monochrome You can explicitly tell this program what kind of monitor you have by adding either the MONO or the COLOR switch to the command line that starts this program. For example: A:POKER COLOR Starts this program and at the same time tells it that you have a color monitor connected to your CGA compatible display adapter. These and other switches are described later in this document in the section titled: Command line arguments. Using your Mouse Although not required, a mouse can be used with this program if you have DOS 3.0 or later. The rightmost mouse button, like the keyboards 'ENTER' key, selects(or changes) the item that is highlighted on the screen. The leftmost mouse button, like the keyboards 'ESC' key, - 5 - causes you to exit from a screen. Moving the mouse, like the keyboards arrow keys, causes the highlight on the screen to move in the same direction as the mouse. Note: To use a mouse you also need appropriate mouse driver software installed. If you routinely use your mouse with other software, then either you know how to install the mouse driver software or it's being installed automatically when you boot your system. If you are unsure if you have the right driver software installed: 1. Try the mouse and see what happens. It can't hurt anything and if it works, you're all set. 2. Ask your favorite computer 'guru', 'power-user', or programmer. They are usually very eager for a chance to show their awesome computer-savvy and can straighten out your mouse problem in about 3 minutes. If not, get a new guru! 3. If(only if) you are reasonably familiar the DOS - Try to fix it yourself. First make sure your version of DOS is 3.0 or later. Do this by typing in "VER" at the DOS command prompt. DOS should respond with its version number. Any version number 1.xx or 2.xx means you are out of luck - Vegas Johnny Poker cannot use a mouse with these old DOS versions. Otherwise look in the root directory for a mouse driver program called "MOUSE.SYS" or "MOUSE.COM". Either one will do, you don't need both. If you can't find either of these files in your root directory, you'll need to copy one in from somewhere. In all likelihood one or both of these programs was supplied on a floppy disk that came with your mouse. So find that disk and copy one the files into your root directory. Once you have a mouse driver file in your root directory, the next step is to modify your systems boot-up procedure to include the drivers automatic installation on boot-up. If you have "MOUSE.SYS" add the following line to the "CONFIG.SYS" file in your root directory: "device=mouse.sys". If you have "MOUSE.COM" add the following line to file named "AUTOEXEC.BAT" in your root directory: "mouse". Either way, reboot your system and try out the mouse. Good luck. User Interface The user interface was designed to allow fast easy play. The way it works is: 1. The program prints a small menu of choices. One of the choices is highlighted. 2. You move the highlight left/right/up/down with the arrow keys (or with the mouse) onto the choice you want. 3. You press the ENTER key(or left mouse button) to select the highlighted choice. Pressing certain keys have a consistent predictable result. These keys are: - 6 - ESC Pressing the key marked ESC, called 'the escape key' usually means, 'get me out of this screen'. ENTER Pressing the ENTER key(usually a tall dark colored key marked with an arrow pointing left) means 'select/change the highlighted item'. ARROWS Pressing the arrow keys on the right hand side of the keyboard means 'move the highlight over in the direction of the arrow'. F2 In the Rules screens pressing F2 means 'save the rules I'm looking at in a file'. The rules are saved in a file called 'RULES.SAV'. F3 In the rules screen, pressing F3 means 'set all the rules to the default values. By default values here we mean the values as they were the very first time this program was run, not the default values saved later. Because changing the rules while a hand is in progress could affect the outcome of the hand, F3 will do nothing if a hand is in progress. F4 In the Rules screen, pressing F4 means 'restore the rules from the RULES.SAV file. Because changing the rules while a hand is in progress could affect the outcome of the hand, F4 will do nothing if a hand is in progress. Choice menus: General Info Whenever it is your turn to do something, your turn to bet for instance, the program will display a menu of choices in the bottom center of the screen. This is your Choice menu box. One of the choices listed in the box is always highlighted. The highlighted choice is the one that will be selected when you press the ENTER key. If you prefer one of the other choices you must move the highlight to that choice by using the arrow keys. Another way to move the highlight onto a new choice is to type in that choice's first letter. You will see the highlight jump immediately to the choice. When you have highlighted the correct choice, press the ENTER key to select it. If your system has a mouse, you can move the highlight from choice to choice by moving the mouse. You can select the highlighted choice by pressing the leftmost mouse button. The sections below describe the meaning of various choices that may appear in various choice menus. End of hand choices The following choices will appear in the choice menu that appears at the end of each hand. Deal Select this one and the program will begin dealing the next hand. If you have any money left, you will be dealt in. Otherwise the Computer players will play among themselves. - 7 - Save Select this one to save a game that you want to continue playing later. The games rules, statistics, and money totals are stored in disk files, and the program will exit to DOS. The files created by saving a game will be created in the same directory as the POKER.EXE file resides in. So, if you are running from floppy disk and want to save the game your diskette must be write enabled. Quit Select this one only if you are finished playing and don't want to continue at a later time. The program will display the scoreboard and exit to DOS. Watch If you select this one the program will continue playing without you. When you want to rejoin the game you can do so by pressing any key on the keyboard. At the end of the next hand you will return to the end of hand choice menu. Ubiquitous choices The following choices are not unique to any particular choice menu. Most appear in all of the choice menus the program displays. They generally appear in the