Review of Full House Poker for Xbox LIVE Arcade

I've never been a huge poker fan. Sure, I've played Texas Hold 'Em a bunch of times with friends back in college and I've also used the popular Facebook application to kill some spare time, however the only "real" casinos that I've visited were in Fallout: New Vegas. Despite these facts, Full House Poker for Xbox LIVE Arcade has managed to win me over. The reason? Its highly addictive multiplayer.

Don't know how to play Texas Hold 'Em poker? That's A-OK. Full House Poker does a great job of teaching players the basics. In addition to a useful tutorial, at any time you can access a cheat sheet to see what hands beat each other.

Full House Poker features several single player modes to choose from, such as single tables, tournaments, and "pro takedowns." While there's nothing preventing you from hopping directly into a ranked multiplayer match, you'll want to explore the single player options first in order to help build your experience points and more importantly - your bankroll.

One major aspect of Full House Poker is its high level of customization. Playing through the single player levels will unlock additional artwork for the back of poker decks, table tops, casinos to play in, and in-game clothing for your avatar. As you gain experience additional "chip tricks" will also become available for your Avatar to use during the game. Like every other game though, it is the multiplayer modes that make Full House Poker truly shine.

One of the best features of Full House Poker are the "Texas Heat" online tournaments that are featured at specific times during the week. Each "Texas Heat" tournament is open to anyone to play regardless of your level and is half an hour long. At several points throughout "Texas Heat" the table's highest chip leader will advance to the next table where there are bigger bets and pots to win. Playing a round of "Texas Heat" feels like playing 1 vs. 100 - and as such, it is very easy to find yourself playing multiple rounds. This is exactly what happened to me when I started playing a "Texas Heat" at 9:30 and then looked

Another thing that I enjoyed about Full House Poker is the pace of play. In the single player game pressing the X button will fast forward any hand that you fold from. While playing online a thirty second timer on each person helps to keep the game moving along. Because the game doesn't require lightning quick reflexes and only needs a single button pushed to check, raise, or fold every minute or so, Full House Poker is the perfect game for multi-tasking (such as folding laundry).

Die hard poker fans might be disappointed that there isn't any real money on the line. Unfortunately there's no option to wager with Microsoft Points - however that's probably for the best (though I'm secretly hoping for a title update or DLC that lets players do so).

An important thing about Full House Poker is that it works with your Windows Phone 7. Your bank role balance will transfer over from one to the other. We've seen this interconnectivity before between Xbox 360 and a Windows Phone 7 with the Traitor's Keep DLC for Fable 3 and also with Crackdown 2's Deluge DLC. Please note that I didn't actually test this feature myself as I don't own a Windows Phone 7.

Full House Poker for Xbox LIVE Arcade rounds out the Xbox LIVE Arcade House Party in style. If you enjoy playing poker or are looking for a game that doesn't require too much attention and will allow you to do other things at the same time, Full House Poker is for you.

Full House Poker is one of those rare Xbox LIVE Arcade games that keeps you coming back for more like Limbo and Chime. As such, it is without question worth the purchase.

Full House Poker is available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) from the Xbox LIVE Arcade here.

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