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Review of Wilson Software’s Tournament Texas Hold’em

Tournament Texas Hold’em is, I am sad to say, Wilson Software’s weakest offering. That does not mean the program is useless, but you should probably be well aware of what you’re getting or you might be disappointed.

Features
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The game features tournament limit, no-limit, and pot-limit Texas Hold’em. This is the only Wilson Software program that currently features tournament play, and it is the only one featuring no-limit or pot-limit play. (For brevity, I will use “no-limit” to mean “no-limit or pot-limit”.) Unfortunately, the no-limit features feel as though they were hacked in. In limit play, you can see chips going into the pot as bets are made. You don’t see a pile of chips representing the pot, but you do see chips in front of each player as each player bets, raises, or calls. Also, each time a new pile of chips appears, you hear an appropriate sound. You can turn these features off, but I like them. In no-limit play, however, you do not see these chips and you do not hear the sounds. I’ve grown accustomed to these from other Wilson programs, so it’s a bit jarring to have them missing. All you get is a number telling you how much the player has invested. If you like, you can get a voice telling you “it’s been raised” or “it’s been reraised”. In most Wilson programs, I turn this off, but it may be a good idea to use it when playing no-limit because it’s harder to notice a raise, and also to break up the complete lack of sound otherwise.

Also, another feature that you can get only in limit tournaments is the ability to zip past the early and middle stages of a tournament and go right to the final table. I’m not sure why this is; the inability to do this in a no-limit tournament seems arbitrary. There may be a good reason for it, but I don’t know what it is.

What’s missing
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The program features no advisor at all, either for limit or no-limit play. It will not even calculate pot odds unless you are going all-in. There is no showdown calculator or simulation facility of any kind. There is no way to set up an arbitrary situation.

You cannot customize your opponents, nor can you so much as peek at their internal workings. You cannot even customize the tournament structures completely. You can change some things like the number of opponents, how many chips you start with, and how often the blinds rise, but you cannot customize the individual blind levels. For example, if you want to simulate a Prima Poker sit & go tournament, where the blinds double every level, tough luck. The best you can do is find a preset structure that is close enough.

Conclusion
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As usual, since this is a Wilson Software offering, consult my Wilson Software review. That said, if there were a Wilson offering I’d skip, this is it. Poker Academy Pro is much better for the kinds of things you can do. It’s also much more expensive, but I would bet that that the standard Poker Academy, which is around the same price as Tournament Texas Hold’em, is similarly capable as far as simulating tournament games goes.

The following statements evaluate this software package as a whole, on its own merit, not just how it differs from the other Wilson Software products. I’ll still make comparisons to the other products, however, where they’re similar.

The Good:
* No-limit and pot-limit play

The Bad:
* NL and PL seems hacked in
* No teaching tools of any kind
* Doesn’t do much that Poker Academy Pro can’t do
* Some interface quirks
* No uninstaller

AI: N/A
I didn’t play with it enough to find out. I would guess that its limit play is comparable to Turbo Texas Hold’em V5’s, which is very strong, but I have no idea about its no-limit play.

Features: 5/10
It provides the tournament to play in, but little else. Pot-limit and no-limit play feels a bit hacked in, but it works.

Graphics: 6/10
Bland, but bearable. Features avatars. Unfortunately, you cannot see chips on the table in pot-limit and no-limit play, which makes it a tad harder to tell at a glance what the situation is.

Sound: 4/10
The same sounds and voices as in other Wilson Software products, but not enough sound in pot-limit and no-limit play.

User interface: 5/10
Same quirks as other Wilson Software products.

Overall (not an average): 6/10
It does leave a lot to be desired, mostly because of its lack of basic features.

VERDICT: Wilson Software’s most average offering. Only for the diehard tournament player who must pad out his software collection.

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