bottom half of the menu. Odds Select this to go to the Odds screen. The Odds screen contains helpful information the current pot odds and the odds of your hand being improved by the next card(s). Stats Select this to go to a series of statistics screens. On the first statistics screen you will see information on how often your opponents are staying in vs. dropping. Other statistics screens diaplay information on what types of hands have appeared in the showdown, and what type of hand usually wins in the game you are playing. TSS Select this and you get to see Information on this and other Top Score Software products. Ask Select this to get betting/drawing/flipping advice from Vegas Johnny. His advice will appear in a window at the top of the screen. After you have seen the advice, press any key and the advice goes away. Note: Vegas Johnny is one of the stronger players. But he has no special knowledge about the outcome of the game such as what cards will be dealt next or what cards your opponents hold. Though he gives mostly good advice, sometimes he is wrong. But he always has an opinion and will be happy to tell you what it is. Param Select this item to enter the secondary choice menu. The secondary choice menu contains items for: o Seeing/changing the house rules o Seeing what rank of hand beats what o Seeing program revision information - 8 - o Seeing information on players o Seeing the scoreboard Pressing ESC returns you from the secondary menu back to the original choice menu. Bet choices The following choices are unique to the menu that is displayed when it is your turn to bet. Call When this item appears in a choice menu it means you owe money to the pot. If you select 'Call' it means you want to pay the money you owe and not a penny more. Paying the money you owe buys you the privilege of continuing to play your hand. Fold When this item appears in a choice menu it means you owe money to the pot. If you select 'Fold' it means you do not want to pay what you owe. If you don't pay, you don't play. You're out of the game for the rest of the hand and cannot win any of the money in the pot. Check This item only appears in a choice menu when you don't owe any money to the pot. Selecting 'Check' means that you do not want bet any money. If a rule against check- raising is in effect and you check it also means that you can cannot raise the pot later in the betting round. You must either Call(match their bet) or Fold(pay nothing and wait for the next deal). Bet This item only appears in a choice menu when you don't owe any money to the pot. Select 'Bet' if you want to pay money into the pot(Bet). Whatever money you bet, your opponents will have to either pay that amount into the pot(Call) or drop out of the hand(Fold). Note: When this item appears in a choice menu it always appears twice. Use the top 'Bet' to make a maximum sized bet, Use the bottom 'Bet' to make a minimum sized bet. If the minimum and maximum limits are the same amount, it doesn't matter which 'Bet' you select. Raise When this item appears in the choice menu it means that owe money to the pot. Select 'Raise' if you want pay what you owe plus bet money over and above what you owe into the pot. Whenever you Raise, your opponents are forced to either pay an equal amount into the pot(Call) or drop out of the hand(Fold). Note: When this item appears in a choice menu it always appears twice. Use the top 'Raise' to make a maximum sized raise, Use the bottom 'Raise' to make a minimum sized raise. If the minimum and maximum bet limits are the same amount, it doesn't matter which 'Raise' you select. - 9 - Param choices The following choices are unique to the secondary choice menu that appears whenever menu choice 'Param' is selected. Player Puts you into the Players screen. In the Players screen you will see the names of all players currently in the game classified by playing style. You also can highlight any players name and get more information about that player. Rules Puts you into the Rules screen. In the Rules screen you can examine/change the house rules in effect. If you enter the Rules screen while a hand is in progress you may not be able to change any rules that will affect the hand in progress. If you enter the Rules screen between hands, you can change practically every house rule. Hands Puts you into the Hands screen. The hands screen shows the standard ranking of hands in High poker with no wild cards. You can highlight any hand rank and get a short explanation of what combination of cards it consists of. Scores Puts you into the Scores screen. The Scores screen shows the scoreboard of all-time high scores including any high scores for the game in progress. Version Puts you into the title screen where you can see program revision information. It also has Top Score Software's address and phone number in case you want to get in touch with us. Draw choices After the first betting round of Draw poker, all players in turn have the opportunity to draw cards. A player drawing cards can throw away up to 3 cards and get new ones to replace them. When it is your turn to draw the program displays an expanded choice menu - one that includes the display of the cards in your hand. You will notice that this choice menu is slightly different from most others in that a box is used instead of a highlight. You can move this box from choice to choice using the arrow keys or mouse. To select a card for drawing, move the box around it and press the ENTER key. You will see that card's color darken from its normal white. The dark color shows that that card is selected for drawing(replacement). A selected card can be deselected in the same manner: box it and press the ENTER key, the card will turn normal white again. When you have selected up to 3 cards to draw, move the box to the DRAW choice and select it with the ENTER key. The cards you selected to draw will disappear from your hand and replacements will be dealt to you. The following choices are unique to the menu that is displayed when you are playing draw poker and it is your turn to draw cards. - 10 - Draw When you Select 'Draw' it means that you want to draw replacements for the cards you have selected. True to common poker convention, you will not be allowed to draw more than 3 cards. Anytime more than 3 cards are selected for replacement, the selection of 'Draw' will have no effect. You will have to deselect one or more of your cards and then select 'Draw'. If no cards are selected when you select 'Draw' it means you don't