As you may or may not be aware, gambling apps are prohibited on the Google Play Store, which is a good or a bad thing depending on your predisposition. It is what it is, however, the next best thing for apps that feature games often associated with gambling is the freemium gaming model. I feel freemium gaming has an unnecessarily negative stigma associated with it because at the heart of the argument is: is the game worth playing? One such game that is succeeding in this mold is Fresh Deck Poker – Live Holdem, which offers a fast-paced, flashy approach to the Texas Hold-em card game. Let’s check it out and see if it has an ace up its sleeve.
What you’d notice immediately about Fresh Deck Poker is that it is very purple. This is the theme that developer Idles Games has elected to go with for the 2014 iteration of their Texas Hold’em game and will feature heavily throughout the game; don’t say I didn’t warn you. Right from the outset, you will notice that Fresh Deck Poker is very Facebook-centric; while there is an option to sign-in with Google+, the fact that you can continue to play the game either on your mobile device or Facebook itself means that this form of sign-in is preferred, and the game even offers you free chips to do so.
There are a plethora of game times to play in Fresh Deck Poker, ranging from your standard Sit N’ Go games to play quick, random matches right up to the Royal Hold-em which is Texas Hold’em played with a 20 card deck i.e. the top 5 cards in each suite. There definitely isn’t a shortage of game modes in Fresh Deck Poker, and there are also mini-games to help you replenish your stash of chips if you’re getting a bit low; while the game does offer you a stash of 500 chips every hour, if you’re big on risking it all, you might need to invest some time in these mini games.
Mini games like poker and scratchies give you the opportunity to win more chips, and if you’re feeling particularly lucky about winning more through these mini games, you can always purchase more changes to win with real-world money. Being a freemium game, real-world money can be traded in for more chips, though as you might expect, there is no way to reverse this process and make chips into real money.
As for the actual games themselves, they can be played on tables with a maximum of either 5 or 9 hands, but of course, people will come and go depending on your game mode. Buttons to control your decisions are big and well marked out, however the current bets and the total pot is a little small for my liking. Throw in the fact that there is a timer for your turn, this can sometimes make your turn a little frantic. In some ways, this is an interesting take on Texas Hold’em by introducing speed into the equation (and you can be assured that the people at the table also have to make a decision), however there’s not really an opportunity for slightly newer players to carefully think out their moves. As such, I wouldn’t recommend Fresh Deck Poker if you’re new to Texas Hold’em and looking for a learning experience; for the season veteran however, there’s a lot to be explored and enjoyed in Fresh Deck Poker.
The community on Fresh Deck Poker seems to be quite active; while I have yet to play a game with a full table, the people that are there are good competition and most you can tell have been playing for some time. In terms of fairness, I haven’t run into any instances of unusual coincidences; Fresh Deck Poker boasts “the same framework as real money poker sites including being the only free poker game to have its random number generator certified by a 3rd party – as all real money poker sites have to” so if that’s the type of thing you take issue with, at least you know someone is losing real money to the game’s algorithms. Otherwise, the game appears to be very much random, like real poker.
As you level your profile up simply by participating in games, you will gradually unlock different avatars to choose from, some which require handing over additional chips. Some of these avatars are recognizable, some are kinda cool, and most are just pure random. Whatever your predisposition though, there is probably an avatar that suits it. It’s also neat that Idle Games also introduces seasonal/circumstantial avatars appropriate to the date; just this weekend past there were St. Patricks themed avatars to choose from. It’s a cute gimmick, and if you’re really serious about customizing your avatar, there are also even more exclusive avatars to purchase with real money.
Your profile stat sheet is always accessible from the menu which serves as a indicator of how good (or in my case, bad) you’re doing overall. There is also a Leaderboard where you can compare yourself to the friends that also play Fresh Deck Poker and presumably there is also a global leaderboard, but every time I uncheck the Friends Only option, the leaderboard menu closes.
Which brings me to my biggest peeve in Fresh Deck Poker. Most of the menus are fine tuned and the gameplay works very well, but there are times and places where I feel like the game could have had a little more tender, loving care. In particular, my very first experience of the game, multiple pop-ups assaulted my screen when I entered a Sit N’ Go game, and by the time I had gotten rid of all of them, my turn had been skipped. These events and general bugginess are few and far between, but when they happen, it feels like one small change could have saved a world of frustration.
That said, Fresh Deck Poker is overall a good game; as a freemium game, it does work very hard to try and convince you to part with your hard earned cash, however, it is very playable without even needing to do so. As I mentioned earlier, the game is a bit like jumping in at the deep end of the pool for people new to Texas Hold’em, but for those players who like a new challenge and a community that is very active, it’s something quick, different and has a lot to be explored. Best of all, it’s free to play and try so if you’re interested in check it out, the Play Store link can be found below.
Game:Â Fresh Deck Poker – Live Holdem
Price: Free
