Texas Hold 'Em
Posted August 23, 2006
Developed by Tikgames for the Xbox 360, Texas Hold 'Em is designed to capture the same card-slinging elements of entertainment that's recently made poker a national pastime. The presentation is light on substance, but the addictive nature of the game doesn't require such frivolity. Thankfully, Tikgames allows the player to immediately leap into a single player or multiplayer game. 
For those unfamiliar with the game of Texas Hold 'Em poker, here is a quick overview. The player is dealt two cards, hidden from the rest of the players. Dependent on your confidence in those two cards, you can call the blinds, raise or fold. After every player has done the same, three community cards, called the flop, are dealt face up in the center of the table. These cards are used to create a full 5 card hand in combination with your original two. After another around of betting, a fourth card, called the Turn, is dealt. Again, a round of betting commences and then the final card is dealt, called the River. After the final round of betting, all cards are turned face up and the winner is the person with the best hand. This rudimentary explanation can get you started, but I recommend reading the extensive nine pages of help documentation and the control layout diagram provided by Tikgames in the Options menu.
Gameplay:
The amount of modes within the game is surprisingly expansive for a card game. The single player game contains three modes: Standard, Tournament, and Scenarios. Setting up a Standard game is easy with the three options available: Limit, Blinds, and Buy-In. Specifically, Limit can be adjusted for a maximum bet limit, Blinds can be set to a variety of starting levels, and the buy-in can be modified to your cash on hand. Tournament mode provides four types of tournaments to choose from: International, Regional, National, and All-World. These tournaments range from being completely free to costing $125,000 for the buy-in. In the Scenarios, the game is tossed into an easy/tough situation to win out the game. Scenarios range from starting as the chip leader / short stacked or playing against conservative / aggressive AI players.
The multiplayer modes offer two types of play, standard and tournament. The options for setting up both are exactly the same as single player. Similar to every other Xbox Live game, the quick match, custom match and create match options are available. Online games differ a bit from single player, though. Thankfully, there is a ten second timer in place so people don't hold up the game. Also, playing against a live person is drastically different. People like to push you around if they have the big stack and there are some nuts that will go all in on every hand. Besides that, the multiplayer is fairly enjoyable. Every eight player game I jumped into was lag free for the most part as well.
It's important to note that the starting gamer has three bankrolls of cash to draw out of, Standard ($2,000), Competitive ($5,000), and Multiplayer ($25,000). All of these pots can be expended leaving the player penniless. The single player bankrolls have to be won back from free tournaments, but the multiplayer accounts can be borrowed against if you run out of cash. I recommend playing a free tournament to understand the AI better before making the leap into a standard game.
The AI ranges from conservative to aggressive dependent on the amount of the blinds. The AI has no problem bluffing their way to victory either. Many times, I've watched as the AI go all in with nothing more than the high card. Also, the AI properly folds when the action gets too heated early on in a hand. If you raise an ante before the flop, be prepared to watch the AI fold quickly.
Texas Hold 'Em uses a stats page and online leaderboards to keep track of a variety of statistics. The stats page tracks the number of hands played/won/lost, the various types of hands played, and the bankrolls for all three modes. The leaderboard allows for comparison against the rest of the Xbox Live community or just your friends in each gameplay mode.
The achievements are broken up into 12 tasks for a total of 200 gamerscore points. It's certainly refreshing to play an arcade game that has worthwhile achievements compared to the recent achievement debacles of late (Namco comes to mind). The achievements are heavily geared toward increasing the amount of time spent with the title. Tasks such as building up a bankroll of $1,000,000 or playing 1,000 hands of poker are going to happily take a large chunk of my time. Tikgames exhibits excellent creativity with achievements that are challenging to the average gamer, yet completely within reach.
Graphics:
Visually, the card game isn't as smooth as Uno, but still colorful and sharp. The graphics are much better than anything in the Hardwood series of games. The card dealing animations are smooth along with the chip betting & winning animations. The background menus are very flashy, similar to the same glitz that's found in Vegas. I do wish the developer had added a speed control for the animations to make the single player games faster, but they did offer an On/Off selection in the Options menu. Additionally, the Options menu allows visual nuances such as setting the color/model of the table and the design/color of the carpet. While a bit useless, light graphical touches gives the game more flair.
Audio:
The music is surprisingly catchy for the lack of variety with the repeating midi track. It's similar to the tunes played during a televised Texas Hold 'Em match on ESPN2. Custom soundtracks are obviously an option as well. The sound effects are spot on and add authenticity to the game. Each swish of the cards and clickity-clack of the clay chips is wonderfully produced. Additionally, the developer provides volume control for both the sound and music in the options menu if neither type is pleasing to you.
Conclusion:
On a final note, I'd like to mention the game doesn't support the Xbox Live Vision camera as of yet. I'd like to see support added before the official launch of the camera as watching your opponent for tells would bring another element of real-life poker into the mix.
Is the game worth 800 points if you missed the free download period? Being a lover of Texas Hold 'Em, I'd have to say yes. The addictive nature of the game, the expansive amount of modes, and the proper Xbox Live treatment should allow Texas Hold 'Em to become one of the most played arcade games for the time being. I highly recommend this arcade adaptation of the most popular version of poker. Don't hesitate to download Hold 'Em and attempt to bluff this card shark!