want to replace any of your cards. Keeping all your cards is commonly called 'Standing pat'. Note: When a card is selected, its color darkens. The exact color of the darkened cards depends on your monitor. If you have color display then selected cards are yellow, brown or red. If you have a monochrome display, selected cards are black. Screens When the game begins you are put into the Main screen. The Main screen shows all the players and their hands. You can stay in the Main screen for the entire game if you want. There are however other screens that you can go to that contain helpful information. You get to these screens by selecting them from the Choice menu when it is your turn to bet. After you exit from one of these screens you will return to the main screen where the game will continue. One or more of these screens may be automatically entered when Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker begins running(before the game begins). Once the game begins all of these screens are accessible via menu choices. They're all described in the sections following. The Main screen The Main screen displays a picture of the poker table. In the center of the Main screen is a dollar amount. This is the pot. All bets made by players during the game go into the pot. Positioned around the pot are all the player's hands. Near each hand is the players name and money total. Often a description of the player's hand also appears. A description of the player's entire hand always appears at showdown. Before the showdown a description will appear only if a player's upcards show a pair or better. Your Name, hand and money total are displayed in the center of the screen directly below the pot. Your hand is always displayed in full. Any description displayed will be that of your entire hand. Although your entire hand is displayed for you to see, your opponents cannot see your hole cards until the showdown. In the bottom left hand side of the main screen is information on the hand in progress. Information such as who's dealing, and what's going on at the moment. At the end of the hand the name of the winner(s) is displayed here also. - 11 - The Hands screen In the center of the hands screen is a list of the standard ranks possible poker hands. The higher on the list a hand is the better it is. One of these hands is highlighted. A description of the highlighted hand always appears the window at the bottom of the screen. To get a description of a different hand, use the arrow keys to move the highlight onto the name of the hand you want described. After you have gotten all the information on hand ranks that you want, press ESC to exit from the Hands screen. Note: When you exit the Hands screen you will return not to the secondary choice menu, but to the original choice menu. The Scores screen The Scores screen contains a scoreboard listing the 10 best performances by players in past games. Both computer players and human players are eligible go onto the scoreboard after any game in which they have played at least 20 hands. The 'score' is calculated based on amount of money won, number of hands, and adjusted based on the ante, blind bet, maximum bet size and competition level. If you change the ante, blind bet or maximum bet sizes during a session, the score is based that size that results in the lowest scores. Note: When you exit the Scores screen you will return not to the secondary choice menu, but to the original choice menu. The Version/Title screen The Version screen tells you what version of this program you are running. There are no parameters to change on this screen. You exit the Version screen by pressing the ESC key. Note: If you entered the Version screen via a choice from the secondary menu, when you exit the Version screen you will go back to the original choice menu not to the secondary choice menu. The Rules screen The Rules screen lists all the 'House rules' currently in effect. One of these rules in this screen is always highlighted. A more detailed explanation of the highlighted rule appears in the window at the bottom of the screen. To get a more detailed explanation of any rule on this screen, move the highlight onto that rule using the arrow keys or the mouse. Then that rules explanation of it will appear in the window at the bottom of the screen. Whenever you are in the rules screen you can change at least some of the rules. Pressing ENTER changes the highlighted rule. Whenever a rule changes in response to the ENTER key, the explanation in the window may also change to reflect the new rule. Before the game begins, you can change any rule on this screen. After the game begins there are a few restrictions on changing rules. If you enter the rules screen while a hand is in progress, the program will only allow you to change the 'Speed', 'Sort' and 'Sound' rules. If you enter the rules screen between hands you can change all rules. However changing the 'Competition level' and 'Number of Players' rules will have no effect - 12 - on the game already in progress. Changing any other rule will affect the game in progress. The new rule will go into effect on the very next hand. You can exit from the rules screen at any time by pressing the ESC key. Note: If you entered the Rules screen via a choice from the secondary menu, when you exit the Rules screen you will return not to the secondary choice menu, but to the original choice menu. The Players screen In the center of the Players screen are the names of all players currently in the game. Players are listed in one of 4 columns depending on their playing strength. The Strong players constantly base their play on, the number of players in the game, their position, the odds offered by the pot, and their estimation of their opponents hand values and their own hands chance of winning. The casual players are generally unaware of the pot odds and the various possible values of their opponents hands. They depend almost entirely on 'rules of thumb' such as: "With a pair, or a possible straight, stay in for the draw." Average players lie somewhere between these two extremes. And of course Human players are TOTALLY unpredictable. Note: If you entered the Players screen via a choice from the secondary menu, when you exit the Players screen you will return not to the secondary choice menu, but to the original choice menu. The TSS products screens These screens contain descriptions, prices and ordering information for various poker-related products from Top Score Software. To get from one