Texas Hold’em

Category

Description of App

Apple’s Texas Hold’em is back! To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the App Store, we’ve brought back one of its first games, a popular classic. Originally created for iPod, then brought to iPhone, fans will love the polished redesign, featuring new characters, more challenging gameplay, and stunning graphics for the newest iPhone and iPod touch. Players will also love that it’s free to play—for the very first time.

Texas Hold’em lets you play like a pro against 24 realistic opponents—or with your friends over Wi-Fi. Use all of the hints, tips, tells, and your mastery to gain access to more challenging locations with higher stakes and even bigger rewards!

Features:
- Opponents bet, bluff, and have secret tells
- Winning advances you to the next location
- Includes 10 distinctive locations—including Las Vegas, Paris, and Macau
- Bring up in-game hints, tips, statistics, and player ratings
- Texas Hold’em is entirely free-to-play, works online or off
- Play against up to 8 friends with Wi-Fi multiplayer
- Rotate between immersive first-person and top-down gameplay
- Re-designed, re-rendered, and re-built to use high-resolution graphics that look stunning
- Designed for iOS 12 and later

Version

2.1

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

13.2 PB1

Accessibility Comments

I'm happy to say that there has been some effort put in to make this game accessible. The most important information, like player actions and community cards being revealed, is spoken by VoiceOver automatically. You can see and interact with the most important items on the screen like the cards and your chips, which let you play the game. Some on-screen elements, like the player icons which display how much money they have and the hand they were holding after a game ends, seem to be only visible if playing the game in landscape mode so I would suggest that you flip your phone while playing. Be sure to look at the custom actions for both the control showing your chips and the one showing your cards, as they will help you perform the most common actions like calling or folding a lot faster. One small issue is that tapping on a player is supposed to bring up a detailed screen with their bio and stats, but this doesn't seem to currently work with VoiceOver.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Other Comments

I'll freely admit that I've been spoiled at the VoiceOver support that Theta Poker provided to us, but after Apple banned the development of apps involving gambling by small developers, it's nice to see we once again have an accessible option, even including some features that theta poker didn't have like multiplayer. While I still prefer the way Theta poker gave you all of the information automatically while you played, such as the hands everyone was holding after a game ends, it's nice to once again have an accessible game of texas holdem.

Recommendations

2 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Piotr Machacz 5 years 4 months ago

Options

Comments

By techluver on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

Does anyone know why it's over 1 gb? Seems quite large for an app like this.

By That Blind Canuck on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

From what I understood, the game has a lot of fancy visuals, which could explain why the app is that large.

By Sabrina on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

Looking forward to beating my staff in this game tomorrow. Size does not bother me because I have lots of space. I just hope my staff is as aweful as me. Not very good yet.

By Brian Giles on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

I'm also not very good yet, but I really like this game. I was surprised to find that it is mostly accessible, but then again it is Apple so maybe I shouldn't have been. I hope they fix some of the things that VO doesn't see, like the other players, but a really good start!! Now I just need to get up to speed on some of the lingo since I've never really played Poker before. lol

By Sabrina on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

Now to check out the rules. Have never played anything like this.

By Siobhan on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

Let me see if I can make this easy. I'm still on the garage, as I want more than seventy five bucks. You are dealt two cards, one sometimes face down. Your "blind", is the automatic number, could be 20 or 30 dollars. When someone raises, or bets, 49 you can either fold, putting your cards down and your hand is lost, or you can check or call. That means you accept the raise. Next, you have three cards. I'll go into an example. I'm dealt the ace of hearts, and king of hearts. I call, and the hand goes on. The three community cards, are what everyone sees, you don't see anyone else's cards until the hand ends. so, in my example, the community cards are jack of hearts, ten of hearts, nine of hearts. Now, another round of betting, then a turn card, it could be an eight of spades, or another suit. Then one more round of bets, and the last card comes up. Now, in my example, I would have a good chance of winning if you bet, because I have a flush or all the same suit. Now someone could beat that, by I think having a straight. I'm not clear on all of the finer points. Hope that helps, let me know.

By Brandon X on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

When I begin the game. I do not have any money. How do I play the game with no money. How do I get the money with no money in the beginning.

By Kroni on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

is really fun. However, sometimes I have the problem that a card is not revealed. does anyone have this problem?

