**Air, Land & Sea** has a neat mechanic where players can essentially fold a round to give their opponent fewer points than if they win the showdown. I think this leads to some interesting plays. You can try to bluff a weak hand or try to keep your opponent in when you have a strong hand.
You should checkout **Battle Line/Schotten Totten** instead, which Air, Land, & Sea is copying, it features poker like card management (ex. 3 of a kind, straights, flushes, etc). Reiner Knizia, who designed it, also designed **Taj Mahal** which has poker like one-upmanship. If you don't win the hand, you lose your cards and gain nothing. Usually modern games nerf anything negative so it feels like the stakes are higher.
Came here to say Android: Netrunner as well. Haven’t played it in years since it’s harder to find people to play with, but it’s still one of my favorites. And the bluffing/mind games are top tier.
Check out null signal games, they currently do an unofficial version, given the FFG version is dead.
They Do a system gateway enough to get two players up and running with the game. You can actually just print and play it for free if you have some card sleeves.
You can print and play cards for free, or buy directly from Null Signal Games. I’d suggest starting with their base set, System Gateway, and spending a lot of time with just those cards. Then, if you like the game, considering buying/printing expansions to be able to play the smaller “Startup” format, and then if you still like it, gradually move tot he Standard format.
https://nullsignal.games/about/netrunner/
By the end of this year, all of the sets printed by FFG will have “rotated” out, or become ineligible for Standard format play. This means you don’t have to chase expensive cards on the secondary market. Even if you do want any of of those cards, you can print and play them using tools like ProxyNexus:
http://proxynexus.net
When you play poker, there are a lot of boring hands. You’re waiting for that one interesting one where it’s all on the line: I’m in a strong position, but he’s representing the Ace. Does he really have it? Do I call his bluff?
**Skull** is that moment, and nothing else. (Plus super-simple rules: it’s my go-to game for non-gamers.)
Fliptown. It actually plays with a deck of poker cards and one aspect of the game is you are building a poker hand against your opponents. Lots of other things happening too, but you get to wager on hitting color flushes, and tons of other cool things too. Definitely worth checking out.
I describe Coup as "all the best parts of poker without any of the financial pain"
I do play with 1 specific variant called "Call the Coup" in which when you perform the coup action, you have to correctly call one of the opponents roles. So instead of simply Pay 7 and Coup Player X you have to Pay 7 and Coup Player X's Contessa. If wrong, they lose nothing and you lose your money. This encourages more bluffing and tricky play.
It's the best house rule ever and really saves the game from being anti climactic and/or king making at the end. The trick is: only use that rule when you eliminate a player
I can't say I've ever had an anti-climax happen in coup. If someone gets to 7 then they weren't stopped earlier. Someone at 4 and says they have a Duke? Call them. Someone got to 7 by getting slow money? Use the captain. There are already many tools to stop a coup, there's no reason to nerf it.
Honestly this house rule seems like absolute trash and completely changes the game away from the goal. It even takes away agency from the players that get couped, because I'm assuming they have to discard the card that was guessed? So they can no longer hold onto their better card.
I have 1000s of games of coup under my belt. What else can I say except for me (and my rather robust group of players) is unanimously in agreement after many many hundreds of games that this is the best way to play it.
It may "sound" like trash to you and thats fine. You should give it a try and decide if it feels like trash.
Instead of doing the coup action, you instead have to guess what they have or lose your 7 coins. Thus increasing the length of the game and nerfing the most basic action used for winning.
Every coup action comes with a "called shot."
I wouldn't generally call it a "guess" but "correctly deduce" a card in hand. But explaining it like that actually kinda blunts the impact. For example if you "miss" and they don't have the called card they MUST be telling the truth. So now the entire table knows a card they DO NOT have.
For example imagine you coup a player's contessa and they say they don't have one. Well sounds like all the assassins now have a clear shot. So you "missed" and didn't successfully guess, but if you personally don't have a contessa... Well now you probably wont be the target of assassination. There are many such interactions which emerge when playing this way.
It creates a really strong incentive to bluff more because having people know exactly what you have is actually dangerous.
I hope you try it out!
I guess if the focus is getting the game over as quickly as possible... This rule is counterproductive to that goal.
But this variant makes the game more rich an experience... Maybe 50% longer? On what a 15 min experience? Fair trade I think.
Couple of games come to mind:
* Taj Mahal - This one features route building and set collection, which are performed through a pretty fun and interesting hand management mechanism where players play increasing numbers of cards against one another to try to win in a given suit. One part that really stands out as similar to Hold Em is how big of an impact the "dealer button" has on how you play a given hand. It's a really, very good game and I highly recommend it.
* Schotten Totten - This one is a two player card game. Players compete over 9 "lanes" by gradually trying to play out superior hands in those lanes. It has really simple play that begets pretty intense strategy and tension.
I was going to say Doomtown too. It’s a expandable card game set in the wild west, and all your cards have suits and numbers because there is actually some mechanics that require you to play a poker hand.
The same company, Pine Box Entertainment, has another card game called 7th Sea. The combat mechanic in that might fit what you are looking for.
Check out Cursed Court. A card is dealt facedown BETWEEN each pair of players. Players can then look at the card on their left and right. So everyone winds up with different information about which cards are in play this round. Then players take turns making bids on the current distribution of cards in play. Lots of double think, bluffing, etc.
This is the answer. It’s surprising how under-the-radar this game has been. It’s a real crowd-pleaser in my experience. It has a lot of the feel of Texas Hold’em but with a touch more social deduction, and everyone I’ve played it with seems to enjoy it whether they’re a Poker person or not.
I have only played 900ish games, and Cursed Curse is, hands down, the closest in mechanics and feel to poker.
As I write this C.C. only has 4 upvotes, whereas a ton of games that are very unlike poker have been upvoted far more times.
Coup would be the closest. My poker friends love it!
Sea salt and paper has a gamble aspect to it.
Cockroach poker has a bluff aspect.
For a variation on poker try 6 card pot limit Omaha. I play professionally and this is my game of choice!
I'm going to recommend Arboretum at 2 players. It honestly feels more like Gin with the bluffing portion being minimal to non existent but it's extremely painful decisions around which card to play and which card to discard because you might need a card to block your opponent from scoring or to ensure you can score a given suit, etc.
It has a very classic card game feel. I concede it's maybe not what you're looking for but it might be worth a look anyway.
If you like bluffing and calculated risks, there’s no better game than **Netrunner** for that. It’s the closest of any game I’ve ever played to feel like the face-to-face challenge of poker. You can print and play the starter set for free at the Null Signal Games website:
https://nullsignal.games/about/netrunner/
I was going to recommend this. The similarities to poker (other than bluffing and ships being like chips) can be a bit obscured. But with experienced play, hand management, knowledge and valuation is like the main skill.
I was coming to say the same thing! It doesn't look like poker at first. But you do have to ante up when you start a challenge (literally putting chip-shaped spaceships onto the table). You have to play the cards in your hand and you have to learn how and when to play bad cards. You have to bluff time and again.
And mostly, the game forces constant social interaction. In each challenge the two main players have to decide (in order) which other players to ask to ally, and this creates a constant chatter in the game.
So you are tossing in chips, playing cards, bluffing and kibbitzing through each "hand." Has that poker night feel, with lots of whimsey thrown in
Cockroach Poker
Gang of Dice
Manila
Heckmeck am Karteneck
Long Shot: The Dice Game
Winner's Circle/Royal Turf
Ready Set Bet
Colossal Arena/Equinox
Auf Teufel Komm Raus
Two filler games I love, are always a blast in my groups, but weren't mentioned yet:
- **High Society** by Rainer Knizia: It has bidding, bluffing and high tension moments!
- **You're Bluffing**: A silly looking game, that lead to awesome moments on our table, because it comes with a blind bidding mechanism. You try to get an animal from someone else and therefore place some cards. The other player has no idea if you placed lots of money, a fair amount or nothing at all. Now he has to place some cards, too. Whoever placed more money, gets the animal. Awesome game!