screen to the next, press any key. To exit from the TSS product screens press the ESC key. Note: If you entered the TSS screen via a choice from the secondary menu, when you exit the TSS screen you will return not to the secondary choice menu, but to the original choice menu. The Statistics screens There are 2 statistics screens. When viewing a statistics screen press any key(except ESC) to view the next statistics screen. Press ESC to exit all statistics screens and return to the original choice menu. The first statistics screen shows what percentage of the time each player has been in the game after the first betting round, and at the showdown. It may be interesting to compare your figures with those of players of different skill levels. The most common mistake of inexperienced poker players is to stay in the pot too often. It can also be a mistake to drop too much, but inexperienced players rarely make this mistake. - 13 - The second statistic screens show the number of times various categories of hands have appeared in the showdown, and how often they have won. The categories on the second screen are: Runt(less than a pair) Pair of Twos, Threes, Fours or Fives Pair of Sixes Sevens, Eights, Nines or Tens Pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings, or Aces 2 pair smaller then jacks over twos 2 pair equal to or higher than jacks over twos 3 of a kind Straight Flush Full House(or better) For each category, three statistics are listed. these are: 1. The number of times that hand has won when it has appeared in the showdown. 2. The number of times that hand has appeared in the showdown. 3. The percent of the time that hand has won when it appeared in the showdown. The three columns to the left show these statistics for the current session only. The three columns to the right show these statistics for all sessions including the current one. The rightmost column has the number of times the hand has appeared in a showdown. The middle column has the number of times the hand has won. The leftmost column gives the winning percentage. You can use these figures as a guide to your own play. The number of players in the game has a large affect on these figures. The more players in the game, the better a hand it takes to win. The figures given are only for games of the specified size. The figures will however be fairly consistent regardless of strength of the players in the game. The Odds Screen The Odds screen contains helpful information such as the odds now being offered by the pot and the odds against you improving your hand. At the top of the odds screen are 2 lines that tell you what Vegas Johnny's estimation of the pot odds is. The first of these lines tells the simple pot odds. Simple pot odds are how much is in the pot to how much you owe. So if there were $75 in the pot and you owed $25, since there is three times as much money in the pot as you owe the simple pot odds would be 3 to 1. In cases where you owe no money simple pot odds cannot be calculated; They are infinite. The second line lists the estimated odds to reach showdown. This is how much money will be in the pot at the showdown to how much money you will have to pay to reach the showdown. This form of pot odds is more subjective since neither of these numbers used to calculate it is known for sure. But this form of odds if often a more realistic form to use in guiding your play. As with simple pot odds if the pot will be split, the odds reported are halved. - 14 - Before the draw the Odds screen will contain a table of possible improvements for your high hand. These are the hands you can improve to when you draw cards. The table lists hand values along with the odds against improving to that hand value, and the odds against improving to at least that hand value. At the bottom of the odds screen is an estimate of the odds against a hand of the type you hold winning in a showdown. These odds are calculated for a typical game. They do not take into account the values of the up-cards showing or the strength of the betting in the current hand. Draw poker Draw poker is probably the game most people think about when they think of poker. In Draw poker 5 cards are dealt face down to each player. There is a betting round. Then each player in turn has the choice to throw away from 0 to 3 cards, which the dealer replaces with the same number of cards. Following this is the 2nd betting round. A common practice in real-life games is to require that the player who opens the betting in the first betting round have a pair of jacks or better. One of the rules allows you to specify this requirement for your game if you wish. Note: In Draw poker with 7 or more players it is possible to run out of cards during the draw round. If this happens the program will add all cards discarded by players to the desk, reshuffle, and continue the draw round. The Showdown If more than one player reaches the showdown, all players reveal their hands. The player with the highest ranked hand gets all the money in the pot. If two or more players tie with the same rank high hand, all players with the winning high hand get an equal share of the pot. Any odd dollars that cannot be divided, will remain in the pot for the next hand. Command line arguments/SWITCH.TSS file When starting this program you can follow the program name with one or more optional command line arguments(a.k.a switches). There are about a dozen recognized arguments, which give you control over such things as display and monitor type, display colors, and initial rules settings. Legal switches for command line are described immediately below. Those switches that represent the default start-up values are marked with an asterisk(*). - 15 - COLOR Color monitor attached to display. MONO Monochrome monitor attached to display. You can use this switch to force a monochrome presentation even if you do have a color monitor. BLUE * Blue display background. One of four optional background colors for color displays. The four options are provided because personal color preferences vary from person to person and because no 2 monitors are exactly alike. This Blue background is the one preferred by most people. GREEN Green display background. The green background nicely simulates the color of a green felt playing table but many people find this color scheme to be a bit harsh. BLACK You may prefer this Black background. Particularly if you have an EGA display adapter and want to avoid having a black border around a colored background. CYAN Cyan