By Alycia on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

I can't get the multiplayer to work. Though BOTH of us are on the same WiFi network, the app does not see that there are two players. It just says, "Waiting for Players." Has anyone been able to get it to work? I want to play HeadsUp with my friend.

I have had this sroblem, but I was VERY lucky in that I obtained ed assistance. What I have been able to find is that USUALLY, and again, USUALLY, if VoiceOver CONSISTENTLY says: "Face Down Card," after flicking back and forth a few times, it's USUALLY a two of something. The suit doesn't seem to matter. Now, sometimes, during the dealing process, it will, at first, say, "Face Down Card." However, upon flicking back and forth a couple of times, it will announce the correct cards.

By Alycia on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

I am Deaf-Blind, so I ABSOLUTELY checked the braille support on this app. Unlike those OTHER games that try to cut corners, and frankly, don't seem to care about people who are HARD CORE braille users, this IOS app uses VoiceOver, ONLY!! HOWEVER, please understand, braille support is NOT YET to the point where you can mute your speech. They have tried their BEST, and I see it as a work in progress, but the game is FAST, announcing who calls, who bets, who folds, so it's done with a series QUICK flash annoumements. Also, sometimes, it goes a little too quick for the braille display to handle all of the annoucenesss. Perhaps slowing your speech down, as I had to, will help. Sometimes, information is displayed on the braille display which is different from that which is spoken...like side information. So, I don't know if having complete braille support, meaning the ability to mute ALL speech, is possible, but give it a shot, see what you think, and perhaps write to Apple with ideas on how this could be implemented. I simply don't know. But I am ABSOLUTELY STOKED that it uses VoiceOver ALONE, and not those inaccessible text to speech things like RS Games, and for that matter, Blindfold games do. Your cards will read in braille, you can place a bet with the display, and fold when you need too. Yes, I'm still learning 'When to Fold'em, When to Fold'em,....and it's so addictive, I have a hard time walking away. LOL But it's a WONDERFUL app!!!!!

By Alycia on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

I was able, after some hours of research, to get the multiplayer portion of the game to work. FIRST, I had to make sure that BOTH players are logged into the WiFi network. In my case, the WiFi I was using would NOT work, however, my friend's hotspot DID!! We logged on to the hotspot, and BOOM!!!! One thing I DO NOT like, however, is that all actions are TIMED. You have 20 seconds or so to make a decision and ACT, or your hand will be folded!!! It's not like the single player game where you can put your phone down for a few seconds. You do that, your hand will be folded, forfeiting your chances. Once you leave a game for any reason, it is not saved like in the case of single player games. It's DONE. WHEN you and your friend start a new game, you are once again given $5,000 in chips. What you win in coins with single player games does Not carry over for multiplayer. So, basically, the multiplayer game provides a kind of accessible way of playing Heads Up, with chips and cards. So if you want to play a game of poker, for example, to see who buys the next round, you can easily do that. You can play with up to 8 players, I think, though I have only tried with me and a friend. I DON't like the fact that it's timed, it makes me NERVEOUS, but in fairness, there are other games with such components, as 20 seconds to play the card you just drew. But having to make betting decisions, or finding controls quickly for that matter, is nerve racking for me. i hope I will get faster with time.

By StephenAlex on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

I too did not understand the multi-player mode. I also wanted to thank you for the info about the braille support generally. While I use braille, it is not my primary or only way to use a computer, and, I rarely use it with the phone. So you know, the flop and a coupe of other things are too fast for speech only users too. VO only an ounces the last too cards that were flopped.

By Alycia on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

Hi. Thank you, Alex. The way I get around this is to flick to where it says, "Community Cards," and it reads them. Also, to get faster so I can do better with multiplayer, I have begun practicing playing with my phone in lanscape. When you do that, however, the game goes MUCH quicker, even in single player mode. do much faster, the action takes place almost double time. But because things are timed in multiplayer, I have had to get used to finding my chips and knowing where it is spacially on the screen, and Wager is directly above that, but higher up. The cards are at the bottom right, your chips are immediately to the left of that. When the flop coes up, the community cards are directly to the left of Your cards. Yes, you can access all the information by flicking, but if you can learn to locate the items by touch, it may prevent unwanted actions from being taken simply because you weren't able to locate the controls fast enough. Trust me!! A hand or two got folded on me because I was not able to hit my chips, and then get it to flick over to Wager fast enough. LOL So just another tip that may help. Yes, you can flick around, but it would DEFINITELY help to learn where things are by touch if you can. If you are in single player and prefer to keep your phone in portrait, the layout is the same with regards to where Chips are in relation to wager. I have slowed my speech WAY down so I can better understand the announcements, but the game takes so much processor power, sometimes, it freezes on me. I just go back and resume the game. I just wish there was an option to get rid of all the graphic, visual fru-fru, if we so desired. I REALLY appreciate and understand what Apple has done, but for those of us who run speech, even with an iPhone MS, it seems to REALLY tax the processor.