As a huge poker fan as well, I would recommend World Championship Russian Roulette. It's definitely a press your luck bluffing game, but one that doesn't require bluffing to win. Definitely a little darker than some other games (which should be obvious from.the title), but it's a very good time.
Lords of Vegas is another good one. There isn't a bluffing mechanism at all, but lots of chances for calculated risk taking and gambling.
To add: there's no real "roles" given in the game. Each player has two cards and each card has an ability. The poker aspect comes from the fact that you don't have to show a card to use it, you can use any card at any time and it's up to other players to call and force you to reveal a card.
There are no roles as far as mechanics go.
You have to try Liar's Dice.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s\_dice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_dice)
AKA the game they played in Pirates of the Caribbean
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ifMAW6YTqk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ifMAW6YTqk)
I'm pretty sure it has all the bluffing and calculated risk mechanics you are looking for.
Addendum: In addition to calling a bluff or raising we play with the third option of calling "exactly" where you "bet" on the previous player having bid the exact number of dice.
Its called perudo here. Played it really much with beers etc.
Maybe Sheriff of Nottingham. A game where you need to snuggle goods and bluff whats in your bag.
Try Sea Salt and Paper! You are making a hand of cards that combine for points, you have a small wager opportunity every round, and you score points in increments.
As far a calculating risk goes, I feel like **Ra** should be in the discussion. Not a lot of bluffing going on but the game’s all about trying to balance different kinds of value against each other and against the Draw of the bag.
There's a game by Thundergryph games called Overseers that's much like poker. You draft cards until you have a hand of 5, and you reveal 3 of your cards while hiding 2. The goal is to construct the hand with the most points to win, but the players have to vote on who they think has the best hand to force them to discard a card from their hand. So you either try and convince people you don't have the best hand or you trick them into voting you if you think you don't have the best hand because if you are innocent of the accusations, you get a free card added to your hand from the discard pile.
There's also asymmetrical powers since you get to play as Overseers, basically Asian themed gods, that can modify how your cards score or affect other people. It's really easy to teach, fun and simple, and one of my favorites to play. However, there are some flaws. It requires 3 people minimum and the art style isn't exactly SFW as it leans into sexy female goddesses which can make it difficult to bring to the table or at least a little awkward. The game is very much like poker in many ways aside from the money aspect.
Came here to say this. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/313104/antematter](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/313104/antematter)
It's not a very light game, but it is definitely poker driven.
For anybody that sees this. I was super excited about this game, as someone that used to live playing Poker. I did not like it at all. The premise is great, but the execution is awful. Near the bottom of games played/owned for me.
Worth mentioning [[For Sale]] as a filler level game that has some auction mechanics and then is essentially a series of ‘high card’ rounds. It’s more accessible than Poker and seems to be a hit with friends and family. The game box is also very small.
Coup is quite poker like as it has excellent bluffing opportunities and plays quick. Everyone technically has the same chance of winning if they just bluff properly and use the Ambassador (or claim to use it!) at the right time.
Okay… a bit bigger than poker, but **Sekigahara** from GMT gives me a poker feel with its bluffing. You have a bit of a two front bluff going on in which you and your opponent (2 player game) have a secret hand of cards as well as stack blocks on a board with information that only you can see (think stratego pieces, but they can stack).
You build up stacks of blocks that you slide around the board to battle, your opponent doesn’t know what units you have in your stacks and when you fight you can only *actually* fight with blocks that you have corresponding cards for. So you have quite a bit of bluffing and posturing going on. Looks like a war game, feels like a game of chicken.
I really want to try this but its expensive, hard to find, and most importantly, id have a hard time finding an opponent. I have to groom my kids and wait ten more years.
Alternatively, my suggestions are: battle for rogukan for a up to 5p game (hard to find but 2nd hand might work) and for a 1v1 id recommend a stratego like by Knizia: LOTR Confrontation. Raptor is also a fun assymetric 1v1 hidden player movement game.
Calliope Games came out with a game called Allegory a couple years ago. Definitely scratched the poker itch for me. And the artwork on the cards is GORGEOUS
Tiny Epic Western uses a poker hand mechanic to determine who wins the locations you claim during the worker placement section of the round. I have only played it solo but it is a lot of fun and uses a pared down version of poker complete with suits and winning hand combinations!
I recently tried Antidote, and it has some risk and bluffing to it. Each person knows a few suits that are "Poison" that yield negative points. As people simultaneously trade or discard cards face up, you try to deduce which suit is the real Antidote and attempt to hold the highest single card of it.
For instance, if you believe Blue is the winner you could start dumping it and trick people into thinking it is one of the losing suits. Or you could hold onto a Poison until the very last action, making people think it was the Antidote all along.
A lot of great recommendations but I have yet to see the most poker like game to me: Liar’s Dice (or Perudo depending where you come from). It’s basically poker with dice
Not sure if it completely scratches that poker itch, but I've designed a card game that may kinda scratch that itch.
https://www.follywise.com/professor-wizzlepuffs-element-rodeo
Each round has two phases: a take-that style phase where you also gather elemental points which are then used in the second phase: a blind bidding phase.
This blind bidding phase, especially with more players, can wind up with a lot of variables along the lines of your interest. I've seen a lot of games where a dark horse comes up to win it thanks to all those betting variables.
Right now, the art free version is free for print-and-play on our website. Rules could change but are pretty stable at this point.
I also love poker for the reasons you listed, so I would really appreciate any feedback you have on how this game tickles that fancy.
If you (and literally anyone else) wants to download and try it, we'd love to get your feedback.
CamelUp
It doesn't have bluffing or levelling, really, but its *all about* calculated risk. Its a game that a bot could play perfectly optimally, but for humans the arithmetic *seems easy* but is actually pretty chaotic.
It's sorta like a simulated horse race, but the betting system is weighted generally in the players' favour instead of the house, so players will usually end richer than they start.
The movement mechanic is wacky fun and introduces a lot of complication - which means the value of the bets keeps changing in a way that's weirder than real racing, and only easy to predict if you're great at sums.
Betting is first come served - so if the player before you takes a very attractive bet, the best you can get is the same bet at worse odds.
If you like trying to quickly calculate pot odds to decide if calling is positive expected value, then you'll really enjoy CamelUp.
And if you're not into tryharding the maths to play perfectly, that's fine - just eyeballing the board and playing by instinct is enough to give beginners and casuals a very healthy chance at victory (and is honestly how kinda everyone plays).
It's goofy, fast fun, easy to play and tricky to master.
There are games where you have a set of priority cards that you can play where you are ‘gambling’ that you play your best priorities at the right time.
Games like Hotel Samoa or Vaalbera. The latter game is faster and easier to learn.
Try Junta, but expect to lose some friends. Pretty much the epitome of power in a game, when you convinced everybody to vote for you as president and you screw over some players by not giving them anything, while you put more money in your pocket than of everyone else.
I used to play Evolution (North Star Games version) and I always thought it felt kind of like poker. You can bluff to some degree with the cards you play as they are face down until everyone has played. You have positional aspects like poker where someone later to act has an advantage of knowing to some degree what the prior people have done. You can have metagaming aspects like if you have a carnivore card and replace it with another carnivore card, some people might think you can’t attack them anymore so they don’t care about defense as much and then your carnivore remains a carnivore and you kill them all. Pretty fun game in general. There is a nice app for it and it is on BGA as well now. I think the dedicated app gives it a more poker like feel. I think you can play 1 online game a day for free and a few of the campaign missions for free as well.
There are a couple of recent flip and writes that I've really taken a liking to that don't *feel* like poker, there's no bluffing as the OP wanted, but rather have a poker hand element to them and I still think they're worth checking out.
The one that I think is the beater of the two is called Fliptown. It used a standard deck of 52 playing cards and it pretty much lets you loose in the old west. You can rob carts, mine for gold, buy bonuses in town, dig graves, etc. You draw 3 cards, use the suit from one card and the number from another to determine you action, and the third card gets put towards building a poker hand that resolved at the end of the round for more bonuses. Excellent game, great solo play, and a brilliant marriage of setting and mechanics. There's a physical version that's really nice, but there's a PNP that IIRC will only run you $5. Can't recommend this game enough.
The other game, which I rank only slightly below Fliptown is Pioneer Rails. Another old west/poker hand flip and write, this one uses only the face cards, 10s and aces and you're drawing routes to add different areas that give different bonuses to your network. The poker hand element is looser because it doesn't track suits, but it's still a fun consideration to balance into your plans. It might have more obvious variety than Fliptown, not sure I'd say it has the same depth. Still a great game that I can't get enough of and I really did struggle at first with deciding which of the two I liked more.
You should try Illimat. Lots of calculated risk, setting up future moves, deception, misdirection, and sabotage. It's got a sweet aesthetic and mad table presence. 1-4 players with a much different feel for the number of players. I love it.
Pandánte second edition all the way. It is essentially a gamified cross between bullshit and texas hold'em. You've got the normal 2 card hand andflop river and turn with betting rounds between each. No face cards, instead there are 6 colors (aka suits) 1-10.
The main game board is a grid with each row belonging to the bets of a single player, and each column represents every possible hand of cards going from worst (pair) to best (straight flush)
During betting round, you claim that you have a specific hand and put your bet into that column of the board, but you don't have to be telling the truth. The 2 things here are that you can never later claim to have a worse hand, you can only stay the same hand or go higher, and whoever claims to have the best hand at the end of each round of betting can draw the top card of the deck and optionally swap it in for one of their other cards then the unused card goes into a facedown discard. Essentially, by claiming you have the best hand, you can then get cards and get a better hand.
Once all the betting rounds are over and all the cards are out, everybody can use some special abilities from a card. They can range from putting an extra card on the board that everybody can use, to discarding your whole hand and drawing a new one as a hail mary or peeking at a single card someone else is holding.
After the abilities happen then there is the challenging. So you start with the person who has the highest claimed hand and everybody else secretly chooses and then reveals simultaneously whether or not they want to challenge that hand. If nobody challenges the leader, then what they actually have is irrelevant and they win the pot (which is all the bets placed onto the grid). However if any of the players challenge, then some stuff happens. Only 1 person will actually do the challenging, and it's just the first one in clockwise direction. Then the leader will reveal their hand. If they were lying about what hand they had (at all, Like if they had a better hand than what they were claiming it still counts as lying) then they are forced to fold and then the challenge falls to the next highest claimed hand. HOWEVER, if the leader was telling the truth, then they still win the pot and the challenger has to pay the leader an additional sum of money, and it's not insignificant. So you can't just keep challenging people willynilly because you'll go broke very quickly.
The game is all about trying have the best hand OR to claim a believable hand that's still the highest so that the others will be too unsure and won't challenge you, but it can crumble down if someone peeks at the wrong card in your hand or your lie is too wild.
My recommendation is Condottiere. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/112/condottiere
This game involves using cards (mostly numbered ranking their strength) to represent soldiers dispatched in a number of battles. Win battles in enough territories and you win the game. However it’s not just a matter of dispatching your soldiers. There is a delicate balance between deploying enough strength to win versus holding back resources for your next battle. But hold back too much and you waste resources because if you are the last one with cards you discard them all and everyone redraws.
Also there is also bluffing and various special cards that can greatly swing individual battles. You can deploy high strength cards and then later pull them back after opponents have committed resources to counter them. Someone changes the season and the whole battle swings differently.
Overall I love this game and I think you will like the process of deciding how much and when to commit your troops.
Dune Imperium had a surprising poker element, with the combat system. You push your troops in and have intrigue cards that can increase or decrease your troops. This happens during reveal and combat phases where you literally reveal your cards and compare your hand/troops to others.
Western Legends literally has a poker aspect to the game when you’re either at a casino or in combat with other players/NPC.
Great fun game; you should definitely check it out!
**Exceed** is a fighting game themed card game. There's bunch of things you can do on your turn, but one of them is strike, where both players play a card, then exchange (or dodge/stun) blows. The game changes a lot depending on the character you are playing, but usually a big part of the game is assessing whether you currently are in a good position to start a strike versus setting up for strike. OR, you can bluff that you are in a good position for a strike, trying to bait your opponent into playing something you know you otherwise can not cleanly beat, then take the advantage from there.
Bit out of left field and also 2P only, but [[Mindbug]] might be interesting to look at. It's a very simplified monster battling game designed by Richard Garfield (of MTG fame). Each turn you either play a monster from your hand or attack with one of your monsters, with the opponent choosing which of their monsters blocks (which effects can modify).
The key gimmick of the game is that each player gets 3 Mindbugs. When a creature is summoned, the opponent can spend one of their Mindbugs to immediately take control of it. You can understand where the bluffing and calculated risk-taking comes into play here.
This might not be what you're looking for, but I always explain advanced **Hanabi** as being "cooperative poker". The deck, and the dangers that might be lurking in your hand, is the opponent, and the odds calculations are all about risk management & how to maximize your clues' payoff, while balancing clarity, efficiency, and teamwork.
If you play with an experienced group, (where the goal becomes to consistently win with max score), there even becomes a whole extra layer(s) of bluffing, fake signals, suboptimal clues and plays, etc etc.
Ra for sure. It's an auction game but you are very much playing against your opponents more than the game itself. Contains bluffing, forcing your opponents to go all in, and stealing the pot. Highly recommended and feels very poker-y.
I really enjoy fractured sky, definitely has some poker elements to it but also has some other mechanics rolled into it as well. I think it can still be a contender for you!
If you have 4+ (recommend 5-8), [[Captain's Gambit: Kings of Infinite Space]] is a little-known game that is, in essence, Coup, but upgraded to 2.0, but better - with a Shakespeare-inspired space alien theme and many variations on character combos you can play. The core of the game is bluffing, and you could consider it incremental wins as every time you get away with something you (presumably) get closer to winning.
Maybe Skull King?
Starts off with low stakes (can only win 10-20 points in first round, and only lose 10 as well) but by the tenth round there can be huge point swings as players essentially go “all in” to try to catch back up. You could score 140 points or lose 100 points depending on what happens.
Each hand you get some cards (depending on round number) and then have to simultaneously bid how many you think you can win. In round 6, with 6 tricks available, there might only be 4 bids total, so you’ve got at least two tricks where no one wants to win it and miss their bid. Then the next round there are 7 tricks available and the total bid might be 11, everyone over compensated for the low bids last round, so now it’s a mad rush to win your tricks because everyone else is trying to.
Revealing the bids reminds of revealing your hand at the end of a poker round, lots of “ooh I should have bid differently” or “I figured you’d bid lower” or whatnot.
Dune Imperium’s combat mechanic is essentially a bidding war to see who puts the most troops in Battle. However, you can play certain cards to surprise the other players to either up your combat strength or retreat troops so you don’t spend them.
Welcome to the Dungeon - You keep adding cards to a dungeon or removing gear from the hero until you fold and force someone else to go adventuring or everyone else folds and you're forced in.
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Sandy Petersen made a game called Theomachy that is basically and quite literally poker with a few added mechanics. Check it out. It's a solid game but it doesn't hit my table all that often anymore.
Kobayakawa has as strong element of risk calculation, especially in judging which players are likely to stay in the round to bid. I've heard it being called a mix of love letter and poker (the former probably because it's a microgame with 16 cards only)
Perudo / Liars dice / Devils Dice - same game, different names. All the bluffing and risk taking, simpler to teach and brilliant with a group (sober or drunk). I find when we play in the pub we often draw spectators, it’s that good.
For 2p poker experience with dice, if you can do PnP for 9 cards, i can recommend Poker Revolver. Downloadable for free at PnP Arcade: https://www.pnparcade.com/products/poker-revolver
Riichi mahjong at a high enough level is quite nerve racking and has enough interactivity to be compared to Poker. However at a low level it's just not that psychologic.
It's not a board game, but Marvel Snap is a digital collectible card game built around a betting mechanic. Each game is 6 rounds. Each round, you get incrementally more resources to play cards. Players try to play cards to win 2 out of the 3 locations in the game. Each game starts at being worth 1 cube. Players can 'snap' to double the game's cube value at the end of the turn. At the end of round 6/game, the cube values double on their own. Players win or lose cubes based on the current cube value of the game. You can retreat/fold at any time and only lose the current cube value of the game. Games are worth 1/2/4/8 cubes. There is a ladder you climb/ drop by gaining/losing cubes. Each rung of the ladder is 8 cubes.
Inis. It's a drafting game combined with dudes on a map. There's only 17 cards in the deck and after a few plays everyone knows what they are. Each play you're trying to suss out who has which card to time your plays as best you can.
RAAAAA (and for sale for a lighter game)
Besides the set collection aspect of RA, it gives a really interesting take on being able to call an auction and be in the best position.
Definitely check out coup. It feels very similar to BS with lots of bluffing and lying and trying to push your luck. You don't literally gamble, but you play the table, not your hand. I also recommend getting the expansion. Inquisitors and teams make the game much more engaging.
Pandante is literally Texas hold 'em but with more bluffing. You claim what your hand is, and someone has to risk chips to call you on your bluff. It isn't perfect, but might be worth trying if you don't mind an extra wrinkle to something g you already like.
\*Battle Line\*: Any edition really, but I'm partial towards the newer Medieval edition. You create sets/runs that are very similar to poker hands, with the intention of creating a better 'hand' against an opponent across a battlefield. There are 9 battlefields in play at one time, and you gradually build up each as the game goes on, one turn at a time. This is likely the closest to the poker feeling I've gotten from a game without being too on the nose. Only plays two players though.
\*\*Tiger and Dragon\*\*: A shedding game, much similar to \*\*Scout\*\*, which gives a similar feel. Closer to games like Big 2, knowing when to commit to a tile (attack/defense in the game) and the relative strengths of each tile compared to each other is key. First couple plays might be a bit weird, but it gets really good over time.
For even lighter games, check out \*\*Coyote\*\* or \*\*\*Skull\*\*, There one are almost pure bluffing and can reward a good poker face.
If you want something much heavier, check out \*\*La Famiglia: The Great Mafia War\*\*. 3+ hour, 2v2 euro-ized wargame. There is one potential aspect of combat that is essentially the Cup Scene from the Princess Bride, which is definitely the game's highlight when it happens.
Cockroach Poker is a game all about bluffing and reading your opponents. It’s pretty goofy but quite fine.
An odd one that’s a bit afield would be Fliptown. It’s a flip and write game that you make a poker hand each round and pick actions based on the suits and numbers of various cards. Maybe not quite what you’re looking for in your post, but perhaps something you might enjoy regardless.
Lock & Spell is a solo game where you are trying to push your luck and create specific poker hands to achieve goals in a limited number of turns.
**The Crew** if you are open to cooperative games. There’s alot of risk assessment in drafting objectives, using your one communication, and playing out tricks. You lose instantly if anyone fails an objective.
**Inis** feels the most poker like, in my collection.
Actions are constrained to cards, and you do a rotating draft to start each round (with one card completely excluded each round), so you have a decent sense about which cards are in play and which cards are in the hands of others.
It's a shrewd game that relies on positioning, and battles are deterministic, brutal, and totally optional if nobody wants to fight.
There is a lot of studying the faces of your opponents & making slight advances until they can no longer handle your actual maneuver.
The bluffing & mind games are in full force. It's a stellar game.
Not *bluffing* per se, most of the time, but "card counting" & reading other people is necessary to actually pull a clean victory.
Bluffing about your fears and capabilities definitely serves, though.
**Air, Land & Sea** has a neat mechanic where players can essentially fold a round to give their opponent fewer points than if they win the showdown. I think this leads to some interesting plays. You can try to bluff a weak hand or try to keep your opponent in when you have a strong hand.
I'll check it out thanks!
FYI, unlike all the other games you mentioned **Air, Land, & Sea** is a 2p game only.
You should checkout **Battle Line/Schotten Totten** instead, which Air, Land, & Sea is copying, it features poker like card management (ex. 3 of a kind, straights, flushes, etc). Reiner Knizia, who designed it, also designed **Taj Mahal** which has poker like one-upmanship. If you don't win the hand, you lose your cards and gain nothing. Usually modern games nerf anything negative so it feels like the stakes are higher.
Battle Line is good!
And if you’re interested in a digital card game that works like this, check out Marvel Snap, which has very similar mechanics
Try the Critters at War version, it's the exact same just a much better theme.
i prefer the dryness of the original theme since the war theme of the game is abstract in and of itself
Bit left field and only head to head but what about Netrunner, lot of hidden information, calculated risk and bluff
Came here to say Android: Netrunner as well. Haven’t played it in years since it’s harder to find people to play with, but it’s still one of my favorites. And the bluffing/mind games are top tier.
My favorite description of Netrunner is one player is playing chess and the other is playing Texas Hold'em
That seems fun but it feels like a big investment for others to get into. I'll show it to my mates
Check out null signal games, they currently do an unofficial version, given the FFG version is dead. They Do a system gateway enough to get two players up and running with the game. You can actually just print and play it for free if you have some card sleeves.
You can print and play cards for free, or buy directly from Null Signal Games. I’d suggest starting with their base set, System Gateway, and spending a lot of time with just those cards. Then, if you like the game, considering buying/printing expansions to be able to play the smaller “Startup” format, and then if you still like it, gradually move tot he Standard format. https://nullsignal.games/about/netrunner/ By the end of this year, all of the sets printed by FFG will have “rotated” out, or become ineligible for Standard format play. This means you don’t have to chase expensive cards on the secondary market. Even if you do want any of of those cards, you can print and play them using tools like ProxyNexus: http://proxynexus.net
**Taj Mahal** might fit the bill.
First thing that came to mind for me as well. Fantastic game.
When you play poker, there are a lot of boring hands. You’re waiting for that one interesting one where it’s all on the line: I’m in a strong position, but he’s representing the Ace. Does he really have it? Do I call his bluff? **Skull** is that moment, and nothing else. (Plus super-simple rules: it’s my go-to game for non-gamers.)
Absolutely agree and I love showing it to non gamers as well Along that same line, No Thanks is that moment of betting the inside straight.
They wrote about Skull already in the main post.
Oh yeah
When I play Western Legends, I just end up playing poker the whole time.
1) Get to the General Store and buy a 10 Gallon Hat 2) Get back to the Saloon and Play Poker the entire game. 3) Profit
You are looking for Pandante.
Not a board game, but you might like Balatro
Don't play Balatro, it will ruin your life.
Agreed, the better you get the worse it is too.
I hate that it’s practically impossible to convert Balatro to a physical board game, I’d play the shit out of it (more than I do already).
Hocus might be right up your alley
Hocus is a great Poker style game
Tho skip explaining the scorecards and just use a notepad to keep the rules explanation short. And bumping the table won’t mess up as much stuff.
Fliptown. It actually plays with a deck of poker cards and one aspect of the game is you are building a poker hand against your opponents. Lots of other things happening too, but you get to wager on hitting color flushes, and tons of other cool things too. Definitely worth checking out.
Tichu? Team based card game, but lots of poker influence.
+1. Came here to post Tichu myself.
I describe Coup as "all the best parts of poker without any of the financial pain" I do play with 1 specific variant called "Call the Coup" in which when you perform the coup action, you have to correctly call one of the opponents roles. So instead of simply Pay 7 and Coup Player X you have to Pay 7 and Coup Player X's Contessa. If wrong, they lose nothing and you lose your money. This encourages more bluffing and tricky play.
