PokerTH, Free Open Source Poker Game [Game Saturday]

I like to play online poker every now and then. For real money but no high stake games. Most poker sites on the Internet require an account before you can play using their software, even if you only want to play with play money. PokerTH is an Open Source Texas Holdem Poker game for Windows, Linux and Mac systems. It features a local play mode where users can play against the computer or friends on the same network, and an Internet poker game mode where users can log in as guests or with accounts to play against other human opponents on the Internet.

Regardless of the select game type, only play money games are supported by PokerTH. When it comes to local poker games against the computer, users can select the total number of players for the poker table, the starting cash, blind progression settings and a game speed.

There is no difficulty setting available, at least none that is configurable on the front end. Network games use the same configuration settings with the difference that timeouts for player actions and delays between hands can be configured as well.

There is no option to create a tournament online or change the game mode from Texas Holdem to another poker variant. A click on Internet game opens a log in screen where users can log in with their account or as guests.

The lobby displays all players and games. A click on Join any game joins one of the available games. It is possible to create games, even as a guest. Games can be protected with a password which is nice if you only want to play with your friends. The remaining settings are exactly the same as the local area network poker game settings. Game Type is listed but not selectable, at least not as a guest.

One of the issues in play money games are users who go all in all the time. This makes some games unplayable. It is usually a better idea to play against the computer or friends who take poker seriously.

Registered users are automatically added to an online leaderboard where scores, win and loss, percentages, trends and other stats are displayed.

A couple hundred players are usually online at any time of the day. That's a small number compared to the big poker rooms with tens of thousands of players.

Still, poker players who prefer to play offline or in a lan may find that PokerTH is a very suitable program for that purpose. The latest version of the program and its source code can be downloaded at the developer website.

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