This mini-game is absolutely aggravating at times… But it makes good money and experience, especially in the later chapters. It’s really simple, poker with dice, best two-out-of three rounds wins the game. Just save and reload until you win. If you start out with a good hand (comparatively) bet aggressively and the computer might yield. Otherwise, just play the odds.

Aside from making money, defeating ranked opponents is the objective of the “Dice Poker” quests. Some higher-ranked opponents won’t play you until you’ve proven yourself against lesser challengers. The ranks are None (you can play with them, but winning won’t earn you any status), Novice, Professional, and Sharper. Defeat three Novice players and you’ll become a Professional, win against four Professionals to become a Sharper, and prove yourself against three Sharpers to be able to challenge the Legendary player near the end of the game. You can procrastinate qutie a bit with these quests, but there’s really no point in waiting. If you haven’t completed “Dice Poker: The Novice” by the end of Chapter 3, you can’t complete this questline, but… since you can accomplish this in Chapter 1, there’s really no excuse.

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Make a wager and roll the dice to start a game of Dice Poker (left). Best two-out-of-three wins the game. Instead of numbered and face cards, your “hands” consist of dice results, using largely the same rules as regular poker (right).

You roll five dice, and then you can select any number of dice to reroll. As in normal poker, higher numbers win, so a two-of-a-kind of fours would beat a two-of-a-kind of ones. In a tie, the player with the next highest die wins. If you both have three-of-a-kind in threes, and you have a four as your next highest, and they have a six, they win. It is possible to draw, but this is rather unlikely. The “hands” are as follows from weakest “hand” to best: