Video Poker by Hoyle is exactly what it sounds like — video poker for the iPhone — but what its name lacks in “sexiness” it make up for in sheer reliability.

The Vegas-style game consists of Double Bonus, 5 Card Draw, Jokers Wild, Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild — all of which shine like a iPhone 3G S fresh out of the box. Now as a professional iPhone reviewer — jealous? what’s your job title? — I have seen a lot of card games come my way but Hoyle’s version really does take the cake.

The graphics and sound just pop in this digitalized poker app. In fact, the sound jumps out of the phone, so much so that one of our fellow staff members here at Appcraver kindly requested that “I throw that stupid *%@ where the sun don’t shine!”. Of course, this is level of sophistication that I look for in a $1.99 app.

In terms of actual gameplay, Video Poker has a rare feature that makes it stand out from the pack. The app tracks user statistics — everything from your biggest win, to the date it happened and more. While this may like a small feature too often these kind of games are one offs — you play for a while, pat yourself on the back and never recall that moment again. I was surprised at how truly enjoyable it is to see those top wins and and to harken back to those glory days of, erm, last week.

After a week of playing around, I only found two flaws. One is that the touch screen on the main menu should be more responsive. Starting a game requires a double-tap,  but often it took as many as 5 taps.

Lastly, after a few hands of solitary Video Poker I started craving one thing — multiplayer. This game is good enough to play for long bouts at a time, but without human interaction it starts to fall flat. Give us Facebook Connect, competition over WiFi, or something!

Overall this game is a gem. Hoyle struck a winning hand with Video Poker.

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category: Card Games, Editor's Picks, Games