World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em Hands-On

Just when it seems as though the Texas Hold 'Em pandemic that has taken the globe by storm is starting to die down a little, Mforma swings in and posts its blind with the biggest licensed poker game of all. Poor timing? Not necessarily. World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em will be a surefire winner for the giant mobile publisher, simply on name power alone. Luckily for mobile poker players, it looks like Mforma will be putting a solid product behind the title, too. This Texas Hold 'Em game will feature six-player over-the-air multiplayer, chat macros, loads of real poker terminology, and even special tournaments where you can win WPT prizes.

There's already a dozen or so decent Hold 'Em games presently gracing the download decks of North American carriers, so you may be wondering if there's really room for another entry. The answer is yes, provided that the game in question is attractively presented, packed with features, and has working multiplayer. World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em appears to answer the call, and perhaps even raise the stakes up a little. For one thing, the game's basic table layout introduces a few novel features. You get to play cards on an official oval table emblazoned with the WPT logo, for instance, and the viewpoint action pans to the right and left ends of the table, depending on whose play it is. The game's interface is quite clean, at least on a Sprint handset like the Sanyo 7300, and it'll indicate special combinations of pocket cards using authentic slang, like "Motown" and "Big Slick." We didn't have too much time to play against the game's artificial intelligence, but it seemed at least on a par with the competition.

The real draw for World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em, however, will be its connected features. Once you log into the mobile server, you choose from four different player lobbies based on your skill level, and then you'll sit down at an auto-generated table (if there are less than four real players playing, the remaining spots will be filled up with bots). There are several varieties of Hold 'Em to choose from, from structured betting to Pot Limit to No-Limit, as well as a special cashier to recharge your holdings after a string of bad beats. Tournaments will be run along official WPT lines, including automatic blind raises, and users will have a chance to win special WPT gear like poker chips and even seats at WPT satellite tourneys. For purposes of communicating with fellow poker heads, you get access to 27 customizable chat macros, although many of the choicest expressions may be out of bounds. Unfortunately, there's no buddy list or player-locate function as of this version of the game, although Mforma may add this functionality at a later date. Finally, the game will offer up poker 'Tips of the Day," courtesy of Tour heavyweights, so you can polish your game along with your virtual bankroll.

World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em will be out on Sprint in March, with other carriers to follow shortly; multiplayer will only be enabled on Sprint and Verizon. We'll have more details about the game as they become available.