In Stacked it is your turn to be a professional poker player. While creating a profile, you also create your character, but the possibilities are limited. There are 18 types to choose from and then only skin tone, glasses, hat and hair colour are changeable. Later in the game your character can be still be adjusted.

If you do not know much Texas Hold’em, no problem, there are video lessons in which you can learn the skills it takes from Daniel Negreanu himself. He also offers some tactical tips and insights. It is quite a lot to digest, watching the videos several times is a good idea. In other words, you get a lot of information.

After that you can practise a little in the Quick Play mode or directly go after the big money in the Career mode. For each location there are three levels: Public, VIP and Championship. Each level provides limit and no-limit cash games and tournaments. Cash games earn you some money and playing out tournaments unlocks higher level matches, like the Poker Allstars.

Next to the location you start in, there are two more to unlock and about seven professional players in real life too, who you then can encounter in your games. At first sight it seems little, but a poker game tends to last long, especially when you are in a Multi-Table tournament. That way you do get lots of gaming hours, but you should really like poker or you will very quickly lose your interest.

It is impossible to adjust the difficulty level yourself, it should adjust to your playing style. In my games it worked and it was also clear that when going higher up the competition ladder, the opponents get tougher to beat. Consequently, the A.I. works fine. Mind you, as a novice it is not easy to (even in a small way) master this game.

Apart from the clipping issues that tend to appear now and then the graphics are moderate. There is no music, only the menu offers a tune. Other sounds consist of some background noise, like the audience watching your game. The players themselves might utter their admiration or sarcasm for you.