Poker is a universal game that has gone through different evolutions throughout its history. It has not only been known for the current poker rules and variants that are most popular both in official tournaments and in online championships. In the past, it was also played with special dice. And although it is difficult to imagine the connection between poker and dice, poker with dice does exist and is even practiced even today in certain circles, even if these circles are obviously very far from be victimized by poker professionals who dedicate themselves body and soul to their favorite discipline with cards.
Now imagine a French casino, and try to find a craps table there to play on, and it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. The American influence was not enough for this dice game to develop in European casinos. And if we’re talking about online platforms, it’s not even worth hoping to find craps simulations there. It is therefore not difficult to understand that finding a poker table with dice is even more complex. However, there are poker variations that have managed to make a small place in people’s minds, such as poker mentor.
Derived from the Liar game which is played with cards, this variant isbased solely on the art of bluffing. As the name suggests, the object of the game is to lie and successfully fool the rest of your opponents. Whoever can best hide his game under a carpet of truths, half-truths and lies will then have the upper hand in this entertaining hobby that we will get to know a little better.
How to play mentor poker?
To be able to play mentor poker, it is first essential to know how to play poker. It will then require a minimum of two players with five dice and a cup. Each die has 6 sides, each representing one of the six highest cards in poker. We are therefore talking here about the Ace, the King, the Queen, the Jack, the 10 and the 9. Each player must put the dice in the cup, shuffle them and roll them so that all the dice remain in the cup. the goblet except one. This will serve as a clue to the next player.
The player then looks at his dice without anyone else being able to see them, and must announce the hand he has. And it is at this moment that the possibility of lying or not comes into play, according to the desire of the launcher. The next player must then decide if his precedent is telling the truth or a lie.. If he believes it, then this player collects the dice without looking at them and re-rolls them with the obligation to announce a superior hand to that of the player before. For example, if a player claims to have a full house and if the next one believes it, then the latter will be obliged to announce at least one quad.
But if the player doesn’t believe the thrower, then the cup is taken and the dice are shown. If the pitcher was actually telling the truth, they lose a point, but if they were lying, they gain one. The objective is to make the maximum of hands until reaching a determined number of points, in general 5, which is equivalent to the elimination of a player. The last player not to be eliminated is declared the winner.
The order of the hands in this variant of poker is as follows, from lowest to highest:
- Pair: two dice with the same symbol
- Double pair: two pairs of dice
- Brelan: three dice of the same symbol
- Full: combination of a set and a pair
- Square: four dice of the same symbol
- Straight or Poker: five dice of the same symbol
His history
The lying poker originated from a Hispanic card game called the Liar, which worked the same way but using the Spanish cards rather than dice. With the growing popularity of poker in all Spanish-speaking countries, the merger between these two games began to interest many players from the 1950s.
These players were mostly military men who took up mentor poker as the perfect pastime to fill their spare time. And from the regiments, it migrated to the universities where it became one of the most popular games to play in the cafeteria, between two hours of class. And incidentally also in the idea of betting and winning money.
the mix of luck and strategy is what has greatly helped the development of liar poker, as it relies heavily on both. Understanding poker tells, those gestures that betray a player’s state of mind, is critical in determining when a player is lying, because ultimately the way the game works will always force players to lie. It is indeed very difficult to perpetually pull out a combination superior to the previous one, and it will therefore often be necessary to bluff.
You also have to know how to take advantage of a moment of luck and know whether to bluff or take advantage of it to tell the truth. And it’s ultimately a game in which the battle against tilt is more than difficult.
Variants of Poker Mentor
As with all games that are played mostly by amateurs rather than professionals, there are many variations. There are players who choose to play to a total of 9 points, and the first to achieve that total wins the game (thus reversing the points distribution system usually based on eliminations). There are others who eliminate a player for each mistake, and still others who accumulate the points over a given time and the one with the lowest total at the end is declared the winner.
And other variants have since arisen, such as kiriki in the Basque Country or in other areas of Spain, where this game is still very popular compared to France. It is even possible to play it with real poker cards, even if it turns out to be a bit more complicated.