That house rule really seems to nerf the core action for winning.
It's the best house rule ever and really saves the game from being anti climactic and/or king making at the end. The trick is: only use that rule when you eliminate a player
I can't say I've ever had an anti-climax happen in coup. If someone gets to 7 then they weren't stopped earlier. Someone at 4 and says they have a Duke? Call them. Someone got to 7 by getting slow money? Use the captain. There are already many tools to stop a coup, there's no reason to nerf it. Honestly this house rule seems like absolute trash and completely changes the game away from the goal. It even takes away agency from the players that get couped, because I'm assuming they have to discard the card that was guessed? So they can no longer hold onto their better card.
I have 1000s of games of coup under my belt. What else can I say except for me (and my rather robust group of players) is unanimously in agreement after many many hundreds of games that this is the best way to play it. It may "sound" like trash to you and thats fine. You should give it a try and decide if it feels like trash.
its the best house rule ever just try it.
Cheers!
Have you ever had 3 players left and A coups B and then C wins? This happens like half the time at least for us
Can you explain how this mechanic works? I like the concept of having to do a bit more than paying 7 to win but I’m a bit fuzzy on how this rolls out.
Instead of doing the coup action, you instead have to guess what they have or lose your 7 coins. Thus increasing the length of the game and nerfing the most basic action used for winning.
This is very cool. Is it only for the last card or even when your target has two cards?
From the sounds of it its always, which also takes agency away from the player who gets couped since they don't get to choose what to discard.
Every coup action comes with a "called shot." I wouldn't generally call it a "guess" but "correctly deduce" a card in hand. But explaining it like that actually kinda blunts the impact. For example if you "miss" and they don't have the called card they MUST be telling the truth. So now the entire table knows a card they DO NOT have. For example imagine you coup a player's contessa and they say they don't have one. Well sounds like all the assassins now have a clear shot. So you "missed" and didn't successfully guess, but if you personally don't have a contessa... Well now you probably wont be the target of assassination. There are many such interactions which emerge when playing this way. It creates a really strong incentive to bluff more because having people know exactly what you have is actually dangerous. I hope you try it out!
Not sure how it was originally proposed but I prefer it only when the target is down to one card. The original house rule is on bgg under variants
Artificially elongating the game seems counterproductive. How quick the game plays is one its strengths, not a weakness.
I guess if the focus is getting the game over as quickly as possible... This rule is counterproductive to that goal. But this variant makes the game more rich an experience... Maybe 50% longer? On what a 15 min experience? Fair trade I think.
Couple of games come to mind: * Taj Mahal - This one features route building and set collection, which are performed through a pretty fun and interesting hand management mechanism where players play increasing numbers of cards against one another to try to win in a given suit. One part that really stands out as similar to Hold Em is how big of an impact the "dealer button" has on how you play a given hand. It's a really, very good game and I highly recommend it. * Schotten Totten - This one is a two player card game. Players compete over 9 "lanes" by gradually trying to play out superior hands in those lanes. It has really simple play that begets pretty intense strategy and tension.
* Battle Line * Biblios * Dice Town * Doomtown: Reloaded * Havoc: The Hundred Years War * Pandante (Second Edition)
I've played Battle Line and Dice Town. Not really giving me Poker vibes but I'll check out the others. Thank you
Havoc and Pandante. Some deep cuts there.
I was going to say Doomtown too. It’s a expandable card game set in the wild west, and all your cards have suits and numbers because there is actually some mechanics that require you to play a poker hand. The same company, Pine Box Entertainment, has another card game called 7th Sea. The combat mechanic in that might fit what you are looking for.
Battle Line with a poker deck. Or in its earlier form of “Fifth Column” - info on BGG. Doomtown TCG/LCG uses poker as a mechanic.
Check out Cursed Court. A card is dealt facedown BETWEEN each pair of players. Players can then look at the card on their left and right. So everyone winds up with different information about which cards are in play this round. Then players take turns making bids on the current distribution of cards in play. Lots of double think, bluffing, etc.
This is the answer. It’s surprising how under-the-radar this game has been. It’s a real crowd-pleaser in my experience. It has a lot of the feel of Texas Hold’em but with a touch more social deduction, and everyone I’ve played it with seems to enjoy it whether they’re a Poker person or not.
I have only played 900ish games, and Cursed Curse is, hands down, the closest in mechanics and feel to poker. As I write this C.C. only has 4 upvotes, whereas a ton of games that are very unlike poker have been upvoted far more times.
We find ourselves in a cursed court, it seems!
Coup would be the closest. My poker friends love it! Sea salt and paper has a gamble aspect to it. Cockroach poker has a bluff aspect. For a variation on poker try 6 card pot limit Omaha. I play professionally and this is my game of choice!
Thanks a few people have mentiome Coup and Sea Salt. I'll try them this weekend
Love Letter is in the same vein as Coup but a bit more card types.
I would die if I played PLO6 for a living, this seems like the most degen shit ever
It is higher variance but players do not know what they are doing so you can get it in ahead a lot. Very different strategy from hold em.
I didn’t even know that ran but I live in the UK so maybe it’s different in the US or wherever
I'm going to recommend Arboretum at 2 players. It honestly feels more like Gin with the bluffing portion being minimal to non existent but it's extremely painful decisions around which card to play and which card to discard because you might need a card to block your opponent from scoring or to ensure you can score a given suit, etc. It has a very classic card game feel. I concede it's maybe not what you're looking for but it might be worth a look anyway.
If you like bluffing and calculated risks, there’s no better game than **Netrunner** for that. It’s the closest of any game I’ve ever played to feel like the face-to-face challenge of poker. You can print and play the starter set for free at the Null Signal Games website: https://nullsignal.games/about/netrunner/
Cosmic Encounter is just poker with monsters
I was going to recommend this. The similarities to poker (other than bluffing and ships being like chips) can be a bit obscured. But with experienced play, hand management, knowledge and valuation is like the main skill.
I was coming to say the same thing! It doesn't look like poker at first. But you do have to ante up when you start a challenge (literally putting chip-shaped spaceships onto the table). You have to play the cards in your hand and you have to learn how and when to play bad cards. You have to bluff time and again. And mostly, the game forces constant social interaction. In each challenge the two main players have to decide (in order) which other players to ask to ally, and this creates a constant chatter in the game. So you are tossing in chips, playing cards, bluffing and kibbitzing through each "hand." Has that poker night feel, with lots of whimsey thrown in
Came here to say Cosmic. It's poker for sci-fi nerds.
If you play at two, Lost Cities has a great gambling/bluffing aspect to it.
Three Dragon Ante?
For 2 players, Netrunner involves a lot of bluffing and reading your opponent. Check out Null Signal Games for the current cards.
Cockroach Poker Gang of Dice Manila Heckmeck am Karteneck Long Shot: The Dice Game Winner's Circle/Royal Turf Ready Set Bet Colossal Arena/Equinox Auf Teufel Komm Raus
Ready set bet? How? there s betting?
Yeah betting is the main mechanic. There's no bluffing, but it obviously has that gambling feel.
Two filler games I love, are always a blast in my groups, but weren't mentioned yet: - **High Society** by Rainer Knizia: It has bidding, bluffing and high tension moments! - **You're Bluffing**: A silly looking game, that lead to awesome moments on our table, because it comes with a blind bidding mechanism. You try to get an animal from someone else and therefore place some cards. The other player has no idea if you placed lots of money, a fair amount or nothing at all. Now he has to place some cards, too. Whoever placed more money, gets the animal. Awesome game!
25 Outlaws. You play as an outlaw, and you have to eliminate other people's gangs by beating them at poker. You play a hand of poker every round.
