Greetings Hero-U alumni!

Rogue to Redemption places a strong reliance on money during certain points of the game and, while dungeon diving is fun, it can also be hazardous to your health.

With that in mind, I wanted to talk about the other great way to earn money in Rogue to Redemption... Poobah!

Poobah is a card game that seems to function in a manner somewhat similar to Five Card Draw Poker. You ante up, you are dealt a hand, you make a bet, you can hold your cards or discard them, then you bet again.

The game has five levels of hands: Wump, Meh, Mimi, Fizbin and Poobah. Each one of these levels also has three sublevels - Bad, normal (usually just the name of the hand itself, like Mimi) and Good (or, in the case of a Poobah, Grand, as in Grand Poobah). Keep in mind... the game will NEVER give two players the same hand. So if you have a Good Fizbin, you know you will beat all other Fizbins (and all other Wumps, Mehs and Mimis, as well), simply because the game will not allow a tie.

Similar to poker, the game is equal amounts about having good cards and reading your opponents. All of the players you play cards against in Poobah have tells that will telegraph what cards they have. With this information, you don't need for Shawn to have a Grand Poobah every time, you just need Shawn to have a better hand than the person you are playing against.

The interesting thing about Poobah is that with the Discard mechanic, you can get an entirely new hand. Unlike Real Life Poker, if you have bumpkis for a hand, redrawing will often not turn the tide for you dramatically (although that's certainly not always true). However, in Poobah, Shawn can go from having a Bad Wump to a Grand Poobah in the flash of an eye.

Therefore, it is usually always worth it to hang around until the second round of betting starts. This can be pricey... if you are playing your first game and are just scraping in with 20 Lyra, it can be an expensive way to play, so try to have more cash on hand than you need.

When you have a Good Mimi or worse, limp into that second round as cheaply as you can. Check if you can. Call if you have to. Never Raise (there is one exception to that, which I will cover later). If you don't have a strong hand, then just wait around... see what shows up. Even if another player has a Poobah tell, it is still worth seeing it to the second round, simply because Shawn may get a better Poobah!

If, on the other hand, you have a Fizbin or higher (and your tells don't indicate anyone has a Poobah), feel free to raise and get the pot as big as possible. There is a bit of an art about betting that can scare away some characters and not others - I will cover that in that character's section. But for the most part, squeeze the other players to bet more when you have a strong hand.

Then, on the second round of betting, evaluate the landscape. Do any of the characters have their Fizbin or Poobah faces? If so, can Shawn beat them? If not, then Fold as soon as possible - don't get in deeper if you know you are going to lose. If you do have cards that you know can win, Raise, Raise and Raise again until the showdown comes and then collect your winnings. Remember... the best outcome in Poobah is not for Shawn to have a great hand. The best outcome is for ALL the players to have great hands and for Shawn to have an even better one - that way, they all bet the farm and the pot becomes huge.

Now... what happens if the character you are playing with has a tell that is equal to your hand? If, as an example, Katie is showing her Fizbin tell (I'll say Fizbin for this example, but it could be a Mimi tell, a Poobah tell, whatever the case may be) and you've got a Bad Fizbin, then let's think this through... the game won't let two people have the same hand. If you have a Bad Fizbin, then Katie will have a Fizbin or Good Fizbin. Conversely, if you have a Good Fizbin, then Katie will have a Fizbin or Bad Fizbin... so adjust course as needed.

Now... if you have a (normal/medium) Fizbin and Katie is showing a Fizbin tell, you are flipping a coin - there's a 50/50 chance she has a Good Fizbin and can beat you. In my mind, that's worth the risk.

Of course, you need to know people's tells to be able to use this strategy! So let's meet the contestants, shall we?

Each Poobah player Shawn can go up against has a very unique strategy and set of tells. Knowing these and using them to your advantage is the key to winning at Poobah.

Esme: Esme is a cautious Poobah player, perhaps the most cautious outside of Thomas. She will fold easily if she has a Good Mimi or less, preferring to go in for the kill only when she has a good hand. This means she can often be scared away if the bets get high on the first round of betting... use this to your advantage. If you have a weak hand, you may want to scare her away to have one less person Discarding to draw a Poobah against you. If you want to milk her dry because you are carrying hot cards, then don't rock the boat and scare her with quick raises.

• Esme only has one tell, which makes her one of the most difficult to peg down. She will smile if she has a Bad Fizbin or higher. This means if she is smiling, she could be beaten with a Fizbin or higher, or it means she could be holding the Grand Poobah. This makes her very dangerous to go against, simply because it is a wide range of unknown.

Katie: Katie is a very expressive Poobah player. She is second only to Aeolus with the most expressions, which makes her rather easy to peg. She will also engage in somewhat reckless betting, getting to the second round even though she may have nothing.