By Brian Giles on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

I'm addicted to this game. lol If you're playing single player, for the most part I think it's better to play with your phone in portrait mode. It makes it easier to discern where things are on the screen so you can find them by touch, and since the action is slower, VoiceOver has more time to announce things like the flop cards. If you play in landscape, the game moves a lot faster so VoiceOver interupts itself when new things are happening. it's certainly playable this way, though I think it'd be a nightmare with a braille display. It also doesn't seem like the interface changes much; all the important stuff seems to be on the left side of the screen and I find it a little harder to deal with than in portrait mode. I also did get to try a multiplayer game, and I also wish the time limit for making a play could be turned off in the options especially if you're still learning how to play. But if you and your friends are all experienced players, the time limit could be a good thing. Interesting that multiplayer defaulted to landscape for me. I don't know if that's normal. I do like how VoiceOver describes all the avatars you can choose in a multiplayer game, and there are a lot of them!

By Kelly Sapergia on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

I just started playing this game, and so far really like it. However, I'm wondering if anyone knows how to call or check, as I don't see those options anywhere when using the rotor. Usually, I just keep wagering higher amounts of money until I hopefully win the round.

By Brian Giles on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - 14:29

In reply to by Kelly Sapergia

from what I can tell so far, calling and checking only become available in certain situations, I think after everyone has bet at least once, although I'm still learning the rules of hold 'em itself so may be wrong on that. Those options don't show up in the rotor though, rather, they show up in the adjustable area where you normally place your bet. In the case of calling, the the wager area will show the amount that you are calling. In the case of checking, the wager control will say $0, and when you double tap you will hear the knocking sound. If another announcement doesn't interupt it, VoiceOver will tell you that you check. In my case, it says "Brian's iPhone check". I would love to leave Apple some feedback letting them know how much I appreciate the VoiceOver support, and also letting them know where the shortcomings are, so they can be fixed in a 2.1 update or something. I can't post a review right now since I'm running the 13 beta.

By Pedro on Friday, August 23, 2019 - 14:29

Hello the game it is very funny but with my iPhone 8 with iOS 12 I never canit see the comunitary cards in the first hand of the game. It is a important problem because I never win.

By Sabrina on Friday, August 23, 2019 - 14:29

Is there any instructions in this app? How to use it? Not the rules but about the app.
Als, for someone who has never played poker before:
is this turn based?

By Sabrina on Friday, August 23, 2019 - 14:29

I know it is turn based I just did not realize there were lots of players. Lol. Thanks for explaining the rules. Have managed to win some hands.

By Brian Giles on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

Hi.

Does anyone know how to provide feedback for apps from the app store? I want to let the devs know how awesome it is that this game is accessible, and let them know what they might improve should they put out a minor update, although I don't expect them to since this game seems to be a special anniversary rerelease. I have left a nicely worded review unlike half the ones you see where people just complain that the game is rigged.

Since I updated to iOS13 the in-game music doesn't play for me at all. I usually keep it off, but toggling it back on does nothing. I've done all the usual stuff; restarting my phone, uninstalling and reinstalling the game more than once. So I'm thinking there's a bug with the game. I also want to point out some of the things that VoiceOver doesn't see, like the other players, and how it doesn't give you a representation of your hand strength when you double tap your cards.

Any thoughts? This is still my current favorite iOS game.

By Piotr Machacz on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

I woke up today to find Apple updated this app with iPad support as well as accessibility improvements. I don't know how the situation is on iPad, but on the smaller screen many of the things I brought up have been improved.

