World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions

This poker game was done pretty well. I found it to be quite entertaining when I needed to kill some time in an airplane or doctor's office. It plays well, the graphics are decent, and the AI is pretty good. I don't play it extensively, but it does seem like you could get a pretty good track on how the AI players will respond pretty quickly if you play a lot. This might be good or bad depending on if you think this is realistic in real poker. I think it is. If you're looking for a portable poker game this one is pretty close to tops.

It's easy to play and I passed several hours losing (and some winning). On the PSP it was just as good as the PC version I have.

i've played 2 poker games so far and this IS the better one. the other is howard lederer's piece of crap of a game. i was expecting much better AI with this game but didn't get it. you still have pros going all in KNOWING they're going to hit the river. you still have all players at your table folding when you get A K (or some other solid starting hand) after a modest raise. almost any raise will cause all to fold. but when the NPCs play, they'll call anything pre-flop.

there almost seems to be no happy medium between game speeds. slow is WAY too slow with WAY too much chatter. medium is still very slow. and fast is ludicrous speed. also, there isn't much character customization available.

as for realism, i'd say no. "jesus" plays a hold'em or fold'em game with you where he gives you thumbs up or down on starting hands. if you follow his advise, you'll probably do well at a real table with pros (i don't know, never played with pros). but on this game, you'd be folding about 39 out of 40 hands dealt. and then, you'll get odd thumbs up for 6 5 off-suite or 7 10 off-suite. i know the amount of the blind has a lot to do with whether a hand is playable or not. that's normal. but i'd kick 6 5 off-suit all day long and not feel bad about it.

another problem is there's very limited play available when you first start. the first game you play is a home game. win or lose, you move on to a real tournament of 4 games to play; limit or no limit @ $500 entrance fee or limit or no limit @ $1,500 entrance fee. all other games available earn you nothing in money or rank as far as i know.

now the game does have a much nicer interface. it's visually appealing. the sound is much better with 1 flaw; there is a looped background chatter that can't be turned off without disabling all sounds you want to hear. gets repetitive.

haven't tried the ad hoc mode but that's probably the best part of this game. then i'll be able to play with real players using a nice interface.

The game play is just much too slow and repetitive, and really there is no inclination to play if it is not for real money. There is not much replay appeal, and the story mode is weak. The AI is alright, but if you like playing poker, don't play this game, since it will only cause you to hate the game.

After playing through the other PSP poker games, I was pretty bored with the lack of imagination and seemingly quickly thrown together software. Games like Stacked had so much potential to really be great, they just didn't go the extra few feet to make it so.

Although this one also could have used some parts already integrated in the game to really make it more fun (the custom poker basement should have been an interactive part of the game, playing poker I mean, not just playing doll house....)

But as for the structure and level of competition, it rocks.