Governor of Poker combines two distinct game elements - Texas Hold’em and a real estate game - with a Western theme, to create a winning hand of casual gaming. For those of us looking to just get into a few hands of virtual Hold’em, that might sound a bit heavier than you need, but the fact is, the bulk of your time will be spent on the most important part: Playing poker!

Let’s face it - there’s no better environment for Texas Hold’em poker than good old-fashioned Texas, which is why the game uses a fictionalized and highly stylized Texas as its setting. You’ll get to wander through Old West towns populated by dudes and dames in big ten-gallon hats, which make them all look the same when you look from above - and most of the game is, in fact, seen from above! Apart from clicking around a little town map to wander around, get poker tips from people and buy and sell houses, most of what you’ll be doing is playing poker (no surprise).

You’ll see yourself and your many opponents sitting around the poker table, just a bunch of colorful hats and arms, playing out hand after hand of Texas Hold’em. Every raise, check and fold action is accompanied by animations of each of the poker players, and sometimes you’ll chuckle to see your opponents play with their poker chips, peek once more at their cards, and generally go through their own distinctive habits of poker playing. If you’re sharp you might be able to pick up a few “tells” when someone’s bluffing, or when they really have a good hand. As with any good poker game, you have to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and you know the rest. Even in the easiest difficulty mode, your opponents will play as hard as they can for your chips, and one mistake could cost you hundreds of dollars.

Besides the distinctive voices for each player and dealer, which announce all the plays, I really appreciated some of the special captions that pop up to show you what’s going on - there’s the Bigstack Bully (the one with most of the chips), Steamed and Tilt captions and animations to let you know when a player has lost their temper and is likely to make mistakes, and of course the last caption you’ll usually see: Busted! The hint system gives you the basics without treating you like a dummy and dumping lots of text in your eyes, and the buttons are always clearly marked so that the interface will never get in the way of your poker.

As for the rest of the game, it’s all about buying up town after town with your winnings. There’s a map of Texas which you’ll get to gradually unlock as you win a horse, wagon, carriage and even a car in your ramblings and gambling. If the first town’s any indication, there will be a lot of variety in opponents, each with their own different skill levels and behaviors. The ultimate goal is to play against the Governor in order to own Texas itself!

Governor of Poker really is one of the most addictive and well designed poker games to come along in the casual gaming market, and it’s about as highly recommended as I can manage. It deserves your total attention, so click on that button and download it, now!

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(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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