Texas Hold 'Em is an enjoyable game of poker.
Texas Hold ‘Em does an excellent job of teaching you how to play. Basically, you receive two cards face down that no one can see. Two “blinds” are posted small and big, and following the betting, five cards are placed face-up on the table. You combine your two cards with any of the five to make the best five card poker hand. Hand strength varies from high card to a royal flush, the latter of which is virtually impossible to get. Of course, you bet as the cards come-up, and because it’s no limit, you’re free to bet as many chips as you want.
Betting is important because in Hold ‘Em, risks pay off. The goal is to take away all of your opponents chips, and naturally you won’t be able to win every hand unless you’re able to bluff your opponents. Bluffing involves making bets when you have a little hand, giving them the feel you have a large one. It’s easy to practice bluffing, because the AI. isn’t all that great. On almost every hand, a big enough bet will cause your opponents to fold. The AI. is only aggressive when it has a strong hand. You’ll play against the AI. in the single-player mode, which has a set of eight scenarios, four tournaments, and pick-up games. Due to the length of a full game of Hold ‘Em, it takes about twenty hours or so to unlock most of the single-player achievement points.
Thankfully, the game packs a nice multiplayer component. When you’ve honed your skills in single-player you can log onto XBL and take on opponents from around the world. Using chips you’ve won in single-player, you can take on opponents from around the world. It’s advisable to play tournaments with friends, because then you can ensure quality play. The open tables have a few problems though, like the quality of opponents and time to get onto a table. On open tables, opponents tend to abuse the ‘all in’ option, which eliminates the fun of bluffing or making an excellent re-raise to take the pot. Additionally, you have to wait for the big blind to enter, and opponents losing out can change the blinds, making it a long waiting time. Fortunately, the online play is smooth and fun to play, with the tournaments having the best play of all.
The smooth and simple gameplay is evenly paired with the sleek and crisp graphics. No matter which floor or table design you choose, they all seem to have soft carpets and smooth felt or velvet. Yet, it’s odd that there are no character models, because even the free PC games include basic models. Furthermore, the cards are easy to see, but the names are hard to read because the text size is ridiculously small. With that said, the menus are easy to navigate, and are complimented by light tunes and chip stacking sounds. Yet, the same song plays over and over, eventually wanting you to smash the guitar. Nevertheless, like all X360 games you can enable custom soundtracks to play over the default tunes.
As a whole, Texas Hold ‘Em is one of the better poker games available for consoles. Even at 800 points it’s cheaper than regular console poker games, and is easy to use and fun to play. It has some great graphical touches, decent sound, and long lasting value. If you’re one of the many poker players in the world, you’ll enjoy Texas Hold ‘Em.