Texas Hold 'Em

 Xbox 360
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 20
  3. Negative: 1 out of 20
  1. X-ONE Magazine UK
    80
    Free poker game with gambling cat picture! Bargain. Poker is free after all. [Issue # 11, p.104]
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  2. Xbox Evolved
    79
    It certainly ranges from being far too easy, to extremely difficult, especially for the newer Poker players.
  3. Gaming Target
    75
    The presentation leaves something to be desired, but the price tag – either free or for $10 – is totally worth it for those who want some casual fun in their Xbox 360 rotation.
  5. GameShark
    75
    For $10, you can’t go wrong with Texas Hold ‘Em and looking at the Xbox Live most played games, I’m not the only one that thinks so. Give it a shot!
  6. GamerFeed
    70
    It's a bit tedious at times, and single player isn't really that exciting, but it's still a fun poker game.
  7. VideoGamer
    70
    A weighty Xbox Live Arcade game, even if you have to pay 800 Microsoft points for it. For those of you who downloaded the game in the first two days, you already know you've got yourself a bargain.
  8. Xboxic
    70
    For a first time poker experience it’s quite fun, although I can imagine people who’ve played a million different varieties of the game find it a little underwhelming.
  9. Operation Sports
    70
    Sure, the game comes with some minor quirks, but for such a low price, it’s hard not to recommend this quality title.
  10. Gamestyle
    70
    It feels cheap and tacky, missing things you'd hope for and things you'd expect, and the single player mode is terrible. Still, try as they might, they've not managed to stop poker being great fun, especially with friends.
  11. AtomicGamer
    68
    While I like the idea of online play with real voice chat (as opposed to most PC versions of the game), Tikgames' rendition of the game is just too basic and empty to be worth it to most Xbox Live players.
  12. Deeko
    65
    If it remained free, I'd recommend it, but at almost ten dollars, it's a losing bet — single or multiplayer.
  13. Talk Xbox
    64
    If you don’t avidly love poker, I suggest you avoid this rendition on the Xbox Live Arcade. If you love card games, the interface and graphics are mediocre when compared to what the team behind Uno put forth in their title.
  14. Planet Xbox 360
    63
    Even though it will satisfy anyone’s need to play a few good hands of Texas Hold ‘Em poker, its presentation is boring and it’s multi-player mode is bug ridden – leaving you with a half-made game.
  15. TeamXbox
    62
    It won’t push your skills or teach you the finer points of Hold’em, but as a bargain product, it does an okay job.
  16. GameSpot
    61
    Texas Hold 'em does the barest of bare minimums to make a playable game of Xbox Live Arcade poker.
  17. Digital Entertainment News
    60
    If you got Texas Hold 'Em for free, congratulations! Enjoy! If not, the flawed, featureless experience it presents simply isn't worth the price unless you're a serious fan of Texas Hold 'Em.
  18. PALGN
    60
    A solid but basic package of poker.
  19. GamesRadar+
    50
    It's just puzzling that, with so many internet poker rooms to use for inspiration, many of Texas Hold 'em's elements - play speed, AI, graphics - feel cobbled together and bargain bin.
  20. Official Xbox Magazine
    50
    Texas Hold 'em has plenty of flaws that will justifiably tick off poker junkies, and hardcore players are better off with "Stacked" or one of the original xbox's other poker games. [Nov. 2006, p.77]
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  21. netjak
    22
    A rather horrible game. Something this simple being so poorly designed is asinine.
    All this publication's reviews

Awards & Rankings

71
#71 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2006
60
#60 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2006
17
#17 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2006

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 4 out of 18
  1. Donnie1
    Feb 24, 2019
    9
    One of the best avatar games, and a very good favorite of mine, along with my friends.
  2. GOD_MINDMAFIA
    Jun 19, 2016
    0
    I was thinking about this game so I got the trial and during one hand I got a 4 card straight.
    Wait that may sound ok at first but here's the    I was thinking about this game so I got the trial and during one hand I got a 4 card straight.
    Wait that may sound ok at first but here's the problem, there is no such thing as a 4 card straight.
    Guess that says about all that needs to be said about the game.    … Full Review »
  3. JeroenJ.
    Mar 7, 2007
    1
    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 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.… Full Review »
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