Poker Club

Poker Club on Nintendo Switch does a good job at providing a truly immersive poker simulation. Unfortunately the entire package of Poker Club isn’t great. The incredibly poor AI will teach you nothing in offline mode and the overall slowness of all action makes for a boring experience. Playing online is even worse, as players can take an impossibly long amount of time on each turn. It’s just painfully slow enough that you’d likely be better off just playing poker in real life.

53%Game Brain Score

graphics

gameplay, stability

53% User Score Based on 176 reviews

Critic Score 54%Based on 5 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $19.99

Buy NowGet on Steam$19.99

Buy NowGet on Xbox Games Store

About

"Poker Club" is an immersive poker simulation game that allows players to join a thriving community of poker enthusiasts. Experience realistic poker gameplay in various locations and tournaments, or create your own games with customizable rules. With cross-platform multiplayer, connect and compete with players on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

53%

Audience ScoreBased on 176 reviews

graphics15 positive mentions

stability13 negative mentions

The game features impressive graphics and a realistic poker experience, making it enjoyable for fans of the genre.
Customization options for characters and tables add a personal touch, enhancing the overall gaming experience.
The game provides a good platform for practicing poker skills without the risk of losing real money.

The game is plagued by a lack of real players, resulting in most matches being against poorly programmed bots that make unrealistic decisions.
Frequent bugs and crashes severely impact gameplay, leading to frustration and a diminished experience.
The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to navigate and enjoy the game fully.

graphics
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
42%
10%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising their realism and sleek design, particularly when settings are maximized. However, some players criticize the visuals for being glitchy and overly prioritized at the expense of gameplay experience. Overall, while the graphics are often described as stunning and immersive, they are not universally appreciated, with some players feeling that they detract from the overall user experience.
- “Excellent poker, amazing graphics, really fun to play, feels really realistic.”
- “Amazing graphics, very realistic, and the emotes are great.”
- “Update: I decided I wanted to retest this after I spied out a few reviews... wow, what a major difference! I would honestly say this is the best poker game (graphically) I have ever played. The realism is very high.”
- “The graphics and overall presentation of the game are quite unimpressive.”
- “Graphics are bad and glitchy even at highest settings.”
- “So even though the game looks amazing, it is very clear that they mostly focused on graphics instead of user experience.”
gameplay
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
36%
32%
The gameplay of Poker Club has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing its slow pace, lack of complexity, and numerous bugs that hinder the experience. While some appreciate the immersive graphics and balanced mechanics due to the absence of microtransactions, the overall execution is marred by technical issues and a limited variety of poker variants, leading to a frustrating and unengaging experience. Consequently, the game's appeal and replay value are significantly diminished, resulting in a generally poor reception.
- “Such a delight to see all the similar aspects thrown in with robust mechanics.”
- “While Poker Club lacks a chat mode or in-game voice chat, the use of emotes adds a fun way to express emotions during gameplay.”
- “Gameplay is balanced (since no micro-transactions, there is no incentive for the game to be skewed).”
- “The gameplay is slow and feels rough, and from what I have played, I could not find a full table.”
- “The lack of complexity and variety in the gameplay is one of the most obvious problems.”
- “Grinding slow pace, game bugs, and broken poker mechanics across the board.”
stability
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has been a significant concern for players, with frequent freezing, glitches, and network issues reported, often disrupting gameplay and causing frustration. While some users note improvements since launch, such as reduced bugs and enhanced graphics, many still experience critical errors and slow performance, leading to a mixed reception regarding overall stability.
- “I have been experiencing an issue where the game freezes randomly, causing me to lose all my chips.”
- “The only drawback of this game is the glitches, which happen occasionally, at least once per hour.”
- “Ripstone released a game with heavily flawed code and littered with an absolute train wreck of bugs, glitches, and even wrong poker gameplay mechanics.”
monetization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The monetization aspect of the game has received mixed reviews; initially praised for having no microtransactions, recent updates have introduced them, leading some players to feel the game is a cash grab. While some users appreciate the absence of ads and microtransactions, others express disappointment over the shift towards monetization.
- “No microtransactions, no cheating, no ads. Just buy it! What are you waiting for?”
- “Before I get into this, let me clarify that there are no microtransactions at all.”
- “Free chips / microtransactions: there are no microtransactions, which is nice.”
- “Update: they added microtransactions.”
- “All in all, in my opinion, I find this game is a simple cash grab from the company responsible for the development and publishing of the game.”
- “Because of the lack of microtransactions, there were way less 'all-in-guys' than in all the other games.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with users reporting poor performance and clunky gameplay, leading to a negative price/performance ratio. Many players find it to be one of the least optimized titles available on Steam.
- “Very bad optimization for this little mobile odd job.”
- “This game has one of the worst price/performance ratios in Steam history.”
- “The performance of the game is unoptimized and clunky.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and frustrating, citing a lack of variety in poker variants, slow-paced gameplay, and numerous bugs that disrupt the experience. Many express hope for improvements, as the excessive pauses and animations contribute to the overall monotony.
- “A boring and unimpressive environment is a result of the small selection of poker variants and the tedious gameplay.”
- “Grinding slow pace, game bugs, and broken poker mechanics across the board.”
- “I'm hoping this improves, as so many of the pauses and animations are simply unnecessary, but it's very tedious to play at the moment.”
story
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story is perceived as overly familiar and typical of current gaming trends, leading to disappointment among players who expected more innovation. Additionally, there is a desire for an AI-controlled story mode to enhance gameplay and support unlockables, particularly given the game's low player base.
- “The story is too common for the gaming industry these days.”
- “For the price, I would have liked to see an AI-controlled story mode to help with unlockables, especially given the fairly low player base.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
150%
The music in the game features nice sound design and background noise, but it is criticized for being overly simplistic and repetitive, leading to a mixed reception among players.
- “The music is very simple and extremely repetitive.”
- “The soundtrack lacks variety and quickly becomes monotonous.”
- “The audio tracks feel uninspired and fail to enhance the gaming experience.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's replayability is hindered by missing essential features and underdeveloped mechanics, leading to a diminished overall appeal.
- “The game's overall appeal and replay value are diminished by the lack of essential features and immature mechanics.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
Reviewers note that the game features unique clothing items and character designs, suggesting a focus on individuality and personalization in character development.
- “The game features unique clothing items and character designs that enhance the individuality of each character.”
- “I love how the character development allows for deep customization, making each character feel truly unique.”
- “The progression system is fantastic, as it not only improves abilities but also enriches the backstory of each character.”
- “The character development feels shallow and lacks meaningful progression.”
- “I was disappointed by the limited choices in character customization.”
- “The characters seem one-dimensional and fail to evolve throughout the game.”