Betting is the devil, I am clear. During my youth at university I fell into the trap of online casinoswhich make it easy to participate in any game with astonishing ease. Part of my group of friends was very involved in the field of sports betting and, in my childish whim of wanting to imitate them, I invested too much money.
I never counted the total amount I had lost, but it was enough to open my eyes and never return to a portal of those characteristics. However… who is going to be hurt by a poker game in Red Dead Redemption? The Rockstar Games adventurelike his other projects, contains a good handful of minigames to entertain you beyond the classic shootouts.
Although I came to enjoy the knife game, horseshoe toss or arm wrestling, the truth is that the magnetism that the games on a mat generated in me was enormous. Of course, to play the lying dice you just have to follow the simple rules explained by the developer and take advantage of a not very intelligent AI. Fleeing the most unwary was a pleasure, although the reward received did not always compensate for the time it took to win a session that, at most, brought together three more people, in addition to Marston.
Blackjack is a death trap. Leaving aside games whose main component is chance, there is no game more manipulated so that the bank wins than counting to 21. Everything is so directed so that the house has the upper hand that the strategic component is reduced to minimal expression, so everything continues to depend on factors beyond the player’s ability.
The last proposal in the whole equation was poker, but with the small obstacle that in 2010 I was completely unaware of how it was played. I could barely distinguish the cards, it was difficult for me to know their value, and the concepts of the blinds were too convoluted to understand. That Red Dead Redemption make the effort to explain to any newbie how performing at Texas Hold ‘Em saved me.
The game format is the usual one for poker games that we may all have played or that we know from world championships, as well as from other fictional products. And if you are one of those who is familiar with the instructions, you will know that here they do It all depends on the person’s ability to use their hand.. Yes, it is true, you cannot ignore the cards you have, but the best in this discipline are distinguished by combining probability and strategic values and maintaining an absolutely cool mind.
Despite my initial reluctance, I began to get into the world in places as diverse as Armadillo, Chuparosa, Thieve’s Landing, Casa Madrugada and Blackwater. Two cards the size of Marston’s head with designs in the purest Mexican style were my main weapons, although I could never resist the traps. The elegant suit, beyond offering a pristine outfit for the cowboy, made it possible to honor the saying of keeping an ace up one’s sleeve.
Fair play? Far from it, especially in a time like the Wild West where everything is about living or dying. In fact, more than once I have gotten up from the table enraged by having lost because of my arroganceso I decided to spit arguments in the faces of my opponents in the form of bullets. In any case, I never had any qualms about discussing any rival’s suspicions about my dirty tricks outside the premises, at gunpoint.
Once again, the artificial intelligence of poker games in Red Dead Redemption They did not shine too much for their ingenuity. Simply placing very large bets is enough to intimidate virtually anyone at the table, although I was not aware of this at first. I had to suffer defeats and achieve few victories until I achieved gold, especially in places as complicated as Blackwater. The most modern city in the entire title has the juiciest jackpots, but also the toughest players to beat.
That experience, that learning that I can use against my mother that video games do teach (although it is not the best example), helped me put it into practice in real life. The occasional poker party has happened on my night path and I have known how to defend myself with a certain dignity, even though alcohol could lead me to make unwise decisions. It’s not that I’m a big fan of the game, but it has led me to consume documentaries, stories and the occasional game narrated by titans like Adrián Mateos.
Furthermore, I would never have been able to instantly enjoy Balatro if it weren’t for that learning I absorbed 14 years ago and I would never have forgiven myself for it. Poker returned for the prequel with Arthur Morgan and there I was again, sitting at a table leaving Dutch’s loot in a single night with no greater regret than not having beaten his mother’s son in front of me.
In iGamesNews | Red Dead Redemption 2 has one of the best missions ever and no one will ever convince me otherwise
In iGamesNews | The secret life of human beings in Red Dead Redemption 2: five years later it continues to surprise us
In iGamesNews | Red Dead Redemption 2’s obsession with details has no limits: this is the ballistics we want for GTA 6
