I am trying to write a poker hand evaluation method in c#. I have managed to do this for every poker hand using linq except a straight. For those that don't play a straight is made up of 5 cards with increments of 1 for each card. Ace can be high or low.
I have created an object called card which has a suit, rank and value (J = 11, Q =12 etc..). My method will be passed a list of this object containing 7 cards (hole cards and the board.)
Another thing to bear in mind is that a straight can only be made if the player has a 5 or 10.
See below my methods for other poker hands and please let me know if you have an idea for the straight method. Pseudo code would be fine also.
public bool CheckPair(List<Card> cards)
{
//see if exactly 2 cards card the same rank.
return cards.GroupBy(card => card.Rank).Count(group => group.Count() == 2) == 1;
}
public bool CheckTwoPair(List<Card> cards)
{
//see if there are 2 lots of exactly 2 cards card the same rank.
return cards.GroupBy(card => card.Rank).Count(group => group.Count() >= 2) == 2;
}
public bool CheckTrips(List<Card> cards)
{
//see if exactly 3 cards card the same rank.
return cards.GroupBy(card => card.Rank).Any(group => group.Count() == 3);
}
public bool CheckStraight(List<Card> cards)
{
// order by decending to see order
var cardsInOrder = cards.OrderByDescending(a => a.Value).ToList();
// check for ace as can be high and low
if (cardsInOrder.First().Rank == "A")
{
// check if straight with ace has has 2 values
bool highStraight = cards.Where(a => a.Rank == "K" || a.Rank == "Q" || a.Rank == "J" || a.Rank == "10").Count() == 4;
bool lowStraight = cards.Where(a => a.Rank == "2" || a.Rank == "3" || a.Rank == "4" || a.Rank == "5").Count() == 4;
// return true if straight with ace
if (lowStraight == true || highStraight == true)
{
return true;
}
}
else
{
// check for straight here
return true;
}
// no straight if reached here.
return false;
}
public bool CheckFlush(List<Card> cards)
{
//see if 5 or more cards card the same rank.
return cards.GroupBy(card => card.Suit).Count(group => group.Count() >= 5) == 1;
}
public bool CheckFullHouse(List<Card> cards)
{
// check if trips and pair is true
return CheckPair(cards) && CheckTrips(cards);
}
public bool CheckQuads(List<Card> cards)
{
//see if exactly 4 cards card the same rank.
return cards.GroupBy(card => card.Rank).Any(group => group.Count() == 4);
}
// need to check same 5 cards
public bool CheckStraightFlush(List<Card> cards)
{
// check if flush and straight are true.
return CheckFlush(cards) && CheckStraight(cards);
}