Playing Poker in Yakuza & How It Can Make You Better at Fighting Games

If you have a penchant for fighting games, then you can never go wrong with playing the Yakuza series. The action-adventure RPG is typically released along with classic emulated SEGA fighting games such as Virtua Fighter 5. While available titles can vary across games in the series, visiting Club SEGA or GiGo locations in-game allows players to enjoy arcade games like Virtua Fighter and the original game Boxcelios. Take Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, for instance, where gamers can also experience the classic arcade game Fighting Vipers 2, a SEGA fighter first released in 1998.

These mini-games play an essential part in the Yakuza experience, but the arcade isn't the only place to enjoy them. While players eagerly await the release of the new spin-off Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii by the end of February, revisiting the poker mini-games in the Yakuza series is another great way to practice and test your gaming skills. 

According to two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit champion Lena Evans, playing poker can help improve cognitive skills by enhancing strategic thinking abilities and intuition. Studies also show that getting used to making calculated moves under pressure through poker can help your brain analyze situations better. In Yakuza games like Yakuza Kiwami, which became available on Nintendo Switch last year, players can try poker mini-games that can help improve their gaming abilities. But how exactly can poker help? Below, we look at how poker might improve your skills at fighting games.

How poker can help players make better decisions in fighting games

Fighting games have been enjoying solid growth and popularity in recent years. A Business Research Insights report found that the global fighting games market volume is projected to reach $2.34 billion by 2033, with a CAGR of 4.2% from 2025 to 2033. Also known as versus fighting games, these games employ player-on-player combat that usually requires a strategy to predict an opponent’s next move, combine the proper offensive and defensive plays, and make quick decisions during gameplays. These strategies are pretty similar to playing poker, which also requires making calculated decisions based on cards, reading an opponent’s next move or body language, and adjusting your playing style based on how your opponent plays. 

With poker's recent recognition as a “Mind Sport” by the International Mind Sports Association, honing your skills at the card table can have a lot of benefits for playing games elsewhere. According to a recent survey, 90% of respondents enjoy online and live poker, highlighting the card game's popularity. While poker players come from all walks of life, perhaps the most well-known among them is megastar Chris Moneymaker, who works closely with US online poker platform Americas Cardroom, the country's top poker site. Moneymaker helped popularize online poker after becoming the first person to win the WSOP Main Event in 2003 after qualifying at an online poker site and is seen as a major figure and expert in poker.

For instance, in a previous interview, Moneymaker said: “Everyone has a tell. It can be excessive blinking or a twitch to indicate they're nervous. Being observant can score you big wins.” Fighting game players know that keen observation is a key part of the toolkit. You can predict your opponent's next move by closely observing their fighting style. Observing their body language can help you gauge their skill or capitalize on their vulnerabilities, helping you make more strategic gameplay decisions. 

In a study published by NIH, strategic playing enables poker players to use their skills in predicting outcomes and controlling or influencing the game. Since playing poker compels you to weigh the short- and long-term consequences of your next moves, you can adopt better decision-making strategies against your opponents and beyond. For players who want to try flexing their strategic muscles in both poker and fighting games, the poker mini-games in Yakuza can be a good place to start.

The role of poker in games like Yakuza

Mini-games like poker in Yakuza and other fighting games provide players with some mid-game fun by leveraging real-life activities. Aside from Yakuza, games like Hard West 2 and Far Cry 3 have also incorporated poker into their gameplays, letting players enhance their winning hands to unlock character abilities. However, the role of poker in these games goes beyond providing added entertainment, as playing poker can also improve the strategy-building capabilities of fighting gamers. 

Playing poker is mainly about reading your opponent’s next moves, learning their playing patterns, and observing their body language to make an educated guess about the strength of their hand. By honing these skills in the poker mini-games, players can use the same habits to their advantage in combat. Yakuza employs a fighting game style of combat where you can immediately apply skills like reading your opponent’s moves and exploiting a chink in their armor, effectively setting up success. Is your opponent too eager to attack? Wait for an opening, then strike hard. Is your opponent on the defensive side? Get close to them and set them up for a combo. Similar to how betting patterns can offer clues about an opponent’s hand strength in poker, attacking styles can also provide insights on how to counteract your opponent in fighting games — both in Yakuza and beyond. 

A guide to the Yakuza series’ poker mini-games

You can play three variants of Hold ‘em Poker in the Yakuza series: Texas Hold ‘em, Pineapple Hold ‘em, and Omaha Hold ‘Em. These games are available in the underground casinos in Yokohama or Sotenbori. Players are dealt with hole cards, and two players must deposit a “small blind” and a “big blind.” Once it’s your turn, you can choose how to bet. You can click “Fold” to be out of the hand at any time during the game, but this will forfeit any bets or blinds you’ve placed. To “check” means to not place a bet. You can select “Bet” if you want to start a betting round at a fixed amount, and other players can choose to call, raise, or fold. 

To “call” means to match the previous bet with the same amount, while to “raise” means increasing the bet by a fixed amount, to which all players must once again call, raise, or fold on this new bet. After everyone has settled (or folded) on a bet, the round will continue until the showdown. If all players except one choose to fold throughout the game, the remaining player wins by default. But if it comes to a showdown, whoever has the highest-value hand wins.

These poker mini-games are a great way to stock up on money for your other activities in the game, including buying credits for the arcade fighting games. They're also helpful for building your gaming skills in real life. By applying the same strategy of reading, observing, and predicting your opponent’s next moves in poker into your fighting games, you can also gain the upper hand against your opponents. 

For more news on fighting games, check out the DashFight website.