Full House Poker (Xbox Live Arcade)

[D Mac]

Regardless of how your bankroll is looking, you're always allowed to participate in regularly scheduled Texas Heat events. These nicely presented tournaments last for only 25 minutes each and emphasize experience points over chips so that you have a chance of being named the winner even if you don't have the biggest stack. There are three different tiers of table, and depending on how well you're doing, you can be demoted or promoted mid-tournament. If you lose all of your chips, you move down a table, freeing a spot for the chip leader at that table to move up. Messages regularly flash up at the bottom of the screen to let you know how you're faring against other players and how well your friends are doing. You can also see players at adjacent tables and even hear cheers go up from them after a big pot is won. It's all pretty exciting, and when the tournament finishes, you're not only rewarded with chips and experience points, but also with special customization options (a polka dot deck of cards or a gold suit for your avatar, for example), as well as a percentage of the chips that you were holding at the end.

Pretty sweet