This is a general outline of how scoring works in Torn Poker. There is an off site blog post with some outdated information. Updates have been made since then. Some people don't know about the newish updates. Lots of people believe old information that used to be true.

Poker is complicated. This guide is not about how to play good poker. This is only filling in the details about the scoring system which gives you the Poker King Merit.

Warning, when you understand Torn poker scoring you might become a worse player. Seriously. If you want to prioritize winning money, don't read this guide. Just play and don't worry about the merit. You'll get it eventually.

To get the Poker King merit, you need a score of 10million.

To check your score
Load the table, then near the top click on "statistics". I used a second monitor with 2 tabs opened to statistics. If I thought I was about to win a hand, I refreshed the first tab, then after winning the hand, I refreshed the second tab with it's new score. I could then check both tabs and subtract the older score from the new/larger score.

I documented countless hands. These are facts.

Absolutely everything matters with score.

• You must win the hand to get any score.
• Score never goes backwards so losing is irrelevant
• Higher limit tables give more score
  
• Better cards give more score. (pair scores better than high card.. etc., max score for royal flush)
• More opponents give more score
  
• Each turn later in the hand is more score (pre-flop, flop, turn, river, showdown) Showdown meaning at least 1 opponent stays to show cards. If they fold before showdown you get less score.
  
• If you kick someone off the table by taking all their money there is a big increase in score
• Higher bets gives more score, but is surprisingly not too important. It is mostly the size of the blinds at different tables.
• Above are facts. This is an educated guess, but I think the opponents' hands matter. eg: I think you get more score if someone folds with a straight vs if they folded junk. I think it might be like the fair fight bonus.

You can quit reading now if you trust me, or keep on reading if you care about the finer details and want a little extra scoring strategy.

Some people are likely to disagree or claim they have a different result. But what they are almost certainly experiencing is a different situation. You might sometimes see a higher score for a hand at a lower table, but there is a variable like more players, or your hand vs their hidden hand is not the same, or someone got kicked after going all-in. All hands give different scores, and you will almost never have an exact apples to apples comparison.

So if you have a buddy, you would do well at a high limit 1 on 1 table like Duel at Dawn or Juan on Juan. Then both players check/call all the way to showdown or place minimum bets and call all the way to showdown, regardless of cards. This would be boring but effective.

The problem with understanding the scoring is that winning more score means chasing unlikely but better hands and calling all bluffs. Essentially, you'll get the most score per hour by never folding, because you can't get any score unless you win.

You will get a LOT more score (like maybe 3-5 times) for a win with a flush or straight vs winning with a high pair. So you stay in the hand chasing a gutshot straight even when the other guy has pocket aces.

I actually played a hand with a straight flush. I didn't bet. I only check/called because I didn't want any chance of my opponent folding. If he folded on the river I wouldn't get as much score as if we showed our cards. This is another example of how understanding Torn poker scoring can make you a worse player.

So if you understand score:

• you might chase longshots when you should fold
• you might call bluffs you shouldn't call
• you might not bet, even when you have a bulletproof hand
• you might play at higher limit tables exaggerating your losses.
• pot odds are often in conflict with "score odds"

Often, if you play at the newbie table it is painfully slow. For faster scoring, you might consider moving to the $5000 table. (Hobo Holdem) People there have figured out how the buttons work and usually play much faster in addition to the faster timer. Rate of play is important for score gained per hour.

If you feel comfortable, Five Star Man takes only $20000 to sit and you can often play pretty fast gaining quite a bit more than the Newbie or Hobo tables, while $20K is still chump change for anyone who can fly. With a limit of 5 players you should win 20% of the time even at a full table.

There is a lot to be said for speed. If you are at a table with people timing out constantly, consider moving to a faster table. Quick Draw is great for scoring, but too stressful for me with a slow internet connection. If someone is away from keyboard, they will auto-check every time it comes around to them. Consider making a minimum bet. This will cause them to auto-fold and "sit out" therefore speeding up gameplay.

Start at newbie table and move up with your winnings. If you are losing too much, move down a table. Higher limit tables tend to have better players. Move up as your skill increases. Or if you just want the merit but suck at poker, then stick to the bottom few tables where losses won't hurt you. I often played at the low limit tables when distracted by TV or too tired to think and play serious.