display background. Most people seem to agree this one is UGLY. But, if your color monitor is very old, or badly in need of adjustment, this may be just the thing. RULESOK * Do not enter rules screen on program start-up. The house rules will be those specified in the RULES.SAV file. After the game has begun you may enter the rules screen in the usual manner if you wish. PLAYERSOK Do not enter player screen on program start-up. You will be called 'Stranger' unless you also included the NAME switch on your command line or in your SWITCH.TXT file. After the game has begun you may enter the players screen in the usual manner. TITLEOK Do not pause in the title screen on program start-up. The title screen will appear for a few seconds after which it will disappear and the program will continue. After the game has begun if need to get a longer look at this screen, you can enter it through the usual menu selections. NOW Do not pause in the title screen and do not enter rules or player screens on program start-up. Begin the game immediately. RULES Enter the rules before starting the game. In the rules screen you will be able to change all rules. PLAYERS * Enter players screen before beginning the game. In the players screen you will be able to get information about your opponents. - 16 - TITLE * Pause in the title screen and wait for a key to be pressed before starting the game. As a default you do pause in the title screen, but this switch allows you to override a TITLEOK or NOW switch in your SWITCH.TXT file. NAME:<x> Tells the program that your name is <x>. DIR:<x> Look for scoreboard, rules and games files in directory <x> If there are conflicting switches, for instance MONO and COLOR, appearing on the same command line it is switch closest to the end of the command line that take precedence. Whenever this program is started it also looks in the current directory for a file named SWITCH.SAV. You can create an ASCII file named SWITCH.TXT with any text editor. Any switches that appear on the first line of SWITCH.TXT will be recognized by the program just as if they were typed in on the command line. In the case of conflicting switches in the SWITCH.TXT file and on the command line, it is the command line switch that takes precedence. Rules On the initial program start-up all rules can be changed. Between hands, all rules except for 'Competition level' can be changed. While a hand is in progress only the 'Sound', 'Sort mode' and 'Play Speed' rules can be changed. You can't exit from the Rules screen while Maximum bet is less than Minimum bet. Each player ante In the absence of a blind bet, this is the amount each player must put into the pot before each hand is dealt. Values for the ante range from 0 (no ante) to 50. If a blind bet is selected, the blind bet is the ante and the value of this rule is moot. Blind bet This is the amount of the blind bet in Draw, Hold'em and Forty-four. Its value ranges from 0 to 100. If this value is 0, no blind bet is selected and the first person to speak in the first round has the freedom to make a bet or not. When this value is greater than 0 a blind bet of this value is required of the first person to speak in the first round of betting. As with any other bet, subsequent players must call or drop. Unlike any other bet, the player who makes the blind bet can raise themselves. The blind bet only applies to the very first betting round in the hand. If a blind bet is selected, it overrides any "jacks needed to open" requirement. The player to the left of the dealer must make the blind bet regardless of thier hand value. - 17 - Maximum bet This is the maximum amount that a player can bet at any time. Its value can be set from 1 to 100. Minimum bet This is the smallest amount that a player may bet. Its value can be set from 1 to 100. In real-life poker games it is common to be able to bet any amount from the minimum to the maximum so long as it is an even multiple of the minimum. However, to keep the user interface simple, this program requires that all bets be either the maximum or the minimum - no bets in between. This is no great loss in limit poker because it is rare that a bet other than the minimum or maximum is a player's best choice. The maximum bet is often the best choice to build a pot you expect to win, or to drive other players out of a pot to improve your winning chances. The minimum bet is often the best choice to use up a raise in order to keep the price of reaching the showdown as low as possible. A bet between them is rarely the best choice, and when it is, it is only marginally better than one of the other 2 choices. Note: You can't exit from the Rules screen while Maximum bet is less than Minimum bet. Raise limit This is the maximum total number of raises that can be made in a betting round. The first bet in a round does not count against this limit. So, for example, if the maximum bet is $25 and this rule limits raises to 3 per round, the most a round of betting could cost is $100. Having a limit on the number of raises is standard practice in fixed limit poker. Without such a limit, two players each convinced they had the best hand could raise each other for round after round, causing half of the players to go broke on one hand. That's against the spirit of limit poker. A limit on the number of raises per round is important for another reason in real-life poker. The reason is that two players, cheating as a team, could raise round after round to break one or more honest players in a single hand. Check-raising This rule allows you to allow or prohibit the practice known as "Check- raising". When a player checks, then later in the same round raises the pot, that's "Check-raising". Some people consider check- raising to be a less than polite practice. Others consider check raising to be just another tool in a well rounded arsenal of poker ploys and strategies. Check raising is usually permitted in casinos and public card-houses. How many players This selects how many players will be in at the start of the game. As play progresses and players run out of money, the game will get smaller. In general, the more players in the game, the better the winning hands are. - 18 - Draw open req The rule applies only to draw poker. It has two possinle settings. One setting "Pair of Jacks" means that a player must hold a pair of jacks or better in order to make the first bet on the first round of draw poker. The other setting 'Anything' means that there is no requirement, a player can make the first bet on