A.P. Lawrence

iPoker for Mac OS X

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I like to play poker. Poker's appeal is probably because of its similarity to ordinary life: success requires skill, luck, and careful attention to detail.

Scenario's iPoker is a great way to play poker on your Mac (Windows version is also available). There's a free version that only plays seven card stud, but a $30.00 registration unlocks 100 different poker versions.

Play money games are also offered on online Mac poker sites.

I started out with no limit Texas Hold-em and very quickly lost.. cough .. fifteen thousand dollars. If that had been real money I'd be divorced now, but fortunately iPoker lets you forget that and start over. I tried no limit 7 card stud next and just as quickly poured another $15,000.00 away. Ancient poker hint: if you don't know who the sucker is, it's you. So, time to get serious. I switched to Casino Style 7 card stud, $20-40 limits, and ratcheted down my play. This worked better, and I racked up over $4,000.00 in fake winnings. I then went back to no limit Texas Hold-em, playing tournament style this time. I came in second on my first try (beat out by a straight flush!). More aggressive play lost me the second tournament and third tournaments too, but I did hang on to second place.

iPoker in action

Well, obviously I'm not a great poker player. You can adjust the skill of the computer players (just click on their face). I had ratched them all up to maximum strength while playing these games, but even the defaults made for interesting play (at my skill level anyway). I found that you can bluff the AI, but no more so than you could human players: the bluff has to make sense to work.

The computer characters change facial expressions as their fortunes wax and wane. You can even use your own QuickTime replacement movies for the stock players.

The dealer announces cards and bets. I didn't care for the sound effects, but you can shut them off in Preferences. You can control the number of players, and the speed of the action, including setting it to play out quickly after you fold. Chip colors and background colors are all variable. You can even play with voice recognition if you like.

Rules can be adjusted to match your tastes, giving a realistic feel to the action. If you leave the table, you can watch the other players and even see their cards. That can help you learn good strategy for games you are new to. At any time, you can have your own hand analyzed for strength and odds of winning.

Other players come and go also, both apparently randomly and for obvious strategy (the leader in a Hold-em tournament will sit out and let the other players sort themselves out). You can force them back in by clicking on their space. It's interesting to adjust the various strengths and watch the play. As in the real world, weak players can do pretty well for a while, but sooner or later skill makes the difference.

This can handle complicated side pots, high-low games, wild cards and all the other stuff that confuses me in real games. Your winnings (or losses) are tracked and graphed over time, so you can tell if you are improving. I'm not a good enough player to say whether the AI at its strongest settings is good enough for you to learn from, but it probably is for all but the most serious players. If you are really serious about it, Wilson Software is the best for learning competition poker, but they only have Windows versions.

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