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A secret poker game you can play on the subway

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Re: A secret poker game you can play on the subway

#51

Post by antasvara »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #20

The most obvious issues with this is that the game boils down to predicting passenger patterns, but you're still just comparing two RNGs, which is one of the worst kinds of games. I also don't think this can be called Poker, really. Poker is an imperfect information game, where your hand tells you some information about your opponents' hands. It would be interesting to read HN's ideas on how you can simulate the shar…

In the style of Texas Hold'em, both players could secretly choose two seats each and write them down. Then, you'd collectively choose 5 seats to be the shared "cards."

This next suggestion would stretch the "poker" definition somewhat, but I think it retains the same characteristics (imperfect information, shared "cards").

You start from a shared list of attributes (coat color, presence of a hat, etc.) and designate a row of seats. Each person gets one attribute secretly. You wager after each stop following poker conventions.

Only downside to this is that unlike poker, your hand can get worse after a stop.

Re: A secret poker game you can play on the subway

#52

Post by zahlman »

pmarreck wrote: post #29
Aransentin wrote: post #9

This article has a strong ChatGPT smell. Things like "in the world of", "let's dive into", the bullet points, "conclusion" section, etc. Anyone else have the same feeling?

FFS. I read it and learned something. Stop jousting windmills just because they seem like propellers on warplanes that are coming for you. Sometimes they are just windmills.

"Learned" what, exactly? Anyone could make up a game like this. And it really does read to me (as it apparently did to GP) like something even an LLM could make up nowadays.

Re: A secret poker game you can play on the subway

#53

Post by ZoomZoomZoom »

kuboble wrote: post #49
ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The card games listed have the information aspect in common. The slot machine is not a Poker, it's a poker-themed slot machine and the game people play with it is called losing money.

Not that I disagree with anything about the nature of those games, but your narrow usage of a word poker is wrong. I even checked the Wikipedia article about Poker and there is a quote very similar to my wording: "Other games that use poker hand rankings may likewise be referred to as poker."

Well, it's my opinion based on the assumption that players used to specific common card games under the moniker might be disappointed when a new game with the same name lacks an essential component (and it's not cards).

Naming things is hard but there's no hard limits for the expansive approach, you can call all card games or all 5-things-games Poker. Your mileage as to communication with other people may vary, though.

Where we're disagreeing is at how we're seeing what's conventional.

Re: A secret poker game you can play on the subway

#54

Post by zahlman »

savanaly wrote: post #28
Aransentin wrote: post #9

This article has a strong ChatGPT smell. Things like "in the world of", "let's dive into", the bullet points, "conclusion" section, etc. Anyone else have the same feeling?

The sad thing is ChatGPT didn't invent that style. That was just the way clear, concise writing by skilled writers was at the time they trained the model. So now if you are actually a skilled writer who tries to convey ideas in a clear, concise way, you will appear robotic :(

Certainly I've seen elements of this style in pre-ChatGPT writing. (Of course, it didn't just invent the style.) But I disagree strongly that it's clear, concise or skillful. The way that bullet-point lists are used here is highly distracting and frankly counterproductive, and a "conclusion" hardly seems necessary for a piece that presents the rules for a simple game. Entire sentences like "Let’s dive into the rules and strategies of this captivating game." are pure fluff here, too.

Re: A secret poker game you can play on the subway

#55

Post by kuboble »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #53
kuboble wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I disagree with anything about the nature of those games, but your narrow usage of a word poker is wrong. I even checked the Wikipedia article about Poker and there is a quote very similar to my wording: "Other games that use poker hand rankings may likewise be referred to as poker."

Well, it's my opinion based on the assumption that players used to specific common card games under the moniker might be disappointed when a new game with the same name lacks an essential component (and it's not cards). Naming things is hard but there's no hard limits for the expansive approach, you can call all card games or all 5-things-games Poker. Your mileage as to communication with other people may vary, thoug…

All you say is true. Except in your first post you didn't say "I personally prefer a convention of calling only those games poker".

You said "you can't call it poker" with a tone of an authority.

And I say that you can.

Re: A secret poker game you can play on the subway

#57

Post by motes »

bombcar wrote: post #6
tromp wrote: post #2

> Each type of passenger corresponds to a specific poker card value: Child: Counts as a 10 Teenager: Counts as a Jack Woman: Counts as a Queen Man: Counts as a King Elderly Person: Counts as an Ace How do you get the players to agree on whether some person is elderly or not? Some people look 10 years younger than their age, while others look 10 years older. Short of asking people for their age, it seems to remain gue…

I'd be more worried about overlap; if there are five women, and one is elderly, I'd rather count it as five queens than four and an ace.

unless you include Balatro hands where Five of a kind, flush five, and flush house are possible hands with some modified card decks.

Re: A secret poker game you can play on the subway

#58

Post by ZoomZoomZoom »

kuboble wrote: post #55
ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's my opinion based on the assumption that players used to specific common card games under the moniker might be disappointed when a new game with the same name lacks an essential component (and it's not cards). Naming things is hard but there's no hard limits for the expansive approach, you can call all card games or all 5-things-games Poker. Your mileage as to communication with other people may vary, thoug…

All you say is true. Except in your first post you didn't say "I personally prefer a convention of calling only those games poker". You said "you can't call it poker" with a tone of an authority. And I say that you can.

> You said "you can't call it poker" with a tone of an authority.

This is a misquote, if I ever saw one.

What I've actually written (emphasis added): "I also don't think this can be called Poker, really."

In other words, this is my personal line of thought, with the argument given in the next sentence, and "really" means "to some extent it can, but not to the full".

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