I think most will agree that Dice Poker is something unique to The Witcher, which therefore should be kept in future installments aka TW3, and that it was implemented not quite perfectly in TW2,in some ways even worse than TW1. Now, instead of saying "roll it back to TW1's dice poker and everything is fine", I'd like to discuss what the devs could do to make Dice Poker more enjoyable.

• Bring back multiple rounds: As in the card game poker, the result of a single round is determined to a great extent by luck. The strategic part is to bet cleverly and make profits in the long run. That, of course, is not applicable, because after all it's a small extra in an RPG and not a Dice Poker Simulation - and no one wants to spend his time throwing dice all day, to turn a profit. Therefore I propose returning to a Best Of 3, or better still Best Of 5, system. The additional rounds will reduce the amount of luck involved, greatly, while keeping a game short.
  
• Take the dices' values into consideration
  
• Different AI skill levels: Make a noticable difference between beginners and more advanced, famous players. Let the beginners make mistakes, and I wouldn't mind the better players to have more "luck" (i.e. an algorithm producing (slightly) better results, on average).
  
• Better AI decisions: Make AI decisions comprehensible. In TW2 the AI raises you more or less randomly, and passes in almost-tie situations. The better their dice compared to yours, the higher their raise. And they should pass, if they think their odds aren't worth the necessary bet. (Again, there's potential to make differences in opponnents' skill and mistakes/deviations should be used accordingly).
  
• More rules for bets: The minimum bet should be a fixed part of the pot/adapt to the potsize, the maximum bet fixed per game (low to high stakes. also depending on opponent skill) (different maximum for first/second roll?). Re-raises should be as high as the bet before, as a minimum, or in some way capped to avoid "raises you by 1 oren". Another approach is to fix bets entirely - you choose the stakes before the game begins, and then you just have the options to raise, call or pass throughout the game.
  
• Pay for rerolling dice: Rerolling dice should cost a fixed amount of money - which probably should be a fixed part of the maximum bet. This makes rerolling vs keeping your quite-good-but-could-still-be-better-hand a strategic decision.
  
• 5-of-a-kind is special: Rolling 5-of-a-kind should be something special. It could either be an instant-win-combination (which is kinda lame, because shorter game also means less profit). Or it could require the opponent to pay a certain amount into the pot (maybe even 5 twos = opponent has to pay 2x minimum bet, 5 threes = -"- 3x minimum bet... with 5 ones = -"- ten times minimum bet (because what kind of a daredevil goes for the ones, right? )).
  
• Adjust camera angle / Make dice more readable while the action happens: It takes some of the thrill away if you're not able to properly see what's happening until the dice are returned to their slots. Hoping for that last dice to bring something good is exciting!
  
• Adjust the amount of money involved, compared to the rest of the economy: Playing dice poker in TW2 was just not worth your time. It involved a lot of luck and the stakes were very low. E.g. in Chapter I you usually can win 20 to 30 orens with Dice Poker, while you could make a fixed 30 orens by arm-wrestling which is very easy and almost guaranteed to win.

I'm almost sure, I forgot something I had on my mind earlier, but it's quite a list anyways and I might add things later - so I do not claim it to be complete, yet or ever.

Of course, all the stuff involving bets and numbers needs to be as simple as possible and just as complex as required, to avoid making Dice Poker overly complex - finding the right concept might prove difficult.


Any more suggestions? Discuss!