Java - How to evaluate the best high card hand?

I am making a poker application. Yet, I am stuck on evaluating the high card.
(I know how to get the high card, but what if the high card of 2/3 players is the same?)

My list is ordered so that is not the problem. The problem is that I don't know a nice way to compare a hand of 5 cards with another player's hand.

And yes, the cards are sorted by the rankComparator class.

rankComparator

I have a simple Player class that holds a set of cards (his hand):

Player

public class Player

private List<Card> cards;
private int valueWaarde;
private String valueAsString;
private String name;
private HandEval1 h1;

public String getValueAsString()
return valueAsString;



public Integer getValueWaarde()
return valueWaarde;


public List<Card> getCards()
return cards;


public Player(String name)
this.name = name;


public Player()


public void addCard(Card c)
if (cards == null)
this.cards = new ArrayList<>();


this.cards.add(c);


public void clearCards()
if (cards != null)
cards.clear();



public Map<String, Integer> valueOfHand(List<Card> cards, List<Card> cardsBoard)
h1 = new HandEval1(cards, cardsBoard);
Map<String, Integer> map = h1.evaluateHand();

for (Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry : map.entrySet())
this.valueWaarde = entry.getValue();
this.valueAsString = entry.getKey();


return map;



@Override
public String toString()
return name;





I have a simple card class which is as follows:

public class Card

private final int suitValue;
private Rank rank;
private Suit suit;
private int value;

public int getSuitValue()
return suitValue;


public int getValue()
return value;


public Rank getRank()
return rank;


public Suit getSuit()
return suit;


public enum Suit
h(1), c(2), d(3), s(4);

final int value;
Suit(int value)
this.value = value;



public enum Rank
ACE(1),TWO(2), THREE(3), FOUR(4), FIVE(5), SIX(6), SEVEN(7), EIGHT(8), NINE(9), TEN(10),
JACK(11), QUEEN(12), KING(13);

final int value;
Rank(int value)
this.value = value;



//Constructor
public Card(Rank rank, Suit suit)
this.rank = rank;
this.suit = suit;
this.value = rank.value;
this.suitValue = suit.value;


// methods
public static String rankAsString(int rank)
return String.valueOf(Rank.values()[rank ]);

public static String suitAsString(int suit)
return String.valueOf(Suit.values());


public String getFilename()

return "resource/Cards/" + rank.value + suit + ".gif";




And I have a class to evaluate my hand, "Where is now nothing in it. ":

// This is my comparator class:

public class rankComparator implements Comparator<Card>
@Override
public int compare(Card card1, Card card2)

if (card1.getRank() == card2.getRank())
return card1.getSuit().compareTo(card2.getSuit());

return card1.getRank().compareTo(card2.getRank());




2 Answers
2

You could add a method to your Rank and Suit enums so that you can easily retrieve the int values of the enums. For example, your Rank enum could be like this:

Rank

Suit

int

Rank

public enum Rank
ACE(1),TWO(2), THREE(3), FOUR(4), FIVE(5), SIX(6), SEVEN(7), EIGHT(8), NINE(9), TEN(10),
JACK(11), QUEEN(12), KING(13);

final int value;
Rank(int value)
this.value = value;


public int getValue() // Added method
return value;




So then you could do something like the following to compare two hands based on their rank:

public void calculateGreaterHand(List<Card> cards1, List<Card> cards2)
for (int i = 0; i < cards1.size(); i++)
if (cards1.get(i).getRank().getValue() > cards2.get(i).getRank().getValue())
System.out.println("cards1 is greater");
return;
else if (cards1.get(i).getRank().getValue() < cards2.get(i).getRank().getValue())
System.out.println("cards2 is greater");
return;


// If code gets to this point, then the hands are equal.



Let me know if this is similar to what you're looking for.

Even if it's only a hobby project, you probably want to step forward sooner or later and evaulate/compare all possible poker hands, not only the high-card hands.

This is a great article about evaulating poker hands and it also has sources.

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