DD Tournament Poker 2.0p2 Released -- In "Trying My Hand at Poker: DD Tournament Poker" in TidBITS-784, I wrote about DD Tournament Poker, a Java-based poker game that plays the Texas Hold 'Em variant, and mentioned that the next version would be released soon. Version 2 was recently released, and Donohoe Digital has just made a 2.0p2 update available.

<http://db.tidbits.com/article/08141>
<http://www.ddpoker.com/>

The new version adds online play, so you can play against other live opponents running DD Tournament Poker 2 (without ponying up actual cash, as with many other online poker sites). The skills of the computer players are now customizable, and several hand-analyzing features have been added. One drawback is that the sound effects, which were done so well in version 1, are worse in version 2: shuffling cards sounds like flatulence, and actions such as calling or raising elicit beeps that could be found in a mid-1980s PC running DOS; fortunately, there's an option to play with audio turned off. Otherwise, this is a strong upgrade that improves on a solid poker-playing program. DD Tournament Poker 2 costs $30, or $25 if you're upgrading from version 1; the 16 MB download also serves as a limited demo until you enter a license number. [JLC]