Playing poker that features your avatar against other players and your friends is fun, but the game has it shortcomings.
Full House Poker features the popular variation of poker, Texas hold 'em. If you're not sure how to play, the game offers a series video tutorials that teaches you the controls and the different ways to make a poker hand. If you forget what you learned in these tutorials, you can easily access the information simply by pressing the left bumper. It is a very easy and accessible way to teach newcomers the basics of Texas hold 'em
But what separates this poker game from other ones is the implementation of the Xbox Avatars and is arguably the most enjoyable aspect of the game. Every avatar, including your own automatically reacts accordingly to the results on the table, whether it's standing on the seat in victory after making the best hand, or an epic face palm after a bad beat. Full House Poker also has allows some control of how the avatar emotes during the game with timid or aggressive actions. If you're unsure of your hand, you can make your avatar slowly push the chips into the pot. If you are certain you have the best hand, you can make your avatar slam a huge pile of chips onto the table. While no real person will read into these actions as a sign of what you have in your hand, the animation your avatar repeatedly slamming their hand on the table with an enthusiastic check will always give you a chuckle. When you join a multiplayer table, be prepared to see a few familiar faces. It's always a hilarious sight to behold when you're have avatars from other games like Halo and Red Dead Redemption sit down in a table to work out their difference over a game of poker.
When playing Full House Poker, you can either pit yourself against AI controlled players, or test your bluffing skills against other live players in ranked or unranked tournaments. In both single player and multiplayer, you earn experience points for nearly every action you take, whether it's simply folding when you know you have been dealt a bad hand or miraculously winning the pot by making the winning hand on the river. The system is designed so you don't have to win every hand and tournament you play, but rather encourages good and smart decisions over a long period of time. As you gain experience points and rank up as a player, you unlock higher buy-in tournaments in both single player and multiplayer modes. You can also unlock different style chairs, tables, card decks, and outfits you can use when you want to start up your own tournament, offering a surprising level of personalization in the game
As you reach higher rank in the game, you can try your poker face against skilled AI in "Pro Takedown", which is the closest thing the game has to a campaign mode. In "Pro Takedown", you're pitted against a single AI-controlled player. Each AI player has his or her own distinct look and playing style, ranging from timid to all-out aggressive. Whenever you successfully take out a pro, you earn his or her outfit, which you can wear yourself as a sort of trophy. More "pros" are unlocked as you knock out each one or as you progress through the ranks until you reach the final table, where you're up against all the "pros" in one table in a winner-take-all tournament. While it is a great idea to have the you go against different styles of play, it can't quite match the excitement of playing a real person. Most of the "pros" follow a very distinct set of rules that can easily figured out after several hands. This becomes very tedious very quick, since most of the fun of poker is not knowing how the person across the table will play his cards.
Once you move onto the multiplayer, you'll discover that several bugs and flaws mar what would otherwise be a really fun and enjoyable experience. Joining a game is usually a painless process, but the frequency of being kicked out of a game because of connectivity is way too high. Also, there were several instances where a group of players and I were stuck waiting for a game to start up despite hitting the maximum player limit. Another grievance I have is there's no way to start or invite your friends to a ranked tournament. Understandably, this measure was probably implemented to prevent cheating. It would be nice if there were a way more simple way of getting your friends into the same ranked table than all of your friends constantly refreshing the game list and hoping all of you have the same or similar results show up. Another flaw is how the game determines second place in ranked games. Too often have people quit right after joining a game to claim second place as chip leader, often leaving the person who stuck it out until the very end with no bonus for actually finishing second XP or any rewards to show for it. But once you create or join a game without any cheaters, the game really shines as a great way to play a real poker experience on XBL.
Full House Poker also features a live event called "Texas Heat" where the goal is to gain the most experience points within a half-hour. This encourages a much faster pace than one would normally find in a normal tournament. Aggressive and risky play are rewarded, and much excitement can be found in "Texas Heat." However, despite being a live event, "Texas Heat" rarely places you in a table, let alone a tournament, full of actual players. More often you will find yourself in a table with the same AI-controlled players as you would find in the single player mode. So while you prepare yourself for a great time with other players, you're essentially playing by yourself and you'll eventually find yourself asking, "What's the point of this being live?"
Despite its flaws, Full House Poker still provides a lot of fun. At 800 MS points, it may be a steep price for the very casual poker player, especially since there are a lot of way to play Texas Hold 'Em for free. But the social gamers out there will note that this game is the only one out there that allows players to enjoy poker with their friends through their avatars.