STACKED first impression

Wow I just scanned over the first page of this blog and had to scroll a long way down before I saw any poker content. Guess that makes sense since I've played a total of 1.5 hours in June. But I finally got my copy of STACKED a few days ago, so I've played around with that a bit, so here's a quick report.

My initial overall impression isn't very good. I just don't understand the point of sitting in front of my TV playing fake money poker when I could move over to my computer and play for real. It was basically just the same as the play money tables online, and within 2 minutes of starting I just decided to play every hand to the river. What is the point of buying a video game for play money poker when you can do it online for free?

I guess it does a decent job of simulating what it is like to sit at a casino table, but that isn't really going to excite me. I like video games that simulate something I don't do every day in real life, so this game is like trying to sell a "CUBICLE" video game to office workers. Of course, all I've tried so far is cash games, so maybe if I gave the tournament mode a shot, I'd like that more. The one feature this game might have that I think would be pretty cool is if it can put you at a tournament final table against AI that plays somewhat like well-known pros. So I'll check out the tournament mode and see if that is an option.

I was looking forward to the STACKED feature where Daniel gives you advice on how to play a hand, but so far the only "pro tip" I've received was terrible - playing $20/40 limit hold'em, I was advised to check on a heads up flop where I had the button and flopped a flush draw. I'm guessing that Daniel meant for that advice to apply to no-limit but the game programming didn't distinguish. Hopefully I'll get some better advice when I try tournaments.

One good thing about STACKED is that my girlfriend wanted to play and seemed to enjoy it, at least for an hour. She doesn't play cards for money, so perhaps the novelty factor was still there for her. So if you have a girlfriend who likes video games but doesn't fully understand your poker fascination, maybe this is the game will help your relationship. Ha!