Would anybody mind giving me feedback on this game?

thenotself

I have been working on a fantasy poker game for some time now as an alternative for when the processors won't let me play for cash anymore. The game is called Poker Underworld and you basically play for prestige and ranking on the website. Everybody has a profile page which tells everyone else how much they've won and what their poker ranking is.

The game is 2D but you get to use avatars at the table instead of ugly 3d characters and it's really supposed to be about building your poker character up as much as you can. I've also built in a feature so you can challenge other players head to head and eventually I'm hoping to add in the ability to win some cash or prizes through the site too - but no gambling.

I was wondering if anybody wants to check out the design so far and give me feedback. We're not actually open for business yet so you can't play the games but that should be ready next week. Right now I'm mostly interested in feedback on how the site looks, etc. I have a blog up so you can read about what we've built so far.

The site is http://www.pokerunderworld.com and the blog is at http://blog.pokerunderworld.com

I apologize if I'm breaking any site rules by posting this here but I really am just looking for feedback, not free marketing. If there is a problem with this post please quietly remove it and accept my apologies.

Monteroy

I am fairly certain the market of poker players playing only for prestige and ranking is extremely limited. All the major sites have play money tables where people can do that already to an extent at no cost, so I am not quite sure I can see what you offer that anyone is looking for.

thenotself

That's definately a good point which I've considered. I think we've been trying to add enough simple features that will make the site very enjoyable for people who play there, so while I don't want to go too deep into the features until we go live, it's definately a "more then meets the eye" kind of experience.

Your comment is definately our biggest concern though. I've put a lot of work into the game and the biggest challenge will be attracting people into the game who could otherwise be playing at partypoker.net or other free sites... it's just that personally I find those sites really boring and without a good atmosphere. We're looking to the future when many poker players may be looking to an alternative to playing for cash.

I'm pretty sure down the road that we'll be holding tournaments for prizes and trying to give away as much as we can afford to our players, so we're hoping for good luck.

Thanks for your comment