I have played at the newbie table very badly, just for score. Like NEVER folding and calling anything regardless of my cards. People sometimes chat "but why" and I don't normally bother telling them how the scoring works. I'm up about $60million, so losing $2000 at newbie is irrelevant to my stats.



Things I still don't know:

• How big score gains are at the very high limit tables. I can't afford to play there.
• I don't know if it matters how many people see the showdown or only how many are sitting at the table. I think more players staying later in the hand is cumulative, meaning that one person might see the flop, and others stay until the turn or river. This might be a little complicated but it probably is a variable that matters.
• I don't know if someone leaves the table in the middle of the hand if they still count as an opponent when showdown happens.
• I don't know if suits are ranked and scored differently. Like pocket AA with spades/hearts vs AA with clubs/diamonds.
  

Here are some example hands that I documented. These are my wins. These are selected to show similar hands with different scores and why.
6 of the best / 5 opponents / I won with a full house / score gain ~88K
6 of the best / 1 opponent / I won with a full house / score gain ~12600 (fewer opponents gives less score)
6 of the best / 1 opponent / I won with a pair at showdown / score gain 3030, 3999(KK) (higher pair gives more score)
6 of the best / 1 opponent / opponent folded to me while I held a pair / score gain 900 (you get more score at showdown)

Tight Knit / Quads AAAA over Full house JJJAA / score gain ~53K (better hands give a lot more score)
Tight Knit / 666 vs AA showdown opponent busted and left / score gain 3150
Tight Knit / 1 opponent / I won with a pair at showdown / score gain 900, 929, 920, 950 (multiple hands with similar scores)
Broke Jokes / 1 opponent / I won with a pair at showdown / score gain 600, 700, 680 (see the lower scores vs Tight Knit)
Broke Jokes / 1 opponent / I won with a straight flush 5,6,7,8,9Spades, checked to showdown, pot had blinds only / score gain 41700 (awesome hands give awesome score)
Broke Jokes / 1 opponent / 3 of a kind (2,2,2) opponent folded to me on river / score gain 1265
Broke Jokes / 1 opponent / 3 of a kind (10,10,10) opponent went all in and lost his stack at showdown / score gain 3900 (you get a lot more if someone is kicked)
Newbie table will often give you what seems like similar scores but usually it is because there are more players seeing the showdown and it took more real life time to get to that showdown.

Score per hour experiments:
I tried to play with the same style at multiple tables and timed it for 1 hour. It isn't perfect but gave useful results.
Newbie table: 55 minutes, 1-6 opponents, much slower play, score gain 26986
Broke Jokes: 55 minutes, 1-6 opponents, faster play, I called almost everything like at Newbie, score gain 72489 (I lost $40k due to calling too much)
Broke Jokes: 60 minutes, 1-3 opponents, score gain 110,933 including a straight flush 41,700, only 69233 not counting the Straight Flush
5 Star Man: 61 minutes, 1-5 opponents, low pressure, fast play, score gain ~129k

I couldn't bring myself to run this experiment at higher limit tables because calling almost everything would cause me huge losses. These 3 tables demonstrate higher scores at higher limit tables.

You can get confusing results, like when I played for 4 hours at 6 of the Best and only gained 208600 score. This is about 52K score per hour. Broke Jokes gave more score per hour. The difference is that at 6 of the Best I was playing to win money, so I folded a LOT and this was a weak session for me where I only won a few good hands. Also, at the lower limit tables (not counting newbie) other people are a lot more reckless. They are also more prone to going all-in giving you the "kicked opponent bonus" more often.

Occasionally, I see a hand that doesn't make sense. I assume that it is because of a hidden variable like how strong your hand is vs the opponents who folded. Don't let a single unexplained result confuse you. You should assume that absolutely everything matters.

Finally, I got the merit. Now score is irrelevant to me. I can play my best game without the temptation to chase score.

I hope this helps some of you. I am sorry if it makes you a worse player.

Edit November 2020 New Data:
VanilaNightmare says:
"At the 3-person, $50M minimum table with people checking through every hand, we were able to get approximately 300-350k poker score/hour (~3 hours of play time). Doing something similar at Juan on Juan (250m table minimum), was able to get ~220k poker score in 45 minutes.

Doing something similar on the 6 person, $50M table minimum yielded lower returns. I dont remember exactly but it was like 150-200k/hour. The higher points/hand for a larger table dont make up for the extra people at the table.

With 1 or 2 other dedicated people it would probably take about 30 hours of checking through hands to hit 10M."