Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Prologue: I came up with this guide two years ago, and kept it on my desktop, forgotten. When I got back into Neopets, I remembered this. For the first time ever, The Optimum Guide To Cheat is being shared with the general Neopian public. I am constantly adding, changing, and removing, so look for updates, and don't hesitate to send any in. Enjoy.

In Cheat, your opponents do not matter. This is not poker. You don't play the person - YOU PLAY THE CARDS. You don't put moves on people, you put moves on the board. Because unless you are playing Heads Up, you are never directly playing an opponent, therefore you are NOT playing the person. Play your cards. The following is OPTIMUM strategy for WINNING at Cheat, presented in game form. You MUST be good at understanding and comprehending context, or you will NOT get this guide.

THE FIRST HAND

My opponents are Chuffer Bob, Brucey B, and Kalora. A new game starts. My 13 cards are: A 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 9 10 J. This is a VERY GOOD STARTING HAND. Why? You have mostly low cards, so on any low card, you have playable options, yet you also are available for most high cards played. You have two pairs and one set of trips. What to start with? You have three options:

A) Play the set of fives
B) Play your pair of twos or fours and save the trips for the end
C) Play your jack to get rid of any high card possibilities

The correct answer for my strategy is (A). When playing with this optimum strategy, you are going to have quick games, and you want to make them as brief as possible. So use the trips first.

A PERFECT HAND

A A A 2 2 3 6 9 J is an example of a perfect hand.

On a perfect hand, no matter what card your opponent to the right plays, your hand will be guaranteed to be live. This is due to the two-card skip rule.

The Two-Card Skip Rule

The two-card skip rule states that if you have two cards, and there is a two-card gap between them (i.e. a 3 and a 6), then you have six cards that will hit your hand (in this example, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7).

When played with other cards, like in the hand stated way above (A A A 2 2 3 6 9 J), the two-card skip rule contributes to a perfect hand. The aces can play a K, A, or 2; the 2 can play 3; the 3 can play 4; the 6 can play 5, 6, or 7; the 9 can play 8, 9, or 10; and the jack can play J or Q. There are no cards left out. You will NOT have to cheat on your next hand.

Using Math To Call A Cheat

There is a simple formula to determine whether you should call a Cheat or not when a player is playing trips and you have none, or two of a kind and you have one.

If U + P + O1 < O2 + O3, then C

U = User
P = Pot (the discards)
O1 = Current opponent
On = Other opponents
C = Call Cheat

Basically, if your cards plus your current opponent's cards plus the cards in the discard pile are less than your other opponents' cards put together, than you can call cheat if your opponent is playing three of a kind (or if they're playing two of a kind and you have one of that card). This does not always work, but if you're unsure about calling Cheat or not, use this formula.

Inflicting Damage

If you are down to seven cards or less, always play trips and pairs first, unless you have a hand like (A A A 4 7 7 10 Q) because that's a perfect hand, and you can definitely wait with the aces and sevens.

Accusing A Loser - NEVER

If you are in the lead or in second place (or in a TIGHT third), and you have that one far-out player with like 30 cards, NEVER call Cheat on him! What you want to do is build up the pot (discard pile) so another opponent will pick it up and get serious damage inflicted.

Calling For Benefit

It is time to introduce a KEY factor in my optimum Cheat strategy - calling for benefit, or "benefit calling". With benefit calling, the player to your right (so you are going to act next) is going to play one or two cards, and you are going to call Cheat, NO MATTER WHAT, because you will be dead (forced to cheat) on your turn. Best case scenario: you get some Neopoints and get to play any card. Worst case scenario: you gain a card but get to play any card of your choice. Benefit calling can be used a LOT, but it should ONLY be used when there was a Cheat called on the player across from you. This way, the pot will be nearly empty and you can escape with minimal damage. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why can't we just let her slide and then Cheat on our turn?" BECAUSE YOU ARE LOSING A TURN BY DOING THAT.

Thanks for reading! You should know the basics of cheat (i.e. when you really do need to call Cheat because the cards show that it's definitely a bluff) before applying these techniques. Remember - I have not lost a game of Cheat since employing these techniques nearly two years ago.