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In Las Vegas there is a machine, much like a slot-machine, that plays poker with you. This is a silicon-chip version of it that will probably cost you a lot less than throwing cash in the casino. You are given 20 coins with which to bet: nickels, dimes, quarters or dollars. A hand of five cards is dealt to you. Before looking at it you have to bet up to ten of your coins. The hand is then revealed and you have to decide which cards to hold and which to discard.

Discards will be replaced by new ones, which will turn over to reveal your final hand. You're trying to get a winning hand. Most winning combinations conform to the usual rules of poker and each one has odds placed on it. For instance the odds on getting a flush are 5 to 1, so if you get that hand you'll get back five times your stake money.

The least valuable winning hand you can have is a pair of jacks or better, which just gets you your stake money back. The most valuable hand is a royal flush, for which the odds are 250 to 1 - a bit stingy if you ask me.

If you haven't got a poker game it might be interesting, but without the competitive edge of an opponent I found it very dull and rather slow.

Zzzzz. Oh do excuse me; 1 was just catching 40 winks while my cards were being dealt. This could have been a half-decent game, but unfortunately it falls down on speed or lack of it.

Nice graphics, awful sound and gameplay. Someone at Mastertronic obviously hasn't heard of the CPC's three-channel sound chip; come to that, they can't be aware that the Amstrad's internals are running at approximately 3.7 MHz.

At least some of it doesn't show up at all!

P. Cards turn nicely.

N. The game is slow.
N. Little to do, requiring little skill.
N. No variety to the game.
N. No competitive edge to it.