I've had the idea for a while now to design a battle, rpg type game that uses the dynamics of Poker (texas hold em) as the mechanic. 

Essentially, instead of having "money" and betting that, you would have HP or LP (life points) you would bet. And each time you win a hand, the strength of your hand would determine the strength of your attack on an opponent in addition to how much HP you'd then have available to bet ( after winning a hand). 

The more I think about this, perhaps have two separate bars - HP and MP (magic points ?) , you bet magic points as currency with each betting round and if you win a hand, you not only get all the magic points won during that round, (like the "pot" in standard poker), the strength of your hand ( 3 of a kind, flush, etc.) determines the strength of your attack on an opponent's HP. So winning would be a matter of dwindling your opponent's HP or MP first.

I also even thought about incorporating "elemental suits" into the attacks. Could determine effectiveness or type of attack. 

Winning then would consist of dwindling an opponent's HP. And being the last one standing... thoughts ?  

Why don't you prototype it with poker cards? Get some folks who know poker and have them sit with you and play it. 

That's a good idea ! I was thinking of doing that ... honestly, I think the game mechanic itself would work and be fun but I was just wondering how much stuff like attack animation and NPC opponent personality would play role in making it a more enjoyable experience ! I was even toying with the idea of different "deck themes" kind of reminiscent of yugioh just to add an edge of personalization and flair to the game - i'd like other ideas and opinions... I may post a simulation or drawing-board concept of what I'm talking about

offer ideas and opinions people! does this sound enjoyable to you !? 

I like the idea. Some potential problems you may need to solve though.

• Not everybody knows the rules of poker and they are somewhat complicated. For players new to your game, dumping them into a combat with poker way be overwhelming if you don't somehow ramp them up to it.
• I see a problem varying difficulty between enemies. Your two options are better AI and more HP.  Simply adding more HP may just make the harder fights feel more grindy, and better AI is invisible to the player making it harder for them to gauge if they can take a fight. Trying to beat a harder AI is very skill based, and some players may not be willing to get good enough at poker to take on the challenge. Most games let you grind to power up your character to make hard fights easier.
• On the other end of the difficulty curve, if somebody really good at poker players your game, they may get bored with the early enemies or can skip straight to the harder fights.

The MP system seems like a good way to solve some of these issues. Perhaps you can level up your attack power to do more damage after winning a hand. Having a power level progression would help solve the last two points.

I agree, prototype it out, see if the Poker Rules line up with what you want from the game. If anything, maybe simplify it a little bit, make it so there's not this long line of one-ups that players have to remember.

It does have potential though.

You should check out Doomtown Reloaded. It's a wild west card game based on poker but with different characters and abilities. It's pretty good fun. It's not exactly texas hold um, but it might give you a few ideas.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156714/doomtown-reloaded