Full House Poker - 81/100

I've always scoffed at the notion of poker as a "sport". It's not. Yet, the World Series of Poker has dominated post-primetime sports television for nearly a decade. Poker websites (both free and paid) have been sponsored countless sporting events. And while secondary sports channels have become notorious for airing non-sport competitive activities (think "The Ocho" in Dodgeball), poker stands head and shoulders about the crowd (sorry billiards, bowling, darts, and dominoes).

No one has been above the craze. Seemingly every second party you go to has a Texas Hold 'em game somewhere. Bars have Poker Night. Dozens and dozens of online poker sites, mobile poker games, and even downloadable console games have sprung up to capitalize on the game, but most never get beyond the ever-familiar interface dating back to Windows 3.1 Solitaire (and probably before that). So how does Full House Poker both separate itself from the crowd and get away with charging $10 to play? Avatars.

Yeah, I said Avatars.

Anyone familiar with the Xbox 360 knows what an Avatar is, and probably holds an opinion somewhere along the line of "pointless ripoff of Wii's Mii system", and with good reason. Avatars don't really serve much purpose than to fill in the "Friends" tab on the dashboard, suck money away from XBL users, and get the crapped kicked out of them in various ways over in the Xbox Live Indies channel. Full House Poker changes this while also overcoming the outdated look of most online poker systems. There's three big things that FHP does differently, and it's enough to separate it from the pack:

1. Your Avatar allows you to communicate with other players at the table without getting slurred racially and sexually, both in general and in context of the physical component of face-to-face poker.

2. You can enter your Avatar in special tournaments held a few times a week, giving the game an endless calendar of events to look forward to.

3. You earn XP for your Avatar to unlock new outfits, mannerisms, taunts, backgrounds, card decks, tables, chairs, felt, etc.

That's it. That's really all it does differently. The surprising thing is, though, that these three improvements are definitely enough to warrant both the price tag and the selection over other poker simulators. The game plays quick, keeps it clean, and sucks you into its web of achievement. There's some tutorials, though if you don't know how to play Texas Hold 'em, you wouldn't even be trying this game (not to mention, what the fuck is wrong with you?). You can play the computer, but why would you? I haven't had a problem with finding a match, and no match has lasted longer than 30 minutes (unlike real poker). Ten bucks might sound like a lot, but after trying the trial for this XBLA game, you'll be very tempted.

The best complement I can give to Full House Poker is that it has me excited to play real poker again. It has reminded me why half of the male population in college watched poker, played poker, and thought themselves real sharks. Poker is a really, really fun game. It challenges the mind with strategy, brings a lot of uncertain grey area (as it pertains to the tendencies of others), and is a great way to socialize. All that Full House Poker needs to do is represent the game in an easy, semi-accessible yet deep package, and it comes through in spades (see what I did there?).