• Katie will nearly always fold on a Meh or a Wump, so you won't see a tell for these hands. When she has a Mimi, she will give a big grin. When she has a Fizbin, her face goes deadpan, no expression. And when she has a Poobah, her face becomes a sarcastic, dramatic frown, as if she just bit into a lemon (don't be fooled!).

Thomas: Thomas is very timid, to the point of foolishness. Even the most moderate of betting will cause Thomas to fold, and he will not stay in most hands.

• The exception to this is Thomas' tell. Thomas has no tell - his face never changes, regardless of what cards he has. However, he won't bet until he has a Fizbin. And he will rarely, almost NEVER, stay to the final showdown unless he has a Poobah. While this can be unnerving, just realize... if Thomas is staying in a hand, you better have a Poobah or Grand Poobah, otherwise, Fold. It is money down the drain otherwise.

Joel: Joel is a shrewd card player. In all honesty, if you follow this guide well, you will more often than not be betting a lot like him. He nearly always stays in for the second round to see a potential turn of luck on the Discard, he will bet conservatively if he has mediocre cards and aggressively if he has good cards (or he thinks he can muscle out the remaining players with high Raises).

• Joel only has one tell, a tiny smirk/smile. This is his Poobah smile. If you see it, make sure you have good cards on the second round of betting or you may as well just fold.

Sosi: Sosi may seem like an intimidating player early on, simply because he will raise and bet on nearly every hand. Don't buy into his bluster - more often than not he's Raising against you with a Wump. If you ever find yourself in a one-on-one match up with Sosi with none of his good card tells up and you have garbage cards, take it to the end... there is a good chance your garbage is better than his.

• Sosi has two tells. His Fizbin face is when his eyes get squinty and a smile is on his face, but where you can still see his pupils. His Poobah face is when his eyes completely close, like he's imagining the piles of money he is going to be stealing from you. Plan accordingly!

Aeolus: Your roommate is a late comer to the Poobah games and has a very erratic style. His first few games will have him throwing money away, staying in on hands that are just downright bad. In addition, he has tells for every hand combination, meaning you know exactly what he has the moment he gets it. His style becomes smarter by your last Poobah session of the game, but he still wears his cards on his sleeve and is very easy to peg.

• Aelous' Wump face is a frown, looking visibly sad at the garbage he has in his hand. Aelous' Meh face is flat, no smile or frown, just a flat grimace. His Mimi and Fizbin face is that of a grin, which can make him dangerous. There is a world of difference between a Bad Mimi and a Good Fizbin, so if Aelous is grinning, be cautious if you don't have strong cards. And, lastly, his Poobah face is like someone playing the whiskey jug - just a big "O" with his lips, that he can't believe he got the best cards in the game.

Zombie Captain: In the Sea Caves, you can play the Zombie Captain for your life... literally! He requires a 500 Lyra buy in (and also a piece of Panda equipment) and then you can play some of the most (potentially) profitable Poobah in the game. Playing the Captain is unique, because every match is one-on-one. With this, if the Captain is ever giving his "bad" tell, then you bet and Raise to the max, regardless of what you have. This is a change of pace from my other advice, which suggests you limp in on anything less than a Fizbin, but with the Zombie Captain, your odds of getting a Good Meh or better are strong, so always go all out unless Zombie Captain looks like he is packing heat.
The Zombie Captain has four tells. "Bad," which is an angry frown and means he has a Wump or Meh hand. Keep in mind... if you have a Good Meh, the game will not do duplicates, so it will ALWAYS beat his frowny face tell. Secondly is his Mimi face, which is flat lipped, no expression. His next tell is his Fizbin face, which is a slight smirk/smile, but with NO TEETH SHOWING. Lastly, his Poobah tell is a wide, toothy grin, letting you know he's got you beat. Given the huge ante and the stakes at hand, its easy to become intimidated with the Captain, but a solid, aggressive strategy will carry the day when you can spot his tells!

Of course, as with most things in Hero-U, even the best strategy can fail if Shawn doesn't have the stats. To this end, it REALLY pays to practice Card Theory (you can only do it once per day) as well as Play Games (especially Cards) with your classmates in the Rec Room at night to increase your Gaming and your Luck. Refer to my Skills Guide I published for ideas on how to raise these stats (and others).

Otherwise, my final advise is this... don't be afraid to Save before a match and Reload, especially early on. This may seem like cheating, but being broke in Hero-U can be one of the most frustrating things that can happen, without ways to buy items that class requires and equipment so that you can go into dungeons + earn money again. Otherwise... start coming up with plans to spend your fat piles of loot!