First of all, if a tutorial message comes up, VoiceOver will now read it automatically so you shouldn't miss them anymore. Second, you can now see all of the players, though only in landscape view. So while playing I'd recommend you flip your phone. This also has the added benefit of making the game play a lot faster. The player icons will normally just show you how much money they have, but after a hand ends touching them will also read out the cards they were holding. One thing which still doesn't appear to work is tapping on a player to bring up their statistics.

The other big fix is with seeing your card strength. Both your chips and cards have more custom actions. Swiping down on your chips will quickly let you either call or check as well as go all in. Swiping down on your cards will give you an option to read your hand's strength or fold.

So there's quite a number of really awesome changes here. While the experience still isn't perfect I'm very happy to see the biggest annoyances fixed.

By Sabrina on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

I loved the game before but love it even more. I am getting better.

By Kelly Sapergia on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

I just tried the new update, and while I like the accessibility enhancements, there's one thing that got on my nerves very quickly. I like the game's background music, but at least on my iPhone 7 Plus with the latest version of iOS 12, whenever Voiceover speaks or makes a sound, the music stops, waits until VO is finished, then starts over from the beginning! I've never had that happen in a game before. It got so annoying that I ended up turning the music off.

By Sabrina on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

I am experiencing this too. Really annoying. It keeps doing that all the time. Really not sure why. It would be better if the music would just duck, not altogether stop. Because it starts over every single time VO says something or plays a sound. I don't have the music turned off. I actually managed to win a hand yesterday. Now. I love that now VoiceOver does no longer interupt itself when something happens so now I can actually hear what is going on. Earlier this was not the case.

By Brian Giles on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

Color me surprised! I really didn't think Apple would update this game. I like how your chips and cards have more rotor actions to make things faster, ala the new Dice World update. Still disappointed that you can't see the CPU's stats, though.

Yes, the music bug is irritating. I actually talked to a senior Apple support person about the music not working before the update, and how it wasn't playing at all. At least it works now, although VO interfering with it has caused me to turn it off again. I'll be submitting feedback about this again.

By Piotr Machacz on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

What happened with me and the background music is in the previous version, it worked fine. In this update, after I installed it it just wasn't playing. I just thought I turned it off, but looking in the settings the it's turned on but just not playing at all here.

By Brian Giles on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

In reply to by Piotr Machacz

That's what mine was doing before this update. Worked fine when I was on the 13 beta, but when I got on the release version the music didn't play. Now, it usually only plays if I turn VO off, so I just keep the music off. I don't usually like playing with it on anyway, but every once in a while I do.

By Sabrina on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

In the latest update, that was today, it said fixed facebook login. I have never used that. Where is it and what is it for?

By Sabrina on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

I am sorry. I have two hold em games and this was another update for the other one. sorry. lol

By Tim on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

Seems to be a bug with one of the rotor actions on the chip pile. On the chip pile you can swipe up or down to go all in, call, or fold. However, the fold action will actually check.
You can still fold using the rotor actions on your cards pile.

Very happy to discover Apple has re-released the game in the App Store.

By Sabrina on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

I almost know the rules of the game except for one thing I am unsure of. It often says something like Lisa raises with xxx amount of kronor and I try to do the same and I suspect it is when you double tap on your chips and then go on the betting slider you will be able to raise but I cannot hear what it says so I am not sure if that is a raise. I think it is that you raise the bet higher.

When Lisa raises the bet, you can call - meaning you place a bet equal to Lisa, or you can raise the bet meaning you raise the bet higher than Lisa. When you double-tap the chips during your turn, the bet dialog window will show with Lisa's bet. If you double-tap again without changing the bet then you will call. You can raise the bet by swiping up to raise the bet and then double-tapping to confirm. If the bet is zero then you can check or raise.

By Brian Giles on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

Anyone know how your hand strength is determined? I'm thinking the higher the number, the better your hand is. Is that right?

By Brian Giles on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 14:29

Sometimes when I go all in and lose the hand, I still have some chips so can keep playing. Is that supposed to happen? I thought when you go all in and lose, you're supposed to be out of the game.

Also, when you get down to you and one other person, what actually makes the game end? I've noticed that the game can go on for quite a while before one of you wins. I've never played hold'em in real life though; everything I've learned is from playing on this app. I've tried reading up on the rules on wikipedia or looking for tutorial videos on YouTube, but it gets confusing. Anyone know if there are any good books on bard or other places that explain this stuff?

The farthest I've made it is to the casa blanka tournament, but I quickly get crushed. lol