For those unfamiliar with the game of Texas Hold 'Em poker, here is a quick overview. The player is dealt two cards, hidden from the rest of the players. Dependent on your confidence in those two cards, you can call the blinds, raise or fold. After every player has done the same, three community cards, called the flop, are dealt face up in the center of the table. These cards are used to create a full 5 card hand in combination with your original two. After another around of betting, a fourth card, called the Turn, is dealt. Again, a round of betting commences and then the final card is dealt, called the River. After the final round of betting, all cards are turned face up and the winner is the person with the best hand. This rudimentary explanation can get you started, but I recommend reading the extensive nine pages of help documentation and the control layout diagram provided by Tikgames in the Options menu.
Gameplay:
The amount of modes within the game is surprisingly expansive for a card game. The single player game contains three modes: Standard, Tournament, and Scenarios. Setting up a Standard game is easy with the three options available: Limit, Blinds, and Buy-In. Specifically, Limit can be adjusted for a maximum bet limit, Blinds can be set to a variety of starting levels, and the buy-in can be modified to your cash on hand. Tournament mode provides four types of tournaments to choose from: International, Regional, National, and All-World. These tournaments range from being completely free to costing $125,000 for the buy-in. In the Scenarios, the game is tossed into an easy/tough situation to win out the game. Scenarios range from starting as the chip leader / short stacked or playing against conservative / aggressive AI players.
The multiplayer modes offer two types of play, standard and tournament. The options for setting up both are exactly the same as single player. Similar to every other Xbox Live game, the quick match, custom match and create match options are available. Online games differ a bit from single player, though. Thankfully, there is a ten second timer in place so people don't hold up the game. Also, playing against a live person is drastically different. People like to push you around if they have the big stack and there are some nuts that will go all in on every hand. Besides that, the multiplayer is fairly enjoyable. Every eight player game I jumped into was lag free for the most part as well.
It's important to note that the starting gamer has three bankrolls of cash to draw out of, Standard ($2,000), Competitive ($5,000), and Multiplayer ($25,000). All of these pots can be expended leaving the player penniless. The single player bankrolls have to be won back from free tournaments, but the multiplayer accounts can be borrowed against if you run out of cash. I recommend playing a free tournament to understand the AI better before making the leap into a standard game.
The AI ranges from conservative to aggressive dependent on the amount of the blinds. The AI has no problem bluffing their way to victory either. Many times, I've watched as the AI go all in with nothing more than the high card. Also, the AI properly folds when the action gets too heated early on in a hand. If you raise an ante before the flop, be prepared to watch the AI fold quickly.
Texas Hold 'Em uses a stats page and online leaderboards to keep track of a variety of statistics. The stats page tracks the number of hands played/won/lost, the various types of hands played, and the bankrolls for all three modes. The leaderboard allows for comparison against the rest of the Xbox Live community or just your friends in each gameplay mode.
The achievements are broken up into 12 tasks for a total of 200 gamerscore points. It's certainly refreshing to play an arcade game that has worthwhile achievements compared to the recent achievement debacles of late (Namco comes to mind). The achievements are heavily geared toward increasing the amount of time spent with the title. Tasks such as building up a bankroll of $1,000,000 or playing 1,000 hands of poker are going to happily take a large chunk of my time. Tikgames exhibits excellent creativity with achievements that are challenging to the average gamer, yet completely within reach.
Graphics:
Visually, the card game isn't as smooth as Uno, but still colorful and sharp. The graphics are much better than anything in the Hardwood series of games. The card dealing animations are smooth along with the chip betting & winning animations. The background menus are very flashy, similar to the same glitz that's found in Vegas. I do wish the developer had added a speed control for the animations to make the single player games faster, but they did offer an On/Off selection in the Options menu. Additionally, the Options menu allows visual nuances such as setting the color/model of the table and the design/color of the carpet. While a bit useless, light graphical touches gives the game more flair.
Audio:
The music is surprisingly catchy for the lack of variety with the repeating midi track. It's similar to the tunes played during a televised Texas Hold 'Em match on ESPN2. Custom soundtracks are obviously an option as well. The sound effects are spot on and add authenticity to the game. Each swish of the cards and clickity-clack of the clay chips is wonderfully produced. Additionally, the developer provides volume control for both the sound and music in the options menu if neither type is pleasing to you.
Conclusion:
On a final note, I'd like to mention the game doesn't support the Xbox Live Vision camera as of yet. I'd like to see support added before the official launch of the camera as watching your opponent for tells would bring another element of real-life poker into the mix.
Is the game worth 800 points if you missed the free download period? Being a lover of Texas Hold 'Em, I'd have to say yes. The addictive nature of the game, the expansive amount of modes, and the proper Xbox Live treatment should allow Texas Hold 'Em to become one of the most played arcade games for the time being. I highly recommend this arcade adaptation of the most popular version of poker. Don't hesitate to download Hold 'Em and attempt to bluff this card shark!