Stand up showdowns, open folds (1 card or both), table postures and more ways to check your hole cards.

New voices, clothing and now body shapes in the editor and, of course, the Club Metro environment - PKR call it a "trendy London nightclub".

Have PKR's latest additions fulfilled the community's undying hunger for more? How much has all this stuff actually added to the game? What's good? What's bad? And could the bad be made good?

First things first..

Where's that fat-boy slider?

Wait.. only 3 choices - Pavarotti, normal or ill. And for the ladies? Actually, the medium's good but realistically, the large is only for comedians to use with low-cut finery and hot pants.

More advanced options with sliders for shoulders, chest, belly, arms etc would've been better.. I guess at least this way they're avoiding the possibility of almost certain inevitable uber-boobing which would've taken over from the infamous plunging cocktail dress for the pixel bonking bosom fans..

If pixel bonking isn't enough, maybe 30% added rakeback and the very best bonus codes for PKR around might help.

Nails and tattoos - decent bits of detail.

Loads of new countries' clothes but
otherwise the same old stuff..

Shades were always popular and PKR's needed more from the start - They've added some but I still think they need more. Happy with my new avi's though..

Ear-rings and piercings for both sexes. Obviously, it's down to personal taste - each to their own and everything - but apparently there's a thin line between "hard nut" and "gaybo" and these new ear-rings seem to be the difference. At least for my dude anyway so I'm steering clear. The girls' look good though. Oh and not forgetting the all important headphones too - bit weird but fair enough.

No new tricks which is a bit disappointing. Not sure why - maybe PKR's given up on them. They shouldn't, they just need to fit more seamlessly with the rest of the game. Think everyone was half-expecting some new hair-styles too.

The PKR Sutra
The Chris Ferguson happy position	The more aggressive angry position
The laid-back, un-phased casual position	The sedate and inexpressive sad position

Something they still haven't "fixed" is the painfully slow and deliberate movement away from the table every time you fold.

It looks totally un-natural and I really don't get it..
No-one does it in real life - why do it on PKR?

Ahhh, that's me folded - I'll just move my chair back
and sit bolt upright for the rest of the hand..

I had this problem before the update but the new table postures - which PKR have decided should become irrelevant once you're out of a hand - make it even more noticeable.

If you have to mark something which happens that frequently with a change in position, the movement should definitely be shorter, more subtle and varied. Folding never used to be a full-body movement.. Heads up games look like a warm-up for musical chairs.

A unique down-from-table position for each mood would be good - similar to the matching up-to-the-table one - and the new postures would be even more usable if some of the more regular emotes had mood-specific gestures - i.e. Being able to acknowledge nice hands without having to unfold your arms first..

If this was added along with this idea, you'd have more control over table actions and be able to use PKR's "new dimension" more effectively to actually play poker. Tricks from the new positions would help with the usability of both too.

The new two handed all-ins look much better than before and then there's the stand-up showdowns. Wasn't really interested in these but the animation's sound and I like that the timing is up to you (if at all).

At the moment though, once they're
standing, players become bricks

With noises. It looks really natural...

PKR have said that they're developing standing actions over the next few weeks - as well as all the new voices which weren't finished in time.

And the last thing is the new Club Metro environment which is actually more like 2 in 1. As well as the standard Metro tables, there's a bright red VIP area which, so far at least, I've only seen used as a $5/$10 cash table - which makes sense..

Both are nicely detailed - up to the usual high standards - and, unlike the table postures which I guess PKR must have rushed, they fit in perfectly with what was there before.

Overall, a good update and a look into PKR's future but I definitely would've preferred the in-game stuff to be properly finished first.

Instead of the big all-in-ones, I reckon more little-and-often would work better in the future. Club Metro one week, stand-up showdowns the next - if they're finished - New clothes in, old clothes out etc. Smaller upgrades but more of them.

Which would help with the feeble download speeds a lot of
people were getting from the update servers too

Er, 7/10..?