You cant read my poker face....

XBLA's latest community title allows you to take your avatar into a virtual casino and play some poker!

A very simple premise which is surprisingly fun and addictive.
Featuring a single player mode, which allows you to take on an AI player in a one on one, multiplayer ranked matches, party lobbies and weekly tournaments, there is a fair amount of choice in what you want to play.

The game features a rank and xp system.
Earn XP by winning games and by performing certain actions in games.
This allows you to level up your avatar, unlocking different outfits, chip tricks and furniture for your own lobbies.
There is a usefull help section included so people who are new to poker should be able to pick it up relatively easily.
As its new there are a few minor bugs with the game, namely during the live tournaments which will normally see you put with more AI players than fellow humans, but its not too much trouble.
The title really comes into its own when playing with friends, it makes a nice change to just sit back and put the world to rights over a few hands of poker, rather than raging to each other about spawn systems or campers. (Im looking at you CoD). With some avatar awards to unlock and achievements to go for (250G), it can offer you a challenge in that respect too.




Its ashame then that this can quickly become a bit boring when playing alone. With no real prizes up for grabs and no real family involvement (unlike its predecessor 1vs 100) its difficult to see if this will last as a top title. Some say its a bit expensive, but from the amount of game time you could get from it it really isnt that bad.
Dont get me wrong, its fun different and is enjoyable, but I cant help but think it needs a little something else, especially in the tournaments.
As its not real, with no age restriction, it can be sometimes difficult to play properly as people tend to do slightly odd things they wouldnt do in real life (going all in on a nine high?)

On the whole though, this Title is a good bit of fun and a welcome distraction from the chaos that is the FPS genre, I firmly believe this could make a good game night with friends due to the banter it would create. You could even create a league of your own.

Full House Poker will cost you 800 MS Points and is available to download now from the Xbox Live dashboard.