Genre: Puzzle/Casino
Publisher: Myelin Media
Developer: 5000ft
Release Date: May 30, 2006

Any student of history can tell you that the United States has a past rife with tales of gamblers, card sharps, and gunslingers. Particularly in the southwestern U.S., stories tell of Hold 'Em heroes who amass fortunes through keen awareness (or in some cases, sleight of hand) of the game, their opponent, and even the expression displayed on their own faces. Perhaps due to these sagas, America's love of poker has never been for from her heart. There are movies about the game, and there are tutorials, books, and videos that offer improvement to the average card-slinger. There is even a "World Series of Poker" in which poker prodigies from around the country compete for a hefty high-dollar prize and prestigious golden bracelet.

Stacked is the brainchild of one such bracelet bearer, Daniel Negreanu (winner of 2004's WSoP Limit Hold 'Em competition), and it claims to accomplish the task of making the player a titan of the table. In its favor, Stacked really does try to teach its players to improve their game. The game offers a 15-part lesson by Negreanu that covers topics essential to advanced poker, such as odds and outs, bluffing, and reading opponents. In addition, Negreanu will actually offer advice mid-game in the form of several tips based on your hand. On the one hand, these bits of wisdom really are wise. The computer can analyze your chances of winning with say, those pocket sevens, and advise you how to bet. On the other hand, the exact same tip will pop up every single time you get pocket sevens (Okay, so that's really rare, but you get the point.), so once you've heard a few of his tips, they just get repetitive.

The single-player mode of Stacked is a messy affair that involves progressing through three casinos. To accomplish this, the player must win handsome chunk of money at public tables (which offer limit and no-limit Hold 'Em) and eventually unlock qualifying tournaments. Once these have been conquered, the player must win them to unlock championship tournaments, and must then win these to progress to the nest casino. The progression is unseasonably slow, and the game insufferably long because of it. On top of this, the only tournaments offered are Hold 'Em games. While this is usually the standard of the World Series of Poker, there are also Omaha and other poker versions which are noticeably missing from Stacked.

The user interface of the title is functional, if a bit crowded, and offers several options to the player. Folding, raising, and betting are all controlled by a well-placed poker chip in the lower right corner of the screen. Clicking on the chip will also open a spread-out menu from which the player can choose to receive advice, check his cash level, options, or stats. He can also choose, for some reason that has apparently been lost, to smile. While it would seem that this would be a bluffing tool, it appears to have little effect when used as such.

The A.I. of Stacked is a mixed bag. Sometimes, I was able to repeatedly pressure computer opponents into folding relatively good hands. Other times, I couldn't get them to leave the table for anything on Earth, even when they were rocking off-suit non-pairs. According to the list of features, the A.I. watches your play style and gradually forms a counter style appropriate to it. In theory, that sounds pretty good. In practice, I found that the computer opponents rarely stuck to a single style of play, and quite often were only difficult to defeat because their strategy was so completely chaotic. While the opponents are certainly above par when compared to your average video poker machine, they nonetheless present a synthetic feel.

To counter this artificiality, Stacked offers online multiplayer. Again, this introduces some good and some bad. The advantage of this is that one can now engage in a true learning experience against other human players without the negative side effect offered by online casinos: The player doesn't have to cough up a single dime to play. Unfortunately, without the element of potential loss, the entire process seems rather defanged. This leads to a situation in which players stay in far longer than they should. Without the fear of losing any real cash, it isn't rare to see a player ride all the way to the river on a hand that should have been folded the moment it was dealt. Lacking the most important constraint of poker, multiplayer is weak and unrealistic.

Graphically, Stacked is mediocre. While the game allows the player to build a unique character, the models are bland and the clothing choices are slim. While the textures of the tables, rooms, and characters are sharp, the card texturing is inexplicably blurry. To top off the list of graphic problems, the game defaults into a ridiculously small window, and must be manually set to run full screen. The sound suffers similar setbacks. While there is a certain amount of good music, and each character has full voiceover, the sound bytes are limited and are therefore repeated ad nauseam over the course of a hand. In essence, both the graphics and the sound design are passable but could benefit from quite bit more detail.

All told, Stacked isn't an awful title, but it isn't a good one, either. The odd thing is that normally, a genre-specific game (such as a sports sim) that failed to perform would be recommended only for lovers of the genre. In the case of Stacked, it is exactly the opposite and simply isn't recommended for experienced poker players. With its shoddy A.I., limited game styles, and strangely vacuous multiplayer mode, most versed card players will find the offering well below both their expectations and skill level. On the other hand, the very cool video tutorials and professional tips may be just the thing the novice player needs to push into a higher skill bracket. Hopefully, he can then at least win back the price of the game.

Score: 6.0/10