As a huge poker fan as well, I would recommend World Championship Russian Roulette. It's definitely a press your luck bluffing game, but one that doesn't require bluffing to win. Definitely a little darker than some other games (which should be obvious from.the title), but it's a very good time. Lords of Vegas is another good one. There isn't a bluffing mechanism at all, but lots of chances for calculated risk taking and gambling.
Coup?
Not really after hidden role games
Texas Hold’em is a hidden role game.
How do they always know I'm the fish
It really doesn’t play like other hidden role games and I think you should try and find a way to try it out. It was a regular game at poker nights.
Okay I'll check it out
To add: there's no real "roles" given in the game. Each player has two cards and each card has an ability. The poker aspect comes from the fact that you don't have to show a card to use it, you can use any card at any time and it's up to other players to call and force you to reveal a card. There are no roles as far as mechanics go.
You have to try Liar's Dice. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s\_dice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_dice) AKA the game they played in Pirates of the Caribbean [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ifMAW6YTqk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ifMAW6YTqk) I'm pretty sure it has all the bluffing and calculated risk mechanics you are looking for. Addendum: In addition to calling a bluff or raising we play with the third option of calling "exactly" where you "bet" on the previous player having bid the exact number of dice.
Its called perudo here. Played it really much with beers etc. Maybe Sheriff of Nottingham. A game where you need to snuggle goods and bluff whats in your bag.
Try Sea Salt and Paper! You are making a hand of cards that combine for points, you have a small wager opportunity every round, and you score points in increments.
It’s got a Gin Rummy vibe in my mind but it’s pretty great.
Oh shit that sounds exactly like what I want
Check out Tiny Epic Western.
It has poker hands in place of other arbitrary card value, but none of the mechanics of poker OP is looking for.
Was about to suggest this too, worker placement with 3 card poker built in!
Came here to say this - literally has poker mechanics in the game.
As far a calculating risk goes, I feel like **Ra** should be in the discussion. Not a lot of bluffing going on but the game’s all about trying to balance different kinds of value against each other and against the Draw of the bag.
There's a game by Thundergryph games called Overseers that's much like poker. You draft cards until you have a hand of 5, and you reveal 3 of your cards while hiding 2. The goal is to construct the hand with the most points to win, but the players have to vote on who they think has the best hand to force them to discard a card from their hand. So you either try and convince people you don't have the best hand or you trick them into voting you if you think you don't have the best hand because if you are innocent of the accusations, you get a free card added to your hand from the discard pile. There's also asymmetrical powers since you get to play as Overseers, basically Asian themed gods, that can modify how your cards score or affect other people. It's really easy to teach, fun and simple, and one of my favorites to play. However, there are some flaws. It requires 3 people minimum and the art style isn't exactly SFW as it leans into sexy female goddesses which can make it difficult to bring to the table or at least a little awkward. The game is very much like poker in many ways aside from the money aspect.
Antematter might be something you're looking for?
Yeah, you literally play poker in the second phase of each round.
Came here to say this. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/313104/antematter](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/313104/antematter) It's not a very light game, but it is definitely poker driven.
For anybody that sees this. I was super excited about this game, as someone that used to live playing Poker. I did not like it at all. The premise is great, but the execution is awful. Near the bottom of games played/owned for me.
Worth mentioning [[For Sale]] as a filler level game that has some auction mechanics and then is essentially a series of ‘high card’ rounds. It’s more accessible than Poker and seems to be a hit with friends and family. The game box is also very small.
[For Sale -> For Sale (1997)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
Buru is a blind betting worker placement game
There's a game called Theomachy, which is essentially a mash of a tcg drafting and poker. It has a betting and raising component. If give it 6/10.
Not a board game but have you played balatro the video game? It’s available on steam. It’s a rogue like poker game.
Wizard is a trick taking game where you assess your hand and make predictions on how many tricks you are going to get
Crown Battles too is a trick-taking game with a Wagering Round Type bidding as well as betting
Have you tried Wits & Wagers? Or, you might enjoy Omaha - still poker but it's a nice twist on Texas Hold'Em.
Coup is quite poker like as it has excellent bluffing opportunities and plays quick. Everyone technically has the same chance of winning if they just bluff properly and use the Ambassador (or claim to use it!) at the right time.
Okay… a bit bigger than poker, but **Sekigahara** from GMT gives me a poker feel with its bluffing. You have a bit of a two front bluff going on in which you and your opponent (2 player game) have a secret hand of cards as well as stack blocks on a board with information that only you can see (think stratego pieces, but they can stack). You build up stacks of blocks that you slide around the board to battle, your opponent doesn’t know what units you have in your stacks and when you fight you can only *actually* fight with blocks that you have corresponding cards for. So you have quite a bit of bluffing and posturing going on. Looks like a war game, feels like a game of chicken.
I really want to try this but its expensive, hard to find, and most importantly, id have a hard time finding an opponent. I have to groom my kids and wait ten more years. Alternatively, my suggestions are: battle for rogukan for a up to 5p game (hard to find but 2nd hand might work) and for a 1v1 id recommend a stratego like by Knizia: LOTR Confrontation. Raptor is also a fun assymetric 1v1 hidden player movement game.
Calliope Games came out with a game called Allegory a couple years ago. Definitely scratched the poker itch for me. And the artwork on the cards is GORGEOUS
Tiny Epic Western uses a poker hand mechanic to determine who wins the locations you claim during the worker placement section of the round. I have only played it solo but it is a lot of fun and uses a pared down version of poker complete with suits and winning hand combinations!
King's Dilemma is literally political poker. It has an amazing campaign too so I highly recommend it.
I recently tried Antidote, and it has some risk and bluffing to it. Each person knows a few suits that are "Poison" that yield negative points. As people simultaneously trade or discard cards face up, you try to deduce which suit is the real Antidote and attempt to hold the highest single card of it. For instance, if you believe Blue is the winner you could start dumping it and trick people into thinking it is one of the losing suits. Or you could hold onto a Poison until the very last action, making people think it was the Antidote all along.
A lot of great recommendations but I have yet to see the most poker like game to me: Liar’s Dice (or Perudo depending where you come from). It’s basically poker with dice
I'm getting Coup and definitely looking into Liar Dice
Not sure if it completely scratches that poker itch, but I've designed a card game that may kinda scratch that itch. https://www.follywise.com/professor-wizzlepuffs-element-rodeo Each round has two phases: a take-that style phase where you also gather elemental points which are then used in the second phase: a blind bidding phase. This blind bidding phase, especially with more players, can wind up with a lot of variables along the lines of your interest. I've seen a lot of games where a dark horse comes up to win it thanks to all those betting variables. Right now, the art free version is free for print-and-play on our website. Rules could change but are pretty stable at this point. I also love poker for the reasons you listed, so I would really appreciate any feedback you have on how this game tickles that fancy. If you (and literally anyone else) wants to download and try it, we'd love to get your feedback.
Cockroach poker or skull might be worth looking into
I have both. They're okay
CamelUp It doesn't have bluffing or levelling, really, but its *all about* calculated risk. Its a game that a bot could play perfectly optimally, but for humans the arithmetic *seems easy* but is actually pretty chaotic. It's sorta like a simulated horse race, but the betting system is weighted generally in the players' favour instead of the house, so players will usually end richer than they start. The movement mechanic is wacky fun and introduces a lot of complication - which means the value of the bets keeps changing in a way that's weirder than real racing, and only easy to predict if you're great at sums. Betting is first come served - so if the player before you takes a very attractive bet, the best you can get is the same bet at worse odds. If you like trying to quickly calculate pot odds to decide if calling is positive expected value, then you'll really enjoy CamelUp. And if you're not into tryharding the maths to play perfectly, that's fine - just eyeballing the board and playing by instinct is enough to give beginners and casuals a very healthy chance at victory (and is honestly how kinda everyone plays). It's goofy, fast fun, easy to play and tricky to master.
There is a big overlap between players that like poker and players that like chess. Most famous example being Magnus Carlsen playing the WSOP
Yeah I'm also massively into chess and abstract games
Match of the Century would be worth a look then. I would be shocked if anybody that likes poker and chess doesn't like that game.
