Poker Galore

Poker without a dealer, without whiskey, without smoke in your face. Just you and the computer at a black table in what must have once been a casino hall. Poker Galore from 1992 is a DOS poker simulator that tries to offer at least something more than lines on a black screen.

It's classic Texas Hold'em or a five-card poker variant — honestly, my memory's fuzzy on the details, but the principle is the same everywhere. You're at a table with computer opponents, you get cards, you bet chips, and you try to rake in the pot. The game runs with a minimalist graphical interface where everything really boils down to the basics: your hand, the bet, and the expression (or rather, lack thereof) of your opponents on screen.

As for gameplay, it's straightforward and no-nonsense. You choose whether to buy cards, check, raise the bet, or fold. The computer responds fairly mechanically — there are no dramatic scenes, no bluffing with gestures. It's pure poker in bare-bones form, without the flash. On one hand, you appreciate it for its honesty; on the other, you miss at least some wit or details that would breathe life into the game from its lifeless state.

I remember that in the nineties computer poker was a big deal when players were deciding where to put their money. Poker Galore was one of the calmer titles, which had its place — in a bar where you're watching, there's no time for animations. These days, though, you'd pick it up more out of curiosity: how exactly did they manage to make a reasonable AI opponent work way back in 1992.

If you're interested in pure, unpretentious poker without modern graphical bells and whistles, here you go. It's not a game that'll steal your heart. It's honest craftsmanship, silent and steady. You can lose more time in it than you expected, and that's all you want from DOS poker in the nineties.