Pokerify

A Poker Engine, Not a Poker Game

Pokerify is a backend-only API. No frontend, no UI — just pure game logic exposed through REST endpoints. Any client can plug into it. The idea was to build a robust Texas Hold'em engine that handles the hard parts: deck management, betting rounds, hand evaluation, and AI opponents.

How a Game Works

1. Register an account → you get 1000€ and a JWT token
2. Create a table with custom blinds, or join an existing one
3. If you're alone, an AI player joins automatically
4. Start the game → cards are dealt, blinds are placed
5. Play through PRE_FLOP → FLOP → TURN → RIVER → SHOWDOWN
6. The API evaluates hands and distributes the pot

Every action goes through POST /tables/:id/action with a simple body: { "action": "raise", "amount": 50 }. The API handles turn order, phase transitions, and the AI responds on its own turn.

The Hand Evaluator

This was the fun part. The evaluator ranks every possible hand from High Card to Royal Flush, compares them properly (including kickers), and determines winners — even in split-pot scenarios.

Royal Flush > Straight Flush > Four of a Kind > Full House >
Flush > Straight > Three of a Kind > Two Pair > Pair > High Card

Under the Hood

• NestJS with a clean modular architecture (auth/, tables/, poker/, ai/)
• MongoDB + Mongoose for flexible game state — poker tables have complex, nested state that fits NoSQL well
• JWT + bcrypt for auth
• Swagger for interactive API docs at /api
• Docker Compose for both dev and prod environments

The AI

Keeps it simple: checks when possible, calls if it can afford it, folds otherwise. Not a poker genius — but good enough to give you someone to play against when testing alone.