Good idea - poor implementation

Was excited to see this game which at first blush has great graphics and is of the Texas Hold em variety of poker. Unfortunately, it suffers from some annoying gameplay flaws.

First, the way you bet is awkward. The game utilizes a slide bar to raise bets but its very difficult to choose an exact figure. Instead, you pick the range and then you need to click a button that only raises or lowers by one at a time. I have seen Flash games with really good chip selection that simply lets you click on the 5 or 10 chip to raise by that denomination and the developer should consider such a system.

Second, The game "thinking" is slow......... very slow. On deals and especially at showdowns the game goes into "thinking" mode and it just sits. Also, the game tools like the betting slider and the buttons all disappear when it thinks which is disorienting.

And finally, speaking of showdowns. This is the most annoying and awkward part of the game. After a winner is determined the game simply slides the pot to the appropriate side of the table and immediately starts to deal a new hand. There is no notation comparing hands such as "Player 2 has Ace high" and "Player 1 has three of a kind with three 8s and wins 120." Thankfully the "thinking" is slow enough that you can determine which hand wins by studying the hand yourself but this seems like the kind of thing that should be standard.

Bottom line - this game is passable for free but need improvement to be worth the cost of the "Pro" version.

Ockham about Poker HD