This is a review of patch level 2 of the v2.0 of DD Poker. I've focused on the pratice play, not the online version. The program runs on PC, Mac and Linux. I did my trial plays on Windows 2000.

The Components

DD Poker 2 comes as a download available at ddpoker.com. You can get a demo, then register it for $29.99. There's supposed to eventually be a retail box too, though that's not available at the time of this review.

Graphics & UI

Graphics: The core of the game centers on a card table, with ten players sitting around it, each dealt 2 cards, and a set of up to 5 cards eventually laid out in the middle. This is all depicted very simply, but it's also quite easy to see what everyone is doing. It's easy to see your cards. Bets and folds are clearly marked, and you can see the value of the pot of a glance. There's no particular thrills here, but everything you'd want to be obvious in a Poker game is.

There's also some simple ability to change the look & feel of the interface, for example by changing the color of the card table, which is a nice touch.

Somewhat missing from the graphics was a good way to distinguish between the different players. Each does have a unique name, and you could click on them to see what sort of player they were, but none of that helped me keep straight things like who bid wildly and who bid overly conservatively--the types of things that you'd need to learn during a real game. A better player might still be able to learn this sort of thing using this Poker UI, but some sort of visual cue (such as an avatar) would make it easier for everyone.

Audio: There's some simple music as well as ambient sounds. I particularly like the clatter of chips as they're placed on the table.

User Interface: Most of the interface is a pretty simple set of call (or bet), raise, and fold buttons, which is really all you need. I had continued problems making low raises (e.g., when the bet to me was "15" and I wanted to raise by "10"), but I never figured out if this was an interface problem, or a rule I wasn't aware. In any case the interface was generally pretty intuitive and easy to use.

Player Helpers: Where the program really shines is in its using of dialogues, suggestions, and other types of advice that help teach players how to play Texas Hold'em well. The entire left hand column is made up of this sort of thing, showing how often the hand you have wins, what your Poker advisor suggests you do (solely on the basis of your hand; he offers no advice about bluffing), what the pot odds are, etc. In addition there are pop-ups which explains various elements of the game as you first encounter them.

When you finish up a game you can also go out to the main menus to engage in more "analysis". You can see how you've done in various tournaments (more on those shortly) and also how you've done with every hand that you've ever been dealt. I was not suprised to note, for example, that every "AA" (that's a pair of Aces) that I've ever had won, while my playing of "AKo" (that's an Ace and King of different suits) had a much lower win ratio than I would have expected.

As a result of all of this DD Poker is a great training tool for someone really interesting in analyzing and improving their game. In addition, its player helpers are almost sufficient to teach you about strategy and play even if you're never played Texas Hold'em before. As a fairly novice player I had to look up some info on starting hand notation, early strategy and pot odds before I felt like I had a good handle on why the program was telling me to do various things, but once I'd studied those (and played a bit) the program's advice started to make good sense (and I'm fairly confident that it would teach me to be a better Texas Hold'em player).

Overall, the interface of DD Poker 2 is fairly simple, but its strength is in the many methods that it offers to improve your play of Texas Hold'em. As such it earns a high "4" out of "5" Style rating.

The Game Play

DD Poker 2 is a computerized version of Texas Hold'em, a Poker variant. As with all Texas Hold'em games, each player has a couple of cards of his own, but also shares a large public set of cards with the other players, and must make up the best hand he can from his private & the public cards. In the DD Poker game, there are up to 10 players at a table at a time.

The play in Texas Hold'em is pretty simple: each player is dealt two cards, then a set of bets occurred. The first two players clockwise from the dealer (the blinds) are forced to bet (in increasing amounts as the game goes on), while everyone else chooses whether to bet or not. Afterward the "flop" occurs, which means that the first three public cards are flipped up. There's another set of bets, then another card, then another set of bets, then another card, then a final set of bets.

There is no limit on betting, other than table stakes (or a set number of rebuys). In fact going "all in" (betting everything you have left) is somewhat common, particularly as the game progresses. There are rules set up to divide the pot appropriately if someone goes in all-in, then someone else bets more.

Texas Hold'em is truly a game of bidding & bluffing, and so it's somewhat rare to actually get to the point of revealing the cards. Usually all but 2 or 3 players fold before the first round of bidding is done, and others will do so as the bidding progresses.

If players do actually reveal their cards, then they have to make the best hand of 7 cards from their 2 private cards and the 5 public cards. Whomever has the best hand takes the pot (though, as mentioned, the pot may get split a little bit if some people went all in and then didn't match later bets).

Ways to Play

DD Poker 2 offers a few different ways to play:

Practice: Via this method you play against AIs in pre-programmed tournaments. There are a number of tournaments programmed into the game, from beginner's play to world poker tournaments. These are pretty standard Texas Hold'em tournaments with multiple timed rounds of play, at the end of each of which the blind bid amounts increase (thus speeding along the game).

Online: This allows you to play online against other players. I haven't tried it out, but it looks like there are several online tournaments every day.

Clock: This allows you to use the DD Poker 2 software to host your own tournaments. It sets a large clock running which tells you the end of each round, and also notifies you of the blind bets required each round and even allows you to easily calculate prize money.

The Game Design

This section feels a bit redundant because I suspect most players are already going to have developed an opinion about Texas Hold'em style play. Thus, I'm going to be preaching to the already converted (or antagonizing the same). Let me shortly say that: DD Poker 2 is quite a good simulation of Texas Hold'em play, and if you like the game, and if you're looking for ways to practice or play online, you'll be very happy with the way this game plays.

However, if you're one of the few people who don't have an opinion on Texas Hold'em style play, you'll probably want to keep on reading: my general assessment is that Texas Hold'em is a pretty boring variant of Poker. I vaguely felt this after playing it a few times in person, but now after playing a number of games with DD Poker 2 I'm fairly confident of it.

Texas Hold'em is a pretty pure bidding and bluffing game. In that aspect it's interesting, as real deicisions about when to bet and when not to, when to bluff and when not to, can be quite exciting and can determine the course of the entire game.

However Texas Hold'em's problem is that it's massively constrained. With just two cards to call your own, the game is pretty tight, and your decisions about when to stay in or not--based purely on the strength of your hand--are pretty obvious. In fact, you usually don't want to stay in a hand (as seen in the computer screen nearby, which highlights when a solid player would drop, based upon combinations of two cards, with drops shown in red). If you've got a high pair or if you've got a high set of matched cards or if you've got a very slightly weaker hand but you're one of the last people to bid, then you stay in. Otherwise you don't.

In most hands 7-9 people drop out (out of 10). I was keeping notes on one of my last few games, and it was hand #22 before the advisor recommended that I not immediately fold, though to be fair it said the same on #23 too. Afterward, as more cards are revealed, more folding occurs as people make new bets. It's a very rare thing for two people to ever reveal their hands (and in fact it was hand #17 before this happened in that self-same test play).

That really encompasses my biggest problem with the game: there's a whole lot of folding for any individually exciting hand, and if you want a good bidding or bluffing game I suspect you could design much, much better than this type of play, which only looks good on TV, and only because you can cut out the hours of folding.

I won't go on with other issues I have with the game because, as I said, most of you have already decided if you like it or not. I've given it an average "3" out of "5" for Substance, with the comment that it's a fine adaptation of Texas Hold'em play.

Conclusion

DD Poker 2 is a good computer implementation of Texas Hold'em. I personally don't enjoy the play of Texas Hold'em much, but if you do, this is a great way to practice and try and improve your Hold'em skills. It's got a fair interface and offers you lots of good advice about how you could be playing better.