Poker (De Barron Software Ltd, 1984) is a very good version of the five card draw variant of the eponymous card game. As a silly aside, I can't help but think it would've been great if the full name of the publisher was "De Barron of Beef software Ltd", but alas this does not seem to be the case!
As for the game, like most speccy card/board game efforts, once you start playing, it can seriously draw you in and hours will pass as your fortunes swing from good to bad and back again. With some persistent playing, the computerised opponents eventually "bust out" and you will then be even more compelled to try and finish the rest of them off.
The computer does limit your bets to quite sensible amounts, guaranteeing a rather long gaming session - e.g. typically lasting an entire evening in real time - but the long haul aspect really appeals to me so I agree with that design decision. In fact after the two rounds of betting with repeated raises, the stakes can accumulate to pretty high amounts anyway.
I'd have rated this game a 5, and for playability it probably is a 5 (assuming you like poker), but I do have some minor criticisms of the implementation. The keyboard can be a little unresponsive at times. (edit - I later found this to be down to the fact that my emulator was muted and I was trying to press keys as sounds were playing). Also the computer players are completely anonymous (they don't even have names - just numbers). Biggest problem though is that the game runs just slightly too slow. Not apparently due to any limitation of the speccy, but the deliberate delay whilst the computer player's decisions are FLASHed onto the screen (e.g. see/raise/fold etc..) is just about twice as long as it should be. This delay I feel should be adjustable, but it isn't (perhaps there is a POKE for this). Finally, poker probably has more variants than any other card game out there, so this game should really be called "five card draw poker" or something similar rather than just "poker", but this is just a minor quibble. All other similar games of the time also seemed to just be called "poker" and there are many of them. This one's quite possibly the best of the bunch and the card graphics are top-notch.
Overall though, another highly engrossing card game for the speccy and something that the 48K machine still does well in 2011. Well worth checking out and would be great for a long train journey or something similar.
Review by YOR on 02 Oct 2021 (Rating: 3)
I love poker so I got excited when this came up randomly. However, this is five card poker rather than the standard two card hold 'em game played today but I guess hold'em wasn't well known outside America as it is today so fair enough. It is pretty well written for its time I have to say, well that is up to when the computer players raise over each other constantly and it all gets a little ridiculous, repetitive and annoying. Also, I never won a hand, literally, never. I had two pair but was beaten by a better two pair, I had three 3s but was beaten by the Devil's Hand of three 6s, and then I eventually lost all my money with a flush and losing to a full house. I mean I like how it's written but it does seem a bit unfair, plus its slow pace and repetition is going to put players off. Could have been better, could have been worse but downright mean and dare I say, possibly a bit rigged, or maybe I'm just huffing,
