PokerMillion: Dead Money

Having lounged in relative obscurity for a good 50 years, poker’s popularity has exploded since online gambling portals and televised tournaments took off.

Instead of being yet another glamorous casino title, PokerMillion: Dead Money continues I-play’s tradition of taking a sideways look at the saturated mobile poker genre, with an interesting story and masses of game modes.

There’s a story, and it’s not just ‘reach the swanky casino and win lots of cash’, either. You play the role of a private eye-esque hero working in the slums of Ace city, trying to catch some underworld villains. You do this by playing poker.

You don’t play a poker game for the story, even if it makes a refreshing change. You play to win money from people, real and fictional, and in terms of opponents Dead Money is a bit hit and miss.

There’s a difference between playing the thugs in the first story chapter and some of the best AI characters at the final table of the PokerMillion tournament, but they all exhibit some strange quirks.

This wouldn’t be so apparent if the AI didn’t seemingly refuse to muck their cards after a hand, instead displaying their 4-6 off suit to demonstrate that, yes, they did try to play a (really obvious) bluff.

The bluffs in general feel a little on the random side, with very few positional moves (raising on the button for instance) resulting in far too many limp calls around the table for the flop, despite the high-stakes life-or-death setting.

The game is presented in a quite striking comic-book noir style – very Sin City in its use of red blood streaks for menus and depressed looking caricatures.

While the character models to get recycled quite a bit during a multi-table tournament, it’s still fun having them backchat or mock a bad hand (you can turn this off if it gets too much, though).

In fact, the customisation extends a lot further than pretty much every other poker game on the market, with the option of not just playing the ‘standard’ Texas hold ‘em, but also Omaha, Tahoe, and even Pineapple across custom tournaments made up of up to ten tables.

If you’re the kind of poker player who’s after a stiff, WSOP-styled challenge, these extra modes won’t make up for the relatively weak AI, but for those who want to dabble in the less popular areas of poker, or just want a change in pace from the normal TV-obsessed titles, Poker Million: Dead Money is a safe bet.