the first round regardless of his holding. Note: If a blind bet is selected, it overides this rule. The player to the dealer's left must make the blind bet regardless of his hand value. Competition This rule chooses how strong the competition will be. Before the game begins you may choose any of six levels: Casual, Casual-Average, Average, Mixed, Average-Strong and Strong. Changing this rule after the game has begun will have no effect on the game in progress. Casual Competition This is the easiest of the program's five levels. Your opponents will be the weakest ones the program can possibly give you. This means many 'Casual' players and, in a large game, an average player or two. No 'Strong' players allowed at this level! Casual-Average With this selection your opponents will be selected in roughly equal numbers from the 'Casual' and 'Average' groups. There will be no 'Strong' players in the game at this level. So, at this level your opponents will be tougher than in a 'Casual' game, but not so tough as in an 'Average'. Average This is the median of the program's five possible levels of play. With this level in effect the players selected for your game will be mostly 'Average' players. In a large game a 'Casual' or 'Strong' player may also be selected. Mixed With this selection your opponents will be of all different playing styles. The program will attempt to give you equal numbers of opponents from each style. This usually results in your competition being stronger than 'Average'. Average-Strong With this selection your opponents will be selected in roughly equal numbers from the 'Average' and 'Strong' groups. There will be no casual players at this level. Thus the game will be harder than 'Average competition' but a little easier than 'Strong competition'. - 19 - Strong This is the toughest of the program's five levels. It means that your opponents will be the toughest ones the program can possibly give you. They will be 'Strong' players with, if the game is large, an 'Average' player or two. Play speed This allows you to select how fast the computer players will play while you are still in the game. The higher you set it for, the faster they will play. On the slowest setting '1' players will take about 2 seconds for each bet decision. On the fastest setting '10' players will make their decisions in .2 seconds or less depending on the speed of your PC. Also note that on slower machines such as the original 4.7mhz PC the Strong players may take up to a second for each decision regardless of what the speed is set to. This Play Speed setting does not affect the quality of the computer players play. Alt Play speed This allows you to select how fast the computer players will play after you have dropped out of the game. The higher the number you set it for, the faster they will play. On the slowest setting '1' players will take about 2 seconds for each bet decision. On the fastest setting '10' players will make their decisions in .2 seconds or less depending on the speed of your PC. Also note that on slower machines such as the original 4.7mhz PC the Strong players may need to take as long as second to make each decision regardless of what the speed is set to. The Alt Play speed setting does not affect the quality of the computer players play. Upcard sorting This rule determines how players upcards are displayed. Cards can be displayed in the order in which they are dealt, with the oldest card on the left and the most recently dealt card on the right. The alternative is to display cards in sorted order. Displaying in sorted order makes it easier to see pairs and sequences. Sorted order means from left to right: pairs first in descending order, then single cards in descending order. These are the three possible settings of the 'Upcard sorting' rule: None All players upcards will be displayed in the order in which they were dealt. Mine only Your upcards will be displayed sorted highest to lowest. The upcards of computer players will be displayed in the order in which they were dealt. Everyones Upcards of all players will be displayed sorted highest to lowest. - 20 - Hand rankings Here is a list of the standard generally recognized ranking of poker hands. Along with each is a description of that hand, and the standard procedure for breaking ties, in case two hands of the same rank face each other at the end of a hand. The list of hands is ordered from best to worst. Straight flush Five cards of the same suit and in sequence. For example: K-Q-J-10-9 all the same suit ('a Straight flush, king-high'). In case of ties the highest sequence wins, so: 8-7-6-5-4 beats a 6-5-4-3-2. Four of a kind Four cards of the same rank. For example: 3-3-3-3-Q ('Four threes'). In case of ties the highest set of four wins. If both players have the same set of four, the player with the highest unpaired card wins. So: 7-7-7-7-6 beats 5-5-5-5-J 8-8-8-8-J beats 8-8-8-8-6 Full house Three cards of the same rank, with a pair of some other rank. For example: 7-7-7-4-4 ('a Full house, sevens over fours') In case of ties the player with the highest set of three wins. If the sets of three are the same, then the player with the highest pair wins. So: A-A-A-6-6 beats K-K-K-7-7 9-9-9-A-A beats 9-9-9-J-J Flush Five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence. For example: K-10-5-3-2 all the same suit ('a Flush,king-high'). In case of ties the player with the highest card wins. If the highest cards are the same rank, the highest second card wins. If still tied, the highest third,. If still tied, the highest forth card, and if necessary highest the fifth card. So: A-J-10-5-2 beats K-Q-10-6-3 A-Q-10-5-2 beats A-J-5-4-5 K-J-5-4-3 beats K-J-5-4-2 Straight Five cards in sequence, but not all of the same suit. For example: Q-J-10-9-8 ('a Straight, queen-high') In case of ties the highest straight wins. So: K-Q-J-10-9 beats Q-J-10-9-8. Q-J-10-9-8 beats 7-6-5-4-3 - 21 - Three of a kind Three cards of the same rank. For example: 10-10-10-A-J ('Three tens' a.k.a. 