Overview
This guide serves to help you get started on poker mini-game, Haruka’s request & where to find royal joker cards.
Poker Basics
Yakuza Kiwami 2 poker mini-game uses the Texas hold ’em style. Before any cards are dealt, forced bets are put in place, Big blind & Small blind, these ‘titles’ rotate between players after each showdown. Be sure to take advantage of these, if you feel like you have a bad hand and you are neither the BB or SB, you can fold your cards and save yourself from losing chips. In return, if you feel like you have a bad hand but you are BB or SB, then it might be worth to just ‘check’ or ‘call’ your hand and compare with the first 3 community cards (known as the flop) as the dealer has already forced a bet from you.
Each player is dealt 2 private cards (‘hole cards’ or ‘pocket cards’), after which a betting round will start. Then, 3 community cards will be dealt face up called the flop, followed by a second betting round. Fourth community card is dealt face up called the turn, again, followed by a betting round. Last community card called the river is dealt face up and then the final betting round. At the showdown, each player that hasn’t folded and is still in play, reveal their ‘private cards’ and the best hand wins (card hands will be shown bellow).
In each betting round, you can:
- Check – Betting nothing. !!Players cannot check on the opening round because they must either match (or raise) the BB or fold.
- Bet – The opening bet of a betting round.
- Call – To match a bet or a raise.
- Fold – To discard your hand & forfeit the current pot.
- Raise – To increase the size of the current bet.
- Re-raise – A second or a subsequent raise of a betting round.
Here is a picture of the poker hands by rank of strength:
- Royal Flush – A, K, Q, J, & 10 all in the same suit.
- Straight Flush – 5 cards in sequence, all of the same suit.
- Four of a kind – 4 cards of one rank
- Full House – 3 matching cards of one rank plus 2 matching cards of another rank.
- Flush – 5 cards of the same suit.
- Straight – 5 cards of sequential rank but different suit.
- 3 of a kind – 3 cards of the same rank.
- Two pair – 2 cards of the same rank plus another 2 cards of another rank.
- One pair – 2 cards of the same rank.
- High Card – One card high, Ace being the highest card.
Haruka’s Request
The Palace in Purgatory
Purgatory Casino
Play Poker and end your session with 1000 more chips than you started with.
After chapter 13, you will have the opportunity of spending time with Haruka. As you are walking around Kamurocho town, you will notice a speech balloon over her head to hint as to what she would like to do and if you speak to her she’ll go into more detail about what she wants.
One of her requests is that she wants to go to the ‘Palace in purgatory’ and if you speak to her, she will say that she wants you to visit the Purgatory Casino. Once you arrive there, which is the room just before the coliseum on your right, talk to her to find out what mini-game she would like to watch you play.
In the purgatory casino, Haruka will ask you to play either Poker or Blackjack but for this guide i will only mention Poker. Haruka’s request on poker is that you leave a poker game with 1000 more chips than what you started.
For example, if you start your poker session with 1000 chips then Haruka will only be happy if you leave that same session with at least 2000 chips. Keep in mind that you cannot use the completion list to keep track on winnings, this request factors in losses as well as earnings. This request has to be done in one sitting (or session) for Haruka to be happy.
Gambling ‘Cheat’ Items
In Yakuza Kiwami 2 there are various items that you can either equip, consume or use to help have that extra edge in certain parts of the game, for this Poker guide I will only mention the Royal Joker Card and how to obtain them.
This item can be used at any point between a betting round but i would suggest not using it during a ‘flop‘ as you will most likely get a 3 of a kind, which is not a bad hand but keep in mind that you are not the only one that uses the community cards. I would suggest using it during the ‘turn‘ or ‘river‘ as the pot might be bigger and you could be 1 card away from a high ranking hand that will win the pot when it comes to the showdown.
- Kamurocho Locker G5
On Pink Alley, start from Club Shine and into an ‘informant station’. Key is inside. - Sotenbori Locker A5
Just south of the karaoke snack bar is a little alley. Follow it all the way to the end. - Kamurocho Hidden Item
Go east from Beam to the next intersection. You’ll see stairs leading up to the north. Climb them and you’ll find this at the end. - Sotenbori Hidden Item
Right outside the door to the acupuncturist. - Haruka’s Request
Reach rank SSS in Haruka’s request and she will give you a Royal Joker Card
Conclusion
Playing Poker on Yakuza series be a bit more difficult due to not be able to read the opponents bluff (face reactions or other giveaways), although, the game does have speech bubbles to compensate for that and each opponent will have different scripts to help you understand their play styles.
Keeping that in mind, you can only get good by practice. Without the Royal Joker cards, learning to judge if your hand is a potential winner only comes with practise, but i really do hope this guide will help people have a better understanding of how to play this mini-game as Poker on Yakuza kiwami 2 can be fun to play and rewarding once you unlock the high stakes table.
Thank you for your time reading this guide and I hope it will serve you well 😄
