World Poker Tour Review

World Poker Tour for Game Boy Advance

Poker, specifically no-limit Texas Hold 'Em, is easily the fastest growing card game on the planet. It's been around since the days of the riverboats, but has really picked up steam -- so to speak -- in the last few years, largely thanks to organizations like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour. Well, you can take the action you see on TV onto the smaller screen of the Game Boy Advance with the aptly named World Poker Tour.

Note: There are also versions available for the PSP, PS2, and Xbox

This Ain't No Riverboat

There is no shortage of poker games available to the public today. Every casino has a poker room if you want to play for real, most of which also have tournaments regularly that may even earn you a berth into the bigger shows. If you're a little gun shy, you can also do the online thing (there are way too many websites out there to mention, but a couple that immediately come to mind are PartyPoker and PokerRoom), or get a crappy version for your cell phone. But hey, you got to make use of that portable Nintendo game player, don't you? That's why there's this title for the GBA.

In the graphics department, you can't possibly expect very much, so in that sense, World Poker Tour lives up to your expectations. Your opponents are static cartoony portraits, but the cards are reasonably clear, and the interface is simple enough to use. I do find that sometimes it's difficult to differentiate between clubs and spades, and between hearts and diamonds, but it's something that you get used to after a while.

Play Like a Pro

A huge appeal to this game is that 2K Sports managed to get their hands on the official WPT license. In this way, you get treated to the official theme song, get quasi-commentary from Mike Sexton (he calls out your hand from time to time, saying that you have the big slick, the split hand, or rockets... if you don't know what those are, watch some more TV or play some more hands like the rest of us poker freaks), and head into real WPT venues like the Aviation Club, the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, and even the Hollywood Home Game. I also got a good kick out of playing against real WPT personalities -- or their likenesses, at the very least -- including Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng, Antonio Esfandiari, and even the Unabomber, Phil Laak.

Check, Raise, Go All In

Each game starts with six people at the table, whether you opt for Texas Hold 'Em, Omaha, or Crazy Pineapple. If you need a little help getting started, you can make use of the WPT Boot Camp, which is a series of tutorials and a glossary. The gameplay, of course, is not particularly deep, but because this is poker, it's very addictive. Play safe, kids.

I did enjoy the AI in the game, however, and although it's not quite the same as sitting at a table with actual, living, breathing human beings, this title did provide an adequate challenge with the fictional gamblers mixing things up and keeping things challenging. I did find that they often play quite loose though, bluffing often, or calling with nothing, so it did get frustrating when you obviously had the best hand only to get rivered by a bluffing AI player. But hey, the same is true at a "real" table.

Stun 'Em With Your Aces

The graphics won't win any awards, nor will the character development or expansive environments that you can explore... because there aren't any. What you do get is a simple, easy-to-use poker title that throws in an official license for good measure. I enjoyed the career mode, because you start with a certain amount of money, and you need to buy-in to tournaments or their satellites. If you prefer non-tournament play, there's always a cash game to be had at the casino, or a mini-tournaments (Quick Play) when you're short on cash and have nothing to buy in with.

World Poker Tour isn't a must have, by any stretch of the imagination, but if you enjoy the popular card game, you certainly will not be disappointed. And hey, it's pretty cheap too ($15 from Amazon).

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