I've been playing this game for a long time now, but this is were it ends. On the one hand, it is great to talk to people from all over the world, to play with free money and just to enjoy the pokergame. As for the game itself, the design is really not that great. There are three different playing options; the single player mode, play against 'not so hard to beat computer opponents, and two online modes on xbox360 live arcade: the player match where everybody can throw in playing money at will and your bank account can go below zero. The second online mode is the competitive match, 8player tournaments with buy in's that are limited to the bank account. This is the mode I prefer to play, because it is usually with good and serious players, except of course on the 500$ starter's table where people go 'all in' often before the flop, because there is nothing to lose; the bank account is not affected. Anyhow, to get to the point of my review, the biggest problem with this game is that it has a lot of 'bugs'. At the beginning of 2007 Microsoft updated the game, resetting all the players back to zero. Besides, the only thing that changed was a 'away mode', and the fact of getting kicked off the table after 3 'automatic folds'. As for the 'bugs', nothing changed: The game lags out every once in a while, meaning that the screen freezes up, and there is nothing els to do then to manually turn off the xbox and restart it again. Another 'bugger' is that regularly everybody disappears all of a sudden and you are told that you ended up 8th place, even when you were left with only 3 players and being chip-leader... One more: Someone wins an all-in bet and the other player leaves the table right after he saw that he lost, the winner ends up with no money (sometimes the player next to the winner gets it) and leaves the table as well. As for a part some of these problems might be due to the connection and server-host-controllers of the game, the freezing up of the screen, or lagging out, is a error in the game itself and really annoying when it happens on a table with high buy-in. It happened to me one time to many and ofcourse you might say that it is only free money and just a game... still i find it frustrating that this game is so badly tested and has all these errors. In the 'credits' of the game a lot of russian or polish sounding names appear... I wonder why Microsoft chooses undeveloped crap to like this to present to people that spend a lot of money on games and console. Even though the game is apparently for free, my advice is: don't waste your time with it. If you like poker, there must be better designed games out there.… Expand

If you pick it up while it's free, then the game is definitely an 8. It has a lot of variety, even if the gameplay boils down to Texas Hold-Em Poker. There's various modes to play through, and if you paid nothing for the game, the deal is that much sweeter. However, if you're one of the unlucky folks who didn't know this game was free for the first two days and you paid 800 points for it, then you may feel ripped off and your score for the game will reflect that.… Expand

Internet poker, through the TV. Simple as that. OK the system isn't as refined as many of the PC based systems, but it's just as addictive. Consequently I haven't played any other games since. Worth 800 points? Well seeing as I've already spent more time on it than all the other Live Arcade games put together, then Yeah. Its also finally spurred me into buying a headset so I can sledge my rivals. If you like poker, (and who wouldn't) then get it.… Expand

Best poker game on any platform, period. Enough said.

I'm going to rate this as if I paid $10, since anyone from tomorrow on will... The game itself plays correctly. The cards are relatively readable, and the betting controls are decent enough. Also, the money in your account is attached to your Live login; very good! But there is one major problem with this game. It's SLOW! Very slow. You cannot preprogram folds. You cannot advance hands until all players press to continue. No auto-fold. Slow deals. The table view moves before and after every deal. Why? Why take all of this time? All I want is to play poker - not watch cruddy animations or wait for the guy who folded and isn't paying attention. Overall, I can only hope that you didn't pay for it. It moves just barely faster than a home game, doesn't connect often enough, only has 8 players at a table, not 10... Be prepared to be extra-patient when playing.… Expand

oh come on people, alright it may be a little lacklustre in its appearence but for goodness sake IT WAS FREE!! personaly I have spent every waking moment playing this on live and it is superb. Its even worth the 800 points they charge now aswell. If you have any friends online at all then this is a must!

Good fun. Tons of competition. And I haven't run accross any annoying kids! If you missed the free download it is still worth your microsoft points to get into the game.