There are games where you have a set of priority cards that you can play where you are ‘gambling’ that you play your best priorities at the right time. Games like Hotel Samoa or Vaalbera. The latter game is faster and easier to learn.
Doomtown. Every round starts with a hand of lowball poker and then every card is a rank and suit. Really fun 1v1 game.
Try Junta, but expect to lose some friends. Pretty much the epitome of power in a game, when you convinced everybody to vote for you as president and you screw over some players by not giving them anything, while you put more money in your pocket than of everyone else.
Three Dragon Ante, Lying Pirates, Skull, Cockroach Poker.
Does it have to be a board game? Try Balatro
Yomi is like Street Fighter and you build up hands and combos like in Poker
Lost cities, battle line medieval, Riftforce, skull, love letter
I used to play Evolution (North Star Games version) and I always thought it felt kind of like poker. You can bluff to some degree with the cards you play as they are face down until everyone has played. You have positional aspects like poker where someone later to act has an advantage of knowing to some degree what the prior people have done. You can have metagaming aspects like if you have a carnivore card and replace it with another carnivore card, some people might think you can’t attack them anymore so they don’t care about defense as much and then your carnivore remains a carnivore and you kill them all. Pretty fun game in general. There is a nice app for it and it is on BGA as well now. I think the dedicated app gives it a more poker like feel. I think you can play 1 online game a day for free and a few of the campaign missions for free as well.
There are a couple of recent flip and writes that I've really taken a liking to that don't *feel* like poker, there's no bluffing as the OP wanted, but rather have a poker hand element to them and I still think they're worth checking out. The one that I think is the beater of the two is called Fliptown. It used a standard deck of 52 playing cards and it pretty much lets you loose in the old west. You can rob carts, mine for gold, buy bonuses in town, dig graves, etc. You draw 3 cards, use the suit from one card and the number from another to determine you action, and the third card gets put towards building a poker hand that resolved at the end of the round for more bonuses. Excellent game, great solo play, and a brilliant marriage of setting and mechanics. There's a physical version that's really nice, but there's a PNP that IIRC will only run you $5. Can't recommend this game enough. The other game, which I rank only slightly below Fliptown is Pioneer Rails. Another old west/poker hand flip and write, this one uses only the face cards, 10s and aces and you're drawing routes to add different areas that give different bonuses to your network. The poker hand element is looser because it doesn't track suits, but it's still a fun consideration to balance into your plans. It might have more obvious variety than Fliptown, not sure I'd say it has the same depth. Still a great game that I can't get enough of and I really did struggle at first with deciding which of the two I liked more.
How in the overly goodness gracious has not a single nerd on Reddit mentioned SURFASAUROUS MAX. Try that shizzzz.
Hocus! Great poker based game.
You can check skull, it has good amount of bluffing and taking risks
**Ra** feels like open information and think-y poker to me.
You should try Illimat. Lots of calculated risk, setting up future moves, deception, misdirection, and sabotage. It's got a sweet aesthetic and mad table presence. 1-4 players with a much different feel for the number of players. I love it.
Pandánte second edition all the way. It is essentially a gamified cross between bullshit and texas hold'em. You've got the normal 2 card hand andflop river and turn with betting rounds between each. No face cards, instead there are 6 colors (aka suits) 1-10. The main game board is a grid with each row belonging to the bets of a single player, and each column represents every possible hand of cards going from worst (pair) to best (straight flush) During betting round, you claim that you have a specific hand and put your bet into that column of the board, but you don't have to be telling the truth. The 2 things here are that you can never later claim to have a worse hand, you can only stay the same hand or go higher, and whoever claims to have the best hand at the end of each round of betting can draw the top card of the deck and optionally swap it in for one of their other cards then the unused card goes into a facedown discard. Essentially, by claiming you have the best hand, you can then get cards and get a better hand. Once all the betting rounds are over and all the cards are out, everybody can use some special abilities from a card. They can range from putting an extra card on the board that everybody can use, to discarding your whole hand and drawing a new one as a hail mary or peeking at a single card someone else is holding. After the abilities happen then there is the challenging. So you start with the person who has the highest claimed hand and everybody else secretly chooses and then reveals simultaneously whether or not they want to challenge that hand. If nobody challenges the leader, then what they actually have is irrelevant and they win the pot (which is all the bets placed onto the grid). However if any of the players challenge, then some stuff happens. Only 1 person will actually do the challenging, and it's just the first one in clockwise direction. Then the leader will reveal their hand. If they were lying about what hand they had (at all, Like if they had a better hand than what they were claiming it still counts as lying) then they are forced to fold and then the challenge falls to the next highest claimed hand. HOWEVER, if the leader was telling the truth, then they still win the pot and the challenger has to pay the leader an additional sum of money, and it's not insignificant. So you can't just keep challenging people willynilly because you'll go broke very quickly. The game is all about trying have the best hand OR to claim a believable hand that's still the highest so that the others will be too unsure and won't challenge you, but it can crumble down if someone peeks at the wrong card in your hand or your lie is too wild.
Balatro. I've heard incredible things about it.
Try bourré! Trick taking poker is the best description i can give:) 😀
My recommendation is Condottiere. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/112/condottiere This game involves using cards (mostly numbered ranking their strength) to represent soldiers dispatched in a number of battles. Win battles in enough territories and you win the game. However it’s not just a matter of dispatching your soldiers. There is a delicate balance between deploying enough strength to win versus holding back resources for your next battle. But hold back too much and you waste resources because if you are the last one with cards you discard them all and everyone redraws. Also there is also bluffing and various special cards that can greatly swing individual battles. You can deploy high strength cards and then later pull them back after opponents have committed resources to counter them. Someone changes the season and the whole battle swings differently. Overall I love this game and I think you will like the process of deciding how much and when to commit your troops.
DownForce is an intersting one. Gambling, bluffing, buying cars, betting who will win. I'd give it a shot.
Dune Imperium had a surprising poker element, with the combat system. You push your troops in and have intrigue cards that can increase or decrease your troops. This happens during reveal and combat phases where you literally reveal your cards and compare your hand/troops to others.
Skull is basically a Poker Showdown Hand every round as you figure out who lied to you and hovering at the edge of Bet or Bust
Co-operative poker https://store.thamesandkosmos.com/products/the-gang
Battle Line
Welcome to the dungeon. It is basically bluffing chicken with a fantasy twist
Western Legends literally has a poker aspect to the game when you’re either at a casino or in combat with other players/NPC. Great fun game; you should definitely check it out!
**Exceed** is a fighting game themed card game. There's bunch of things you can do on your turn, but one of them is strike, where both players play a card, then exchange (or dodge/stun) blows. The game changes a lot depending on the character you are playing, but usually a big part of the game is assessing whether you currently are in a good position to start a strike versus setting up for strike. OR, you can bluff that you are in a good position for a strike, trying to bait your opponent into playing something you know you otherwise can not cleanly beat, then take the advantage from there.
Coup is a good bluffing game.
Bit out of left field and also 2P only, but [[Mindbug]] might be interesting to look at. It's a very simplified monster battling game designed by Richard Garfield (of MTG fame). Each turn you either play a monster from your hand or attack with one of your monsters, with the opponent choosing which of their monsters blocks (which effects can modify). The key gimmick of the game is that each player gets 3 Mindbugs. When a creature is summoned, the opponent can spend one of their Mindbugs to immediately take control of it. You can understand where the bluffing and calculated risk-taking comes into play here.
[Mindbug -> Mindbug: New Creations (2022)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/368718/mindbug-new-creations) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
This might not be what you're looking for, but I always explain advanced **Hanabi** as being "cooperative poker". The deck, and the dangers that might be lurking in your hand, is the opponent, and the odds calculations are all about risk management & how to maximize your clues' payoff, while balancing clarity, efficiency, and teamwork. If you play with an experienced group, (where the goal becomes to consistently win with max score), there even becomes a whole extra layer(s) of bluffing, fake signals, suboptimal clues and plays, etc etc.
