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REVIEW: Aces Texas Hold'em – No Limit for Treo

aces-texas-hold-em.jpgOne of the single best reasons to own a smartphone is because it makes waiting in line enjoyable. There, I said it. Granted it’s not as fun as sitting on the couch vegging out to the Discovery channel in high-def, so maybe tolerable is more accurate.
I carry a smartphone to keep up with email and surfing the Web, but gaming is the icing on the cake. In fact, my Treo 650 keeps me from pulling my hair out any time I have to get into a queue. Smartphones are a great way to keep productive, especially when the person in front of you seems to have forgotten how to use the ATM, but they’re also great for blowing off steam.
While I’m not a huge gamer, I am a huge fan of poker. Nothing is better on a smartphone than playing poker—Texas Hold’em to be exact. Perhaps it’s my proximity to Atlantic City, or maybe just my addictive personality, but I find gambling games to be quite entertaining on my smartphone.
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aces-texas-hold-em.jpgOne of the single best reasons to own a smartphone is because it makes waiting in line enjoyable. There, I said it. Granted it’s not as fun as sitting on the couch vegging out to the Discovery channel in high-def, so maybe tolerable is more accurate.
I carry a smartphone to keep up with email and surfing the Web, but gaming is the icing on the cake. In fact, my Treo 650 keeps me from pulling my hair out any time I have to get into a queue. Smartphones are a great way to keep productive, especially when the person in front of you seems to have forgotten how to use the ATM, but they’re also great for blowing off steam.
While I’m not a huge gamer, I am a huge fan of poker. Nothing is better on a smartphone than playing poker—Texas Hold’em to be exact. Perhaps it’s my proximity to Atlantic City, or maybe just my addictive personality, but I find gambling games to be quite entertaining on my smartphone.
When I recently purchased a Treo my first task was to find a good Texas Hold’em game for it. My research lead me to Concrete Software’s Aces Texas Hold’em – No Limit. This US$20 game is designed for the Treo 650 but it will play on any Palm OS 5-powered device.
The card graphics are sharp and easy to read and the gameplay is fast with four game speeds and the optional “Go fast after I fold setting.” Three opponents are displayed on the screen at once although you can play against up to 22 with without compromising screen real estate thanks to scrolling. You can even check the statistics of hands played, won, folds, raises and tournament wins.
O'Grady's PowerPick 2005One issue I have is that ‘Aces doesn’t tell you the winner’s hand when they win. It’s easy enough to figure out, but when you’re playing in super fast mode it would be nice if ‘Aces told you that “Texas Ted has an Ace High Straight Flush.” My only other request would be for network game play and online tournaments, but that can be tricky with the number of phone networks that would need to be supported. ‘Aces does offer Bluetooth multiplayer, but only on the Nokia 6600, 6620, 6630 and 7610.
Aces Texas Hold’em – No Limit is also available for the BlackBerry, PocketPC, Microsoft SmartPhone and just about every mobile phone out there.
If you’re an Omaha fan, Concrete also offers Aces Omaha No Limit for US$20. Omaha is similar to Texas Hold’em with the exception that you get four cards and have to play two of them. This gives you six possible hands you can play.
Aces Texas Hold’em is the most used application on my Treo 650 and I’m awarding it an O’Grady PowerPick award for its excellent gameplay and exciting gaming action. Hold’em addicts should not hesitate to buy this one ASAP. Practice up and you can quit your day job.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.

2 replies on “REVIEW: Aces Texas Hold'em – No Limit for Treo”

I’m glad you enjoyed the game also Christopher! If anyone else has any other suggestions for the game, please don’t hesitate to send feedback to feedback@concretesoftware.com.
With the folding issue, I think that really just depends on what kind of game you are playing in real life. I’ve personally seen some bigger tournaments and people played very tight (folding very often), though I’ve also been a part of many games with friends were people play much more aggressive! The WSOP also tends to make it look like people are playing a lot more often than they really are since they pre-record the whole show and cut days down to hours, so as a viewer you see a lot more action!

I also have texas hold em on the Treo 650, and I find it a Fantastic game. Be careful though, as what takes place on the screen does not folow through in real life, as your computer opponents have a tendency to fold their hands much easier than their real life counterparts!
Another great program is “The Core Pocket Media Player” (TCMP), which when combined with Quicktime pro, allows you to convert virtually any Quicktime file into a playable .3GP video file on the Treo. I started out moving movie trailers onto my treo, but when combined with a muti-gig SD Card, you can watch full length movies as well! “The Matrix” converted to about 170 MBs on the Treo playable version. (You will need ANOTHER program to rip the DVD to quicktime video first. “Fourty TwoDVD-VX” is my app of choice, cost is about $20 USD and does a great job!).
Not quite equivelent to the video iPod, but not that far off either! And you can’t make phone calls on the iPod. 😛

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