What's wrong with 5-0 Poker from Mobile Brain?

Want to know what's wrong with 5-0 Poker from Mobile Brain? Prepare for a deep dive into first hour of gameplay, but beware - the game is highly addictive!

The message texts are poorly written, looking like a bad localization job. The formatting is odd, as if not written by a person — or at least never reviewed by one.

The tutorial is good and clearly explains the rules. But linking to YouTube is questionable. Will it take the player out of the game and interrupt the session? It doesn’t seem like a good idea to direct players away from the game during the tutorial.

A strange decision, in my opinion, is using four colors for suits: in addition to red and black, there’s blue and green. I’m no poker purist, but I’ve never seen this before. It feels odd at first. Then you get used to it.

After the tutorial, I exited to the lobby and was immediately shown a Welcome Offer. No attempt to warm me up or create motivation. The contents aren’t clear. It costs $2.99, but is it worth it? Unlock rooms, get new avatars, a bunch of chips, and 6 golden cards (by the way, what are those?). What is the value of this pack for me? And there’s no LTO timer or warning that it’s a One-Time Offer. Just an offer with a close button. What happens if I close it? What if I change my mind in 10 minutes?

“Streak days” counts the number of days I’ve achieved a 5-0. But where’s the reward for keeping the streak? Am I just doing it for bragging rights? After I hit 5-0 for the first time, I was allowed to claim 1,000 chips from that window. So there is a reward — it just appears later. That’s a weird UX choice.

You can tap to collect a small batch of chips for free once per hour. That’s a good retention tool and session driver. It acts like a safety net — if you lose chips, you can rebuild.

There’s a free prize wheel that gives out some kind of tickets. The next spin costs $2.99 with approx. 10x rewards. That’s a decent incentive, but again — the value of those rewards is unclear. I haven’t played a single game yet, so I don’t understand what they’re worth.

There’s some “Guts Poker” game mode that requires collecting 12 golden cards to unlock. Nothing is explained. No rules provided.

There’s way too much functionality unlocked right away — it’s overwhelming. I’d prefer a more gradual introduction. Learn one thing first, then add layers.

Weekly leaderboard marked “new.” I opened it, but it didn’t load. Waited, then closed it. Still no idea what it does.

After exiting the leaderboard, I was shown another offer — “Race Pack” for $5.99 — even more expensive than the first one! I still haven’t played a single match, I don’t even know what the game really is. So I declined. I turned down both offers because they came way too early.

They sell an XP booster for $1.99. But it’s unclear how long it lasts. Is this a time-limited premium subscription? “Cups” are earned for achieving skillful hands, and you can also boost them 2x for $1.99. Again — no clarity on duration of such booster.

There’s a huge Buy Chips button that takes you to a store with chip packs and bundles. No header in the window. Some bundles offer “No Ads,” so apparently ads are coming, but I hadn’t seen any yet. The store is terribly structured. Bundles are viewed one by one in a carousel format. You don’t know how many there are. A better approach would be large tiles in a scrollable list. Make three tabs: one for offers, one for bundles, one for chip packs. That’s a standard approach. Here, it’s missing.

Before playing against a real player, I had two matches with a trainer — lost one, won one. It’s good that there’s a practice mode. No XP or cups rewarded, but at least you get a feel for the game in case the tutorial wasn’t enough. Then I entered an online match in “Vegas” mode with a minimum stake.

The leaderboard finally loaded. I was forced to choose a name — but it only allows 10 characters. My 11-character name didn’t fit. That’s annoying. I like using my nickname. Had to improvise. Also, it somehow assumed I’m from the US.

Onboarding rhythm is actually quite good — but way too much is available too soon.

The game is so addictive! I crushed a guy in a rematch series, he went bankrupt — very satisfying. Rematch is a solid mechanic, works great for extending sessions and emotional investment.

In the first few matches I earned cups. Then they stopped showing up. The cup icon moved to higher-stake matches. So the game is nudging me toward higher stakes? But if I don’t get cups, what do I lose? I won’t climb the weekly leaderboard — but that board doesn’t show any rewards. So why compete?

Ads started showing after several matches. And they were interesting — not your usual fare. Something about online stores, Amazon, Temu. Very short, 5 seconds. I don’t see a reason to turn them off — they don’t bother me.

Welcome Offer showed up again. Now it makes more sense — but I don’t need chips yet, I’m up. And the rest of the contents is not compelling.

Then I saw another offer — no name, but labeled “Massive Discount.” No numbers to back it up. No original price, no % discount. Nothing to help me evaluate if it is really massive or not. Declined, again. And, again, I don't know where these closed offers go. Will they appear again?

In the store, they sell a card refresh for $2.99. And this one is interesting. Apparently, the more you play, the more your cards wear out. Supposedly, players would want to buy fresh, clean cards. But for me, worn cards are a badge of honor — they show how long I’ve played, how many matches I’ve fought. That’s a veteran status. I’d be proud to have older-looking cards, more worn than the other guy’s.

Would you pay $2.99 from time to time just so your cards would look new?

p.s. The game is highly addictive! I'll go play another round.

Michael Khripin has spent 25+ years in online games: LiveOps, monetization and production, including Wargaming R&D and LiveOps on Hero Wars Mobile at Nexters. Author of Game Shops: Ultimate Guidelines. Runs New Perk, a game shop and LiveOps consultancy.