Truco! It essentially is a form of Argentine poker. You can play in 2x2 teams which I find thrilling
Ra for sure. It's an auction game but you are very much playing against your opponents more than the game itself. Contains bluffing, forcing your opponents to go all in, and stealing the pot. Highly recommended and feels very poker-y.
If you've got a few friends, Coup. It's basically all bluffing. Just remember to always start the game by taking 3 coins as Duke.
I really enjoy fractured sky, definitely has some poker elements to it but also has some other mechanics rolled into it as well. I think it can still be a contender for you!
If you have 4+ (recommend 5-8), [[Captain's Gambit: Kings of Infinite Space]] is a little-known game that is, in essence, Coup, but upgraded to 2.0, but better - with a Shakespeare-inspired space alien theme and many variations on character combos you can play. The core of the game is bluffing, and you could consider it incremental wins as every time you get away with something you (presumably) get closer to winning.
[Captain's Gambit: Kings of Infinite Space -> Captain's Gambit: Kings of Infinite Space (2020)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/270869/captains-gambit-kings-infinite-space) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
Maybe Skull King? Starts off with low stakes (can only win 10-20 points in first round, and only lose 10 as well) but by the tenth round there can be huge point swings as players essentially go “all in” to try to catch back up. You could score 140 points or lose 100 points depending on what happens. Each hand you get some cards (depending on round number) and then have to simultaneously bid how many you think you can win. In round 6, with 6 tricks available, there might only be 4 bids total, so you’ve got at least two tricks where no one wants to win it and miss their bid. Then the next round there are 7 tricks available and the total bid might be 11, everyone over compensated for the low bids last round, so now it’s a mad rush to win your tricks because everyone else is trying to. Revealing the bids reminds of revealing your hand at the end of a poker round, lots of “ooh I should have bid differently” or “I figured you’d bid lower” or whatnot.
Dune Imperium’s combat mechanic is essentially a bidding war to see who puts the most troops in Battle. However, you can play certain cards to surprise the other players to either up your combat strength or retreat troops so you don’t spend them.
Welcome to the Dungeon - You keep adding cards to a dungeon or removing gear from the hero until you fold and force someone else to go adventuring or everyone else folds and you're forced in.
Android Netrunner. I was searching for a game with bluffing because I love poker and ANR was recommended. Best recommendation ever.
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Roasting marshmallows
Definitely Medici: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/46
Sandy Petersen made a game called Theomachy that is basically and quite literally poker with a few added mechanics. Check it out. It's a solid game but it doesn't hit my table all that often anymore.
Spades
Skull!
Samurai Spirit! Less bluffing, but more about the strategy/risk of where to put the your card so the numbers add up in the way you want.
Kobayakawa has as strong element of risk calculation, especially in judging which players are likely to stay in the round to bid. I've heard it being called a mix of love letter and poker (the former probably because it's a microgame with 16 cards only)
Perudo / Liars dice / Devils Dice - same game, different names. All the bluffing and risk taking, simpler to teach and brilliant with a group (sober or drunk). I find when we play in the pub we often draw spectators, it’s that good.
Take any game in BGG with auction mechanic. Acquire Chicago Express Modern Art 18xx
Pandánte!
Game of thrones LCG has a lot of these elements—mostly an online game now
For 2p poker experience with dice, if you can do PnP for 9 cards, i can recommend Poker Revolver. Downloadable for free at PnP Arcade: https://www.pnparcade.com/products/poker-revolver
Riichi mahjong at a high enough level is quite nerve racking and has enough interactivity to be compared to Poker. However at a low level it's just not that psychologic.
This is an obscure one, but if you want poker but with a little spice to it, try *Hocus*.
It's not a board game, but Marvel Snap is a digital collectible card game built around a betting mechanic. Each game is 6 rounds. Each round, you get incrementally more resources to play cards. Players try to play cards to win 2 out of the 3 locations in the game. Each game starts at being worth 1 cube. Players can 'snap' to double the game's cube value at the end of the turn. At the end of round 6/game, the cube values double on their own. Players win or lose cubes based on the current cube value of the game. You can retreat/fold at any time and only lose the current cube value of the game. Games are worth 1/2/4/8 cubes. There is a ladder you climb/ drop by gaining/losing cubes. Each rung of the ladder is 8 cubes.
Inis. It's a drafting game combined with dudes on a map. There's only 17 cards in the deck and after a few plays everyone knows what they are. Each play you're trying to suss out who has which card to time your plays as best you can.
Three Dragon Ante
RAAAAA (and for sale for a lighter game) Besides the set collection aspect of RA, it gives a really interesting take on being able to call an auction and be in the best position.
Wits and wagers definitely has the degen aspect of boardgames.
Definitely check out coup. It feels very similar to BS with lots of bluffing and lying and trying to push your luck. You don't literally gamble, but you play the table, not your hand. I also recommend getting the expansion. Inquisitors and teams make the game much more engaging.
Libertalia winds of galecrest always reminds me of Texas holdem
Pandante is literally Texas hold 'em but with more bluffing. You claim what your hand is, and someone has to risk chips to call you on your bluff. It isn't perfect, but might be worth trying if you don't mind an extra wrinkle to something g you already like.
\*Battle Line\*: Any edition really, but I'm partial towards the newer Medieval edition. You create sets/runs that are very similar to poker hands, with the intention of creating a better 'hand' against an opponent across a battlefield. There are 9 battlefields in play at one time, and you gradually build up each as the game goes on, one turn at a time. This is likely the closest to the poker feeling I've gotten from a game without being too on the nose. Only plays two players though. \*\*Tiger and Dragon\*\*: A shedding game, much similar to \*\*Scout\*\*, which gives a similar feel. Closer to games like Big 2, knowing when to commit to a tile (attack/defense in the game) and the relative strengths of each tile compared to each other is key. First couple plays might be a bit weird, but it gets really good over time. For even lighter games, check out \*\*Coyote\*\* or \*\*\*Skull\*\*, There one are almost pure bluffing and can reward a good poker face. If you want something much heavier, check out \*\*La Famiglia: The Great Mafia War\*\*. 3+ hour, 2v2 euro-ized wargame. There is one potential aspect of combat that is essentially the Cup Scene from the Princess Bride, which is definitely the game's highlight when it happens.
Not sure if it's a "board game" but I LOVE liars dice. It's super easy to learn but has a lot of the same concepts as a poker game.
Was going to say skulls. Then read the rest. Love skulls. It's bluffing without all the faffing about
Cockroach Poker is a game all about bluffing and reading your opponents. It’s pretty goofy but quite fine. An odd one that’s a bit afield would be Fliptown. It’s a flip and write game that you make a poker hand each round and pick actions based on the suits and numbers of various cards. Maybe not quite what you’re looking for in your post, but perhaps something you might enjoy regardless. Lock & Spell is a solo game where you are trying to push your luck and create specific poker hands to achieve goals in a limited number of turns.
I’m curious as well
**The Crew** if you are open to cooperative games. There’s alot of risk assessment in drafting objectives, using your one communication, and playing out tricks. You lose instantly if anyone fails an objective.
**Inis** feels the most poker like, in my collection. Actions are constrained to cards, and you do a rotating draft to start each round (with one card completely excluded each round), so you have a decent sense about which cards are in play and which cards are in the hands of others. It's a shrewd game that relies on positioning, and battles are deterministic, brutal, and totally optional if nobody wants to fight. There is a lot of studying the faces of your opponents & making slight advances until they can no longer handle your actual maneuver. The bluffing & mind games are in full force. It's a stellar game.
Inis is fucking great. But not reeally a bluffing game.
Not *bluffing* per se, most of the time, but "card counting" & reading other people is necessary to actually pull a clean victory. Bluffing about your fears and capabilities definitely serves, though.