A Hold ‘Em Preview of Texas Hold ‘Em

Yeah, it’s supposed to be called a “hands-on” preview, but the pun was just too irresistible.

IGN’s preview of Texas Hold’Em takes us through a number of features from the anticipated addition to Live Arcade. The big draw of this game’s obviously the multiplayer. There is not much else in the world that matches the sweet high of winning an all-in pot from some poor sucker when all you’ve got in your final hand is a pathetic low pair. Especially if that sucker isn’t an AI but a living, breathing, cussing human being. 

See what else’s in store when the game debuts at the full article.

Yeah, it’s supposed to be called a “hands-on” preview, but the pun was just too irresistible.

IGN’s preview of Texas Hold ‘Em takes us through a number of features from the anticipated addition to Live Arcade. The big draw of this game’s obviously the multiplayer. There is not much else in the world that matches the sweet high of winning an all-in pot from some poor sucker when all you’ve got in your final hand is a pathetic low pair. Especially if that sucker isn’t an AI but a living, breathing, cussing human being.

Speaking of AIs: in the event that you can’t find human opponents online to play with – maybe because they’re asleep, or possibly because you owned them so badly you scared them all off – there’s also a single-player mode.

The Hold ‘Em hands-on reviewer found the AI pretty respectable in most cases. Some AI personas were smart enough to make smart bets and bluff their way to victory. Other personas, on the other hand, wouldn’t survive a two-bit kiddie game where the bets are made with Oreo cookies, but they’re probably in for variety (and easy killings) anyways.

We’ve already mentioned in our previous update that Live Hold ‘Em players will have a “persistent bankroll” tied to their Live accounts, so that players will have that incentive to make smart bets and smart plays, and not waste any of their virtual money. This preview gives us the modes available to play in, and they should be pretty familiar to experienced poker players:

• tournament,
• limit – there is a cap to how much you can raise your bet in a round,
• pot-limit – you can raise your bet only to the size of the pot, and
• no-limit – the bane of all poker players everywhere, where the other guy can say “all in,” dump all his money into the pot, and leave all of you wondering if he’s insane, of if he knows he’s just owned you.

There is no option to change the rules, however – which probably is a good thing to us because what you really have to worry about in hold’em are not how to exploit the rules, but how to exploit the fears of your opponent. “Does he have a hand that will beat mine or not?” It’s how you handle that fear, and tell whether the guy who made the big bet or “all-in” has you beat or is a lyin’ varmint, that makes you a true card shark in poker. Especially hold’em.

The single-player game includes the game modes from the multiplayer side of the table, and throws in an additional seven scenarios to test your skills which (thankfully) won’t impact your bankroll. If you want to see who’s king of the card sharks (or who’s got an extra amount of virtual money to burn), there are various leaderbords that will display lifetime single and multiplayer bankrolls for single-player, player matches, and tournament, as well as monthly winnings, monthly bankrolls, and average winnings.

Check out our previous and future coverage for more details on this game as they come. Texas Hold’Em is set to be released this Wednesday at Xbox Live Arcade. Free download for the first 48 hours, 800 Microsoft Points afterwards. It’s a safe bet to say the Marketplace will be flooded those first 48 hours. No need to quote odds on that.