Texas Hold'Em on Xbox Live Arcade: Better look elsewhere for a good game.
The results though, have been a very mixed bag.
On the positive side, this is an easy and cheap (or free, in my case) way to get to play cards with my buds or meet other folks. Finding games to play in or setting up my own custom room is easy enough and the vast majority of my time with the game has been spent using the multi-player mode for just this reason.
In addition, this can be a decent way of learning the game: the single- player mode can help with some of the basics and you can play "risk-free" at some of the multi-player tables.
That being said there are a lot of little things that really detract from this game.
1) The graphics are basically non-existant. All you look at the entire game is a picture of a table, surrounded by player icons showing table position and bets.
2) The "music" is even worse. There seem to be two or three basic sound bites played over and over again; this is one of the first options I turned off early in my playing time.
3) The AI is pretty lousy. For the most part there seems to be two types of computer players: overly aggressive and overly conservative. The overly aggressive players can almost always be bluffed out of a hand; I've had games in which the computer would put in 95% of its chips on a hand but would balk at putting in that final 5% if I bet over the top. On the flip side, the conservative computer player will rarely, if ever, play a hand in the face of any bet unless it has a guaranteed winner.
4) The single player scenarios are pretty boring for the most part. I appreciate that the game-makers tried to put in something for those of us who sometimes like to play the computer but they really left something to be desired.
5) Cheating is rampant in the game. There are several bugs that exist within the game, the worst of which allow people to literally pull the plug while they are playing which allows them to leave a room and take all the money from the pot on the table. Also, while playing in regular multi-player mode a person can go as far into the negative on their bankroll as they want - this encourages people to play foolishly and recklessly because there really isn't a downside to losing.
All in all while I've enjoyed my playing time, I won't miss it once I open up World Series of Poker.