The Oculus Quest has been the talk of the town. Since its release in October 2020, the Oculus Quest 2 has sold around 15 million units. Even better, sales for VR headsets have climbed to 242% this year alone. This is not so surprising–after all, Oculus Quest provides a stellar gaming experience as it records your movements and projects onto the game world, fully immersing you into the environment of whatever you’re playing. To add to that, the visual quality of VR is crisp and precise and its controls intuitive, which makes playing it immersive and user-friendly.
If you’re into poker, then you’d be happy to know that many poker-based video games on the Quest store are faithful to and even build upon the real-life poker experience. We round up 3 of the best poker video games you can get on your Oculus Quest this year.
PokerStars VR
In PokerStarsVR, you can compete with human players in colourful and imaginative virtual settings–the futuristic Macau 2050, the nautical Monte Carlo Yacht, and the old-west-themed Showdown Saloon, to name a few. One of the game’s standout features is that it allows you to play Texas Hold’em just like you would in real life. For instance, when you peek at your cards, the game’s system makes sure that your opponents won’t be able to sneak a glimpse of your hand.
PokerStars VR’s hand-tracking also lets your avatar precisely mimic your movements when betting and revealing cards. This way, if you’re playing poker on VR to practise, the programme’s realistic simulation of in-person poker can prepare you for real-life tournaments.
Download PokerStars VR from the Oculus Store
Poker VR
Another immersive take on poker, Poker VR lets you participate in multi-table tournaments and bet with real money. This way, you can utilise online methods to steadily increase your earnings without spending too much travelling to in-person poker tables. Our review discusses that if you play Poker VR, you can further practise the skill of reading other players and controlling your expressions in the middle of a game. This is because the programme can track your expressions and immediately translate them onto your avatar. Since reading people and deciphering their body language can help inform your decisions, this particular feature can help you guard your hand and implement better poker strategies.
Additionally, this VR-compatible application lets you, scope players, for particular tables. Such a feature lets you choose only the tables where you have a high chance of winning.
Download Poker VR from the Oculus Store
Gangsta Underground: The Poker
If you love story-based games, Gangsta Underground combines immersive storytelling and rich graphics with poker. Gangsta Underground follows a suspenseful story set in a grimy fictional world. As the protagonist, you have to win bets against shady characters and off your enemies. Reality Reflection notes that this can be played in one-on-one multiplayer mode.
With a ranked mode and multiple items that can be purchased in-game, this title can fully immerse you and entice you to play for hours on end.
Download Gangsta Underground: The Poker via Steam for Oculus Link
Though this world-famous card game continues to be played in real-life poker rooms, newer technologies are emerging to improve and popularise online modes of play. With the latest developments in VR technology, the Oculus Quest is set to continue providing a richer and more immersive experience.
