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Computer game defies the boring genre stereotypes
Seemingly overnight, poker has evolved from the game of
cowboys, casinos and college dorms into a full-blown
national fad.
Multimillion-dollar tournaments such as the World Series
of Poker and the World Poker Tour now appear on cable
television. Celebrities go nose job to nose job over
$250,000 for charity on Bravo's Celebrity Poker
Showdown.
There's even a college poker championship that offers
$15,000 scholarships to top players.
Live
poker may be fun to watch and challenging to play, but
computerized poker games, unfortunately, have a
reputation for being poor. Most are dolled up with cute
graphics and unnecessary poker variations, and they
provide little help to players wanting to improve their
game.
DD
Tournament Poker: No Limit Texas Holdem is, by contrast,
an excellent tool for developing the strategy and
discipline to do well in real tournaments and casino
games. It only has one variation, Texas Holdem, the most
commonly played tournament poker game.
In
Texas Holdem, players are dealt two cards each, then
five cards are dealt onto the table to be shared by all
the players. The best five-card hand built from the
table and the players' cards wins.
All
but the most advanced players will likely find DD
Tournament Poker of some use. The interface needs little
explanation, and new players can use any of a variety of
built-in tools to learn as they go.
Informative windows pop up during game play to explain
what is happening, and several cheat options help
players better understand the game by peeking at their
opponents' cards or by revealing all the cards at the
end of a round. The game also calculates the odds of
improving your hand or winning the round.
The
computer opponents seem much smarter than those of other
PC card games. Not only do they adopt unique strategies,
but over time they adapt to your strategy and style,
making the higher difficulty settings all but impossible
to beat.
DD
Tournament Poker's player-versus-computer mode is
supplemented by a convenient tool for managing your own
poker night.
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