Hands on with World Series of Poker: Hold 'em Legend on iPhone

Holding a hand with a 9 high normally won't give you favourable odds at a table, but in the case of World Series of Poker: Hold 'em Legend, it's a winning number.

Online multiplayer with a surprising 9 player maximum ups the ante at a time when dozens of poker games are vying for the pot.

Robust multiplayer options certainly make Hold 'em Legend a favourite to win, though improvements to its interface are necessary before it shows its hand when released in November.

Along with the aforementioned network mode, a head-to-head Bluetooth option is planned. A few friendly matches with fellow writers during Glu's press day illustrated the importance of including the local peer-to-peer option alongside the online one, though I'd like to see the maximum player counter raised.

One-on-one poker isn't nearly as entertaining as getting four or five buddies at the table.

Of course, you could probably just break out a pack of cards at that point, but where's the fun in actually looking at your friends face-to-face when you can stare at your iPhone?

In terms of the single player game, you have a slate of four modes: Sit and Go, Turbo Sit and Go, Circuit, and World Series of Poker Main Event.

Each event has you competing against computer-controlled card slingers pulled from a cast of more than 50 characters. Differences in strategies, tell signs (represented as question and exclamation marks that pop up during a hand), and avatar personalities promise to relay the sense of reading and interacting with real players.

Featured opponents take the concept further, headlining matches at each of the game's casinos including the Rio, Caesar's Palace, Harrah's New Orleans, and a pair of fantasy locations.

These are over-the-top personalities who taunt you in hilarious real-time videos, like Russian truck driver Viktor whose ushanka is more intimidating than his poker skills.

When it comes to playing these characters, I had some difficulties with the game's controls and interface. Naturally, the controls rely on gestures to place bets, fold cards, and call. Unfortunately, the buttons and icons for doing these actions aren't as prominent as I'd like. It's too easy to accidentally go all-in, for example. I did this twice in about 15 minutes of play.

Other issues involve the sensitivity of the wager wheel used to place bets. Appearing at the top of the screen during your turn, it slides a little too quickly for my taste. Larger chip increments or lowering the sensitivity would be ideal.

Lastly, it would help speed hands along if more pronounced notifications were provided when it's your turn. Currently small icons flash on the screen, but more can be done such as a box popping in the centre letting you know that you need to make a move.

Reconfiguring these elements shouldn't be hard, yet would greatly improve the flow of play.

I'm hopeful this can be done, since there's still some time to polish Hold 'em Legend up before its planned November release to the App Store.