'trip tens') In case of ties the player with the highest set of three wins. If the sets of three are the same, then the highest unpaired card wins. If still tied, then the highest final unpaired card wins. So: 7-7-7-Q-4 beats 5-5-5-A-7 8-8-8-K-3 beats 8-8-8-J-6 Q-Q-Q-K-7 beats Q-Q-Q-K-6 Two pairs Two cards of the same rank, with two cards of some other rank. For example: J-J-9-9-2 ('Two pairs, jacks over nines') In case of ties, the player with the highest pair wins. If these pairs are the same the player whose other pair is highest wins. If these are also the same the player with the highest unpaired card wins. So: A-A-4-4-10 beats K-K-J-J-A K-K-7-7-9 beats K-K-7-7-4 A-A-7-7-Q beats A-A-7-7-8 One Pair Two cards of the same rank. For example: 8-8-J-5-2 ('a Pair of eights') In case of ties, the player with the highest pair wins. If both pairs are same the player with the highest unpaired card wins. If still tied, the second highest unpaired card decides it, or if still tied, the third highest unpaired card. Runt None of the above. No pairs, no sequence of 5 cards, no 5 cards of the same suit. For example: K-J-9-5-2 in different suits ('a Runt, king-high') In case of ties the player with the highest card wins. If the highest cards are the same rank, the highest second card wins. If still tied, the highest third,. If still tied, the highest forth card, and if necessary highest the fifth card. So: A-J-10-5-2 beats K-Q-10-6-3 A-Q-10-5-2 beats A-J-5-4-5 K-J-5-4-3 beats K-J-5-4-2 Different styles of players The opponents you face when you begin a new game are selected from fifteen possible computer players. There are five different computer players for each of the three playing styles: Casual, Average and Strong. There is one human player: You. Casual Average Strong Human Rocky Kid Greek You Guido Betty Bret Dilbert Tex Alice Sarge Jake Roscoe Fingers Doc Fats - 22 - The following sections describe the general characteristics of each of these styles of players. Casual players The casual players are generally unaware of the pot odds and the various possible values of their opponents hands. They depend almost entirely on 'rules of thumb' such as: "Bet with a possible flush." and "Don't drop with 2 pairs of better" Strong players The Strong players constantly base their play on, their position, the number of players in the game, the odds offered by the pot, and their estimation of their opponents hand values and their own hands chance of winning. It can be expensive to have strong players in the game! Average players Average players fall between the extremes of casual and strong. They have some awareness of the pot odds vs their chance of winning, and they use this information to a certain degree. Human players This is You for instance. Different human players can be quite different in skill and style, so I can't give you much any general information here. Some of them are more cunning, resourceful and inspired than the computer players when it comes to adjusting their play to take advantage of their opponents, and bluffing. Topics of General Interest Odds This section is a primer on odds, how to calculate them, and how to use them to play better. Experienced players may want to skip this section. Pot Odds are a ratio of reward to risk: What can I gain/how much must I risk to gain it. For instance: it is your turn to speak, the pot contains $75 and you owe $25. Your potential gain ($75) is three times your potential risk ($25). In such a case it is commonly said that 'The pot is offering you 3 to 1 odds'. In general, the higher the odds offered by the pot are, the better it is for you. High pot odds mean you are risking a relatively small amount for the chance of winning a large amount. Improvement Odds are a measurement of how likely future cards are to improve a hand. Like all odds they are a ratio, a ratio of cards that don't improve your hand to cards that do. A classic example: - 23 - You are playing draw poker and are dealt 5 cards. You have no pairs, but 4 of the cards are spades. If you draw one card, what are the odds against improvement to a flush? Your draw card could be any one of the 47 cards you haven't seen yet. Of these cards 9 are spades(you have 4 of the 13 leaving 9) and the other 38 cards are not spades. The cards that don't give you a flush are roughly four times as numerous as the cards that do, so it can be said that the odds against you getting your flush are 4 to 1 against. In general the lower the odds against improvement are, the better it is for you. Now let's combine the pot odds and improvement odds examples and test 'em out. If you played 47 hands, once for each card in the deck, and got a different card each time. Each time you paid $25 to get a chance to win the $75 already in the pot. That's 3 to 1 odds. Here's what happens: 9 times get flush win $75 9 * 75 = 675 gain 38 times miss flush lose $25 38 * 25 = 950 lose --------- Total = $275 loss (big) Suppose there had been $100 in the pot instead of $75. The pot odds would have been 4 to 1. We would expect this: 9 times get flush win $100 9 * 100 = 900 gain 38 times miss flush lose $25 38 * 25 = 950 lose --------- Total = $ 50 loss (tiny) Finally, suppose there had been $125 in the pot instead of $75. The pot odds would have been 5 to 1. We would expect this: 9 times get flush win $125 9 * 125 = 1125 gain 38 times miss flush lose $25 38 * 25 = 950 lose --------- Total = 275 gain (big) So what conclusions do we draw from this? If the pot odds are less than the odds against you winning, don't pay the money - it's a bad bet and If the pot odds are larger than the odds against you winning, pay the money - it's a good bet. If a good player knows he is beaten, he will not stay in unless the odds offered by the pot are greater than the odds against his improving enough to win. - 24 - This odds discussion has been simplified. It ignores the fact that your flush could lose(not likely, but it could). It ignores the money you might gain by betting when you make your flush. However these other factors are relatively minor adjustments to the formula and tend to average out. Recommended Poker Books For anyone seriously interested in learning to play a better game of poker, this program is a good start. In addition Vegas Johnny recommends the following books on poker. Since he hasn't bought a poker book since the late seventies, all of the books on his recommended list is at least 10 years old. But, since(he claims) poker hasn't changed much in the last ten years, he stands by the following recommendations: Poker is the name of the game - Walter Gibson This is the book advertised on one of those 'extra cards' that come with decks sold by the U.S Playing Card Co. At(as of 1989) $2 it's a bargain. Sklansky on Poker Theory - David Sklansky This book has the real goods. If you put this stuff into practice, you'll be very dangerous. This book is most useful for intermediate to advanced players. Try the Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas, NV. Poker, a guaranteed