Those of you who are afraid to frequent bars or other businesses that contain video poker terminals will be pleased to know that there is a free OS/2 solution to your dilemma. VPoker is IBM employee written software from years ago that is still available on Walnut Creek's and other FTP sites.

If you're familiar with the game as it appears on millions of computers and tavern video screens, you'll need no instructions for VPoker -- which is good, since there is no documentation to speak of. There is a brief explanation of how to play and what the various buttons do in the on-line help and it should be sufficient for anyone not familiar with this basic game.

VPoker starts with a login screen where you can enter your name and then displays a table of payouts. There is also a 5 card poker hand (face down), a window showing how much you are about to bet and another showing your total winnings. There are buttons under each card in your hand to either discard or keep that card (you can discard as many cards as you wish, one time). A pair of Jacks or better breaks even, two pair or higher will earn you money. Simple.

Of course, you can't really win any money with VPoker (neither the author nor IBM will cash in your winnings) but then, you can't lose any either. There's good and bad in everything I guess.

VPoker is amusing if you enjoy poker type card games. However, the betting is a little limited; you can only choose to bet 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 dollars per hand. A more flexible interface for "high rollers" would have been a simply implemented improvement.

It may have been my imagination, but the game seemed to pull the classic scam on me when I installed it. I started it up, entered my name and immediately started winning. After a few full houses and some 4 of a kinds, I was well on my way to $400 (the game starts you at $25). Assuming that I was a poker player extraordinaire, I took a break. But when I went back to the game the next day, things were decidedly different. I quickly squandered my $25 and had to restart. After this happened a few times, I knew I'd been suckered. Or maybe it was my imagination. Either way, I've been banging away on that "bet" button ever since, trying to get even with the game. Maybe it's a good thing IBM doesn't cash in at the end of the game...

The interface (GIF, 27.5K) to VPoker isn't the most beautiful thing ever seen this side of Vegas. It does the job though. You have a choice of various card backs and the unique graphics for the card fronts (GIF, 12K) are cool (including what I assume is a picture of the developer as the King [GIF, 10K]), but the graphics in Windows Solitaire are better than those found here.

The sounds are also a nice touch but not the most professional ever heard. It seems like the programmer probably recorded the various sound bites himself on a home microphone. It's nice to have the computer alert you to what your hand contains though, so the effort is appreciated.

For those of you who demand authenticity in your poker, this may not be the game for you. Instead of being programmed to simulate a real deck of cards being shuffled, the game seems to more or less randomly select the cards it deals. While I never noticed more than 4 of a kind in one hand or two of the same card and suit in one hand, I did notice many hands in a row with two or more Kings (so don't bother counting those cards). Still, I haven't seen any Royal Flushes yet (or Straight Flushes for that matter) so the probabilities seem about right.

There may be other video poker type games around better than VPoker, but for the price, you can't go wrong. It's a simple game for people who prefer non-thinking time wasters and you won't have to sell your car to pay your gambling debts (or to pay the game's license).

VPoker v1.0

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