No Celebrity At Home? Play Poker On Your Mac.

I live in Las Vegas but I’m not much of a gambler; men notwithstanding. If you’re a gambler, Sin City is the place to be.

If you’re a Mac user and far from Vegas with no plans for a visit, iPoker will keep you busy, teach you every game of poker you can think of.

I’ll admit to being a little jaded when it comes to gambling games on the Mac. I’m three minutes away from a gambling Mecca (so to speak) with every card game just a shuffle and cut from a card shark.

Card games on the Mac don’t interest me. Rather, didn’t interest me until Alexis pointed out that of the 101 poker games in iPoker, Seven Card Stud can be played free (she’s like that’ she’d never make it in Vegas—not blonde enough), which leaves the rest of the stack of poker games at about 30-cents each.

iPoker is not your father’s card game on the Mac. iPoker lets you play against 11 other QuickTime players using artificial intelligence (we blondes know all about that).

You can even use iSight to put yourself into the game, visually speaking.

There’s a dealer’s voice, speech recognition, the animation is smooth and the sound effects real.

If you’ve watched Celebrity Poker on TV but don’t know much more than some win and some loose but don’t know why, iPoker can help you learn.

I’m impressed and I see plenty of people here in town who know their way around a deck of cards. All agree that iPoker is pretty slick.

If you’re in to winnings, there’s a neat way to track winnings with the Standings Chart. Side pots? No problemo. Add action and power cards. Set jokers and wild cards.

Split pot games can be played high, low and high-low. You name the game, iPoker does it.

iPoker comes with 101 poker games built in for $29.95, so it’s serious poker, though Seven Card Stud can be played without purchase and registration.

All the basic poker games are there. Five Card Stud, Deuces Wild. Hold ‘em and Texas Hold ‘em. There’s plenty I’ve never heard of, though a few of my late night friends seemed to know all the games.

Spit-in-the-Ocean? Puhleeze. Canadian Stud? There’s such a thing? Follow The Queen? It’s Richard Simmons on Celebrity Poker. On and on it goes, 101 games in all.

Most impressive of all is the layout on screen and the players.

Claire Voyant? Can she sense my hand? Victor Dinero?

No relation to Robert though he may be the one to collect on your debts.

A chip stack to the left displays winnings (or what’s left before you head for the bathroom). The dealer talks. Other players talks. Action can be fast or slow (you choose; “choose wisely”).

iPoker is serious poker with a flair. Alexis will be upset that I finally found a game I like but paid for it ($29.95 for the other 100 games and other features), but it’s worth it.

There’s even a Dashboard Widget that lets you play poker. Cool.

I love some of the quotes. For example, Will Wheaton:

Even Mac dude Dr. Mac, Bob LeVitus gets in on the act:

Click Here for the details and download link. Let us know if you enjoy iPoker. Click Here if you enjoy iPoker too much.

Tera Patricks
I love this game, especially using iSight. I can talk back to the other players and not have them get pissed.

Jack D. Miller
The Widget is perfect for Carol. No money loses to account for each month.

Alexis Kayhill
Seems pricey for a card game even though Seven Card Stud is free.