Cheat or Fold

Poker is just the beginning. Your code changes the rules.
In Cheat or Fold, you start at an ordinary poker table. You play Texas Hold’em against computer opponents, place your bets, and try to make the right decisions. But while everyone else is studying their cards, you have another option: investigate the poker client and write your own software.
Your virtual retro desktop gives you a poker table, a script editor, and a terminal. What looks like a straightforward poker game gradually becomes a place to experiment, build your own tools, and discover what happens when you start changing the software behind the game.
From poker player to programmer
Maybe you just want a better idea of how strong your hand really is. So you write a small program to help you figure it out. Before long, you're using scripts to recognize situations, prepare decisions, or even play hands on their own.
You'll write your programs in a custom scripting language inspired by Python. Modify existing examples, build your own functions, and try different approaches. Keep what works. Investigate what doesn't. Then change your code and try again.
As you learn more about the client, you may discover that some things aren't quite as fixed as they first appeared. Understanding how the software works can open up possibilities that go well beyond ordinary poker strategy.
Your computer. Your programs. Your decisions.
Whether you prefer playing every hand yourself or letting your programs do the work is entirely up to you. Run multiple poker clients, develop different strategies, and adapt your software as you encounter new opponents and situations.
But your virtual computer has limits. Programs consume processing time and memory, and better hardware costs credits. More computing power isn't always the answer. Sometimes a smarter algorithm is worth more than a faster processor.
When something goes wrong, you have the tools to find out why. Follow your code as it runs, inspect variables, and figure out why a promising idea didn't work out at the poker table.
How far will you go?
You don't need to know how to program before you start. A free sandbox, editable examples, and built-in manuals give you room to learn and experiment at your own pace, without risking the credits you've earned.
Cheat or Fold doesn't hand you a perfect strategy. You build your own. And the more you understand the systems behind the poker table, the more you'll have to decide what to do with that knowledge.
Everything takes place inside a fictional simulation. You play against computer opponents, use in-game credits, and write code in a standalone language inspired by Python. No real poker networks or external systems are affected.