income for life - Frank R. Wallace The book that explains how you can use a submarine sandwich in a poker game to win hundreds of dollars! You judge this one for yourself. Is it a laugh-riot? Depressing? Worthless? or Valuable? Or some combination? Play poker to win - Amarillo Slim Preston, Bill Cox The book by that colorful guy in the cowboy hat who 10 or 15 years ago showed up on Johnny Carson's show a couple of times after winning the World Series of Poker. Where is he now? "No one knows where the hobo goes when it snows." I think it's out of print, so look for this one in a used book place. - 25 - Computer players / Human players As good as computers are at what they do, they are no match for human beings(yet!) when it comes to creative use of psychology, bluff, counter bluff, and intuition. These can be large factors in poker games particularly high stakes games. Another factor is your unintentional/unconscious behavior. Things like: The way you hold your breath as the final card that might give you a flush is dealt. The expression on your face when you make the flush. The way you gush with confidence as you make the big bet to bluff them out when you didn't make the flush. A human opponent can make use of such information, a computer cannot(yet!). So when you play against real-live human players: Be careful. But have fun! Top Score Software Top Score Software develops, publishes and markets nontechnical consumer-oriented software for personal computers. Top Score Software currently offers the Vegas Johnny Poker programs. The Vegas Johnny programs include inexpensive implementations of the classic games of Draw, Stud and Hold'em, plus the full-blown no- holds-barred "Dealer's Choice" featuring 7 different games each in 4 different variations. All Vegas Johnny programs work with most popular display adapters. They require an IBM compatible PC, and DOS 2.0 or later and, require 256k of memory(except Dealer's Choice requires 384k). Each comes with a comprehensive document file, and (as of late-1989) without fancy packaging. Dealer's Choice - $44.95 postpaid (copy protected) Vegas Johnny's Hold'em poker - $17.95 postpaid (copy protected) Vegas Johnny's Draw poker - $7 to register your copy of our shareware product. Or $9.95 postpaid for a registered copy of the latest version. They may be ordered using the address below. When ordering please specify either 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 inch disks. Massachusetts residents please add 5% sales tax when ordering. Top Score Software PO Box 0541 Townsend, MA 01469 (516) 597-0000 Your feedback is valuable to us. Please feel free to send us your suggestions, complaints and comments, also to the address above. - 26 - Dealer's Choice What would you do if you had the worlds best poker software? o Learn how to play/play better? o While having loads of fun? o As you win thousands of (simulated)dollars? o Or lose your (simulated)shirt? o In an intriguing contest of bluff and counter-bluff? Dealer's Choice is by far the most comprehensive, feature-packed, fun-filled, computer poker simulation available anywhere. It pits you against from 1 to 7 clever computerized opponents in a realistic dealer's choice style poker game. You can select which game or combination of games is allowed to be played. The games you can select are: o Draw poker o Hold'em o Forty-four o 5 card stud o 6 card stud o 7 card stud o Mexican stud You can select which popular variations of each game are allowed. The variations you can select are: o High-only o Low-only o High-Low o High-Spade You can tailor the house rules to suit YOUR preferences. Set the rules to match those of your own Friday night game if you wish. Among the rules you can specify are: o number of opponents, skill level of opponents. o California, Kansas City or 6-4-3-2-A low evaluation o size of ante, blind bet, maximum bet o Jacks required to open in Draw poker o and many MORE! From then on its 'Dealer's Choice'. And when the game begins, the features don't end! Anytime while the game is in progress: o on-line betting advice from Vegas Johnny o on-line help with hand rankings o on-line odds advice o on-line statistics summary. At your command - for your enjoyment - just a few keystrokes away. The action is fast, the stakes are high, the competition is tough and the challenge is real. Dealer's Choice - From Top Score Software. - 27 - Vegas Johnny's Hold'em Poker Computerized version of Hold'em poker. Hold'em is the game they play every year in Las Vegas for the world championship. In Vegas Johnny's version you are pitted against from 1 to 7 computerized opponents. The money is simulated, but the fun and the action are for real! First YOU tailor the house rules to suit your preferences: o Number of opponents, skill level of opponents o Size of ante, blind bet, maximum bet and other limits o Permit or Outlaw check raising o and many more!! Then from the time the first card if dealt, until the end of the game, Vegas Johnny's Hold'em poker has on-line help, on-line betting advice, on-line odds advice and on-line statistics summary at your command. Sure, you can find Hold'em poker programs costing quite a bit more. But you won't find a more fun, feature-packed and comprehensive one at any price, anywhere. Except Top Score Software. - 28 - Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker Ever-popular Draw poker. THE classic form of poker. Vegas Johnny's Draw poker is an exciting simulation where you are pitted against from 1 to 7 clever computerized opponents in a draw poker game. Simulation? Well the money's simulated, but the fun is real and the action is fast! First tailor the house rules to suit your preferences, or to match those of the Saturday night game you play in: o Number of opponents, skill level of opponents o Size of ante, blind bet, maximum bet and other limits o Permit or Outlaw check raising o Jacks required/not required to open o and many more!! Vegas Johnny's Draw Poker has the same great features as our other poker programs. Features such as: o on-line help o on-line betting advice o on-line odds advice o on-line statistics summary o natural, easy to use user interface o card sorting - at your option o sound - at your option o user selectable playing speed This inexpensive shareware program has features and playability far superior to $35 poker programs you may have seen offered elsewhere. Vegas Johnny's Draw poker is a program that lives up to the shareware ideal of inexpensive quality software. - 29 - - 30 -