Downtown Texas Hold 'em Preview

I caught the Hold 'em bug something fierce this past summer. A couple of my high school buddies suckered me into playing my first game and promptly relieved me of a double sawbuck; never content to stand pat, I proceeded to lose baldly for another three or four months before I finally got the knack and began to recoup my losses. At present time, I can safely say that I have no desire to revert to my former self: uninformed, square, overly credulous, and an all-around easy mark. Not that I'd have the option anyway, what with the Hold 'em pandemic that's currently sweeping our fair nation. Every other TV screen I look at seems to display a cigar-chomping shark peering under his two-card "pocket," or some poor celebrity looking sheepish as his or her chips are forcibly donated to charity. That's right, folks: Texas Hold 'em poker has made it to spectator-sport status--and, as soon as Downtown Wireless' Texas Hold 'em reaches the cell in a few weeks, it will begin sneezing at true omnipresence.

Judging from the materials we've gleaned from Downtown Wireless, Texas Hold 'em looks to be a very functional adaptation of the game every would-be riverboat gambler knows and loves, minus the smokeless tobacco and irritating legislative restrictions. You can play a Quick Game and attempt to financially denude four CPU opponents--or, you can participate in Career Mode and win up to five tourneys in a row, which automatically grants you a full refund of that month's wireless bill. (At least it does in my perfect fantasy world.) Downtown Wireless earned their development chops under the tutelage of JAMDAT, so it's no surprise that Texas Hold 'em boasts high production values. For instance, you can choose from one of six accurately rendered table themes from various locations along the poker world circuit.

I had a few questions about Downtown Texas Hold 'em at the time of this preview. John Cibulski, Downtown's cofounder (and once the producer of a little game called JAMDAT Bowling), has informed me that multiplayer mode will be lacking from the original release, although he hopes to install it in a sequel. Naturally, taking other people's money (real or fake) is poker's truly addictive feature, as any online chip jockey can attest. If the upcoming version of the game had multiplayer, it could run the multiplayer table in a hurry, given the tremendous popularity of competitive play. Instead, it looks like the success of the game will hinge upon its AI, which is billed as having seven dynamic opponent "personalities." Nothing will submarine a strategy title faster than ploddingly predictable CPU players--and that goes double for a bluff-intensive game like poker. Nevertheless, I'm convinced that Downtown Wireless has the wherewithal to moot my jitters with a killer AI. We'll find out for sure around early April, when Downtown Texas Hold 'em is scheduled to hit Verizon's Get it Now.