Stacked focuses strictly on the game of Texas Hold 'Em, the all so popular style of poker that you'll catch on ESPN, the Travel Channel, and a few other Cable stations around the United States. Daniel Negreanu is the licensed pro of choice for the title, but he also manages to put quite a bit of info into the game. There's little pre-taped segments on play style that you can watch and pick up a few tips from, and as you play, he'll chime in with advice concerning your hand. This advice isn't given at random either; it actually tends to coincide with your hand and generally ends up being valuable. There's only a few times where I was steered wrong with what he suggested, and I think it's a nice addition to a console poker title instead of just slapping a pro's name and picture on the front of the box.

The game features a pretty extensive career mode that will place you in various tournaments and individual cash games, where you'll find yourself facing off against quite a few no name opponents and the occasional big name player. Career mode will last you quite a while too, with each tournament easily taking a couple hours to complete due the challenge of the AI. Unfortunately, some of these games can get a bit boring, even for the more hardcore types, due to the lack of background music or conversation. The computer-controlled characters will pipe in with a comment here and there, but its pretty much worthless chatter just meant to spice up the screen. Also, the game isn't necessarily pretty to look at, with bland character models, stiff animation, and a lot of look a like locations. Even the character customization for your avatar is pretty bland, only allowing you to change a few clothing styles and hair between about a dozen different models.

Online can be a blast when you get into a good game though, as long as you can weed out the 11 year olds from the adults who actually want to play and not breathe heavily into their mikes. There's the option to show emotion with your character in some faux attempt to fake out opponents, but in reality it's a pretty worthless feature that you'll most likely never use. Also, the game features no other types of poker than Texas Hold 'Em, so if you're looking for a bit of variety in your card game, you'll have to look elsewhere.

The interface is pretty easy to navigate, and you'll not get yourself confused trying to look at your hand or find yourself accidentally over betting or passing. Everything is laid out simply, so even a novice player shouldn't have a hard time finding their way around the screen.

While STACKED with Daniel Negreanu won't be winning any type of gaming awards, it's definitely a step in the right direction for video game poker. With a few more play modes, a couple variations of poker, and a better-looking field of play, it could be even better. However, it's easily the best AI experience you'll find in a console poker title, so if you're dying to pick one up, definitely go with this one.