What is your favorite Texas Hold 'em game (any platform)?

[skoldpadda]

Looking to buy for PC, but open to suggestions for other platforms.

[Flack]

I just saw that a couple of those "games in one" joysticks are coming out before Christmas with poker games, and at least one of them is Texas Hold 'Em.

[goatdan]

My friends house on Wednesday or Thursday nights is my personal favorite platform ;)

This is going to sound crazy-go-nuts, but I'm dead serious when I say this -- find the PC game "Dogs Playing Poker" from ValuSoft. I picked up a copy for either $2 or $5 from Office Max or Depot just wanting a simple game of cards to play for those non-Wed / Thursday nights. The game is by far the best version of simulated poker I've played, as crazy as that is.

It doesn't have any 'net connectivity though. I don't know if you're looking for a game like that though.

[skoldpadda]

thanks, but I have Dogs Playing Poker already... I'm looking for a game with excellent AI. I find that one lacking. Also a version with a good tutorial would be nice (for game situations).

The music on Dogs Playing Poker is annoying after a short while, too.

[goatdan]

thanks, but I have Dogs Playing Poker already... I'm looking for a game with excellent AI. I find that one lacking. Also a version with a good tutorial would be nice (for game situations).

The music on Dogs Playing Poker is annoying after a short while, too.

The music is very annoying.

The thing about poker AI is that I think what you're looking for doesn't exactly exist out there. It is impossible to make a game act like a human playing cards, as the possibilities are endless and most of what you have to look for is in how they bet, how they look at their cards, how they move and so on.

DPP is actually one of the better games at doing this correctly, believe it or not. You have certain characters that are easy to get "tells" on, and certain ones that are tricky. And unlike most games that have the tells reversed, DPP actually has them about right for most of the players.

As for a tutorial, if you are serious about playing the game well don't trust a game. Instead, spend the $20 to get this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1580420818/qid=1102572855/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-7585491-2583849?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

It doesn't get any better than that book. Period.

[FlufflePuff]

There's a new game out for the PS2 called High Roller's Casino. The AI isn't that great, but the amount of casino games you can play is impressive. And at $20 bucks it isn't half bad.

[l_lamb]

There's World Championship Poker for Xbox and PS2. Both can be played online, and the PS2 even supports the Eye Toy (how long until the strip poker games are started??) Don't know about the AI yet, but the fact that you can find real people to play may help.

It's under $20 everywhere from Crave Entertainment. There are several versions of poker, including Texas Hold 'em.

[petewhitley]

Why not use one of the many PC online poker variants (e.g. PartyPoker)? There's no shortage of real people to play against, and usually (but not always) they're better than computer A.I. Online poker consumes the majority of my PC gaming.

[Raccoon Lad]

I worked on the Jakks World Poker Tour unit. It turned out pretty damn good, if I say so myself.

[Mattiekrome]

Last year / 2 yrs. ago when ESPN showed the WSOP (the year they hardly did any advertising, and had an insane amount of viewers) me and my roomie downloaded some PC game called "Franks Card Room". It was pretty neat, really simple, not much glam or glitz to it tho. The trial lasts like 2 weeks, then u gotta pay. I do recall it being rather expensive for a game of its kind tho, around 20 bucks or so

[Maddrox]

I like the one on gbasp.

[thehistorian]

There's World Championship Poker for Xbox and PS2. Both can be played online, and the PS2 even supports the Eye Toy (how long until the strip poker games are started??) Don't know about the AI yet, but the fact that you can find real people to play may help.

It's under $20 everywhere from Crave Entertainment. There are several versions of poker, including Texas Hold 'em.

The AI is decent, and will actually do some "tells". As stated above it does support the EyeToy and also the USB headsets for online play. So far I've not successfully joined a game online, but I've not seen many games there yet. I'm hoping that it will be a popular Chrstmas item ($20 stocking stuffer game) as I prefer human players.

[suppafly]

Guys:

Why the hell do you wanna play Holdem against a computer? Get the free software from partypoker.com and play with hundreds of other poker fans!

You can play with play money or real money...

[shai hulud]

i have to agree with the above post.

you can play for free at most of online card rooms