Stacked with Daniel Negreanu

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Exclusively licensed Artificial Intelligence system that adapts to your playing style in real-time, developed from over ten years of university research in game theory, machine learning, and opponent modeling
• Daniel Negreanu's Poker School provides the player with expert instruction on all aspects of Hold 'em, through full-motion video, voiceovers, and scripted in-game sequences
• Accurately modeled environments and characters based on real casinos and licensed professionals
• Professional broadcast design recreates the spectacle and drama of televised poker
• Sanctioned online tournaments, league ladders, and in-depth statistical tracking systems will generate limitless hours of competitive excitement in the STACKED League

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000BCDF6S
• Item Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 5, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,796 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #99 in Video Games > Sony PSP > Adventure
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The first video game to bring next-generation gameplay and broadcast-quality production to Texas Hold 'em Poker. Learn everything from the fundamentals to advanced strategies from poker's premiere player and refine your game against the world's most advanced artificial intelligence system before testing your skills in massive online tournaments.

Features:

• Daniel Negreanu, the 2004 world’s best tournament poker player, covers every element of Texas Hold‘em from fundamentals to tournament strategies
• Gamers are constantly challenged as the artificial intelligence adapts to their playing style in real time
• Players learn from their own weaknesses and master the most important elements of No Limit Hold‘em, deception and perception
• Begin your career as a rookie on the pro tour, win your way into larger tournaments, and build your own reputation among the best in the world

Product Description

Based on the MTV game show, STACKED with Daniel Negreanu is the first video game to bring next-generation gameplay and broadcast quality production to Texas Hold em Poker. It's the closest thing to being at a genuine poker table. Get online and it's virtually real. Communicate during online play with text messaging, voice communication, and character mannerisms using contact sensitive action buttons

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Definite Disappointment, November 1, 2006

By 

Arthur Milliken (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Stacked with Daniel Negreanu (Video Game)

This much-anticipated title promised to deliver a genuine casino experience, and promised to make better poker players out of those who played this game, by introducing Daniel Negreanu's coaching and "Poker School," and by pitting the player against the much-touted "Poki" artificial intelligence system.

While I admit that the computer-controlled oppontents of STACKED play a tougher game than in other poker titles I've played (World Series of Poker for PSP, and World Championship Poker for X-Box), everything else about this game seems shoddy and half-baked at its best, and insultingly dumb at its worst.

Here are my observations:

- The interface is clumsy. Important functions, such as looking at your hole cards, are only accessible through an unnecessary slide-out menu. Why the game doesn't simply show you your cards at all times is a mystery to me.

- Information is poorly organized. Your opponents' bets and stack sizes are printed on difficult to read, floating placards that swim around the screen and change text randomly. Stack sizes for opponents who have folded are completely unavailable. Other poker titles have solved this problem very easily, by printing actions and stack sizes around the table, next to each player's name. Why did STACKED decide to do away with this convention?

- The pop-out menu is cluttered with absolutely useless functions: "smile" and "frown." Umm... please don't tell me that these are supposed to simulate "tells" in real poker. That's just insulting. Wake up, folks. This is a COMPUTER GAME. Computer-generated models DON'T HAVE TELLS! Get over it!

- It is difficult to place bets. The "betting stack" that you use to control the size of your bet tends to jump in larger increments, the longer you hold it down, so it's tedious to select an exact amount.

- The amount of your bet is misleading. Other titles make it clear how much money you are putting into the pot from your stack. STACKED, on the other hand, only tells you the amount of your raise (it doesn't include your calling amount), so unless you are paying close attention, you can easilty bet more money than you anticipated.

- The games are mislabeled. In real casinos, "4/8 Limit" Holdem means a $4 big blind (and a $2 small blind), a $4 bet preflop and on the flop, and $8 bet on the turn and river. In STACKED, the bet sizes are doubled, meaning a "4/8" game is ACTUALLY an "8/16" game. It's hard to believe that a game with Daniel Negreanu's name on it can make such an elementary error, but it does.

- The animations are tedious, and they cannot be turned off. That means that even when you've folded a hand, you have to wait for the stupid animations of the dealer and the other players, ON EVERY CARD, before you get to see the next hand. Again, other poker titles have solved this problem by giving us the option to skip the damn animations. It's a shame that STACKED takes us backwards.

- The tournament environments are completely unrealistic. For example, in a single table limit tournament, the blinds increase EVERY ONE TO TWO HANDS. In a real tournament, the blinds will take 25 to 50 TIMES as long to increase. This means that you cannot have any patience at all. You cannot wait for good hands; you are forced almost from the beginning to play like a maniac and hope to get lucky.

So, does STACKED deliver on its promise to make you a better poker player? Here are my observations:

- Negreanu's "Poker School" of videotaped poker lessons are useful for novices, but provide little information of use to even moderately experienced poker players. His advice on reading poker tells is absolutely useless in the context of a computer game, though it might be a little bit useful when you decide to throw away your copy of STACKED and go to a casino instead.

- Negreanu's "Poker Advice," available on every hand (at least on the lower levels), while somewhat helpful in No-Limit hands, is atrocious in Limit games, especially considering the novice-level poker player this game seems aimed towards. His advice has you playing FAR TOO MANY opening hands ("loose," as the poker pros would describe it), and tends to lead the player into dangerous and expensive situations, without explaining how to survive those dangerous situations. If you like losing money, then sure, follow his advice. If you want to win, ignore his advice and buy a good Poker book.

- When asking for Daniel's advice, very little information is given as to WHY he's recommending a particular move. Again, I believe that's because many of his recommendations are BAD ones.

- The computer-controlled AI seems to be better than the average poker title. I say that because I tend to win less often against these players than I do against the AI opponents in other titles. Could this be due to the "Poki" engine? Perhaps.

Final note:

If you're an experienced poker player, you might enjoy this title just for the AI opponents alone. You'll have to put up with a lot of flaws, though, so unless you have a lot of patience, it's probably not worth it.

If you're a novice hoping to improve your game, don't buy this title. It will teach you bad habits that will lose you a lot of money in any real casino, online or otherwise.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real Texas Holdem Poker, January 17, 2007

By 

Matthew Alexander Hall - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Stacked with Daniel Negreanu (Video Game)

Completely realistic poker. You have to fold a lot of hands to win. Really fun when you can get a full house and stick it to em...