World Championship Poker: All In

Like the other poster here, I too like to play live poker in the casino or with a group of friends. That isn't always feasible however and I agree that "virtual poker" can be a nice alternative. Unfortunately, this game doesn't deliver. The only reason the game received 2 stars from me is for the online play, which is almost impossible to come by. Typically on a weeknight, you might see somewhere between 4-10 players online. That's it. The career mode is a joke. There are various tourneys to enter each week as you simulate the life of a poker pro. That alone isn't bad, but the play is horrendous. The first major problem is the strength of hands (as mentioned before). After a couple of hours of frustrating play (getting busted out by an endless run of quads, boats, and trips), I decided to enter a tourney and fold the majority of the time to get a feel for what it takes to win in this game. Only 14 of the 102 hands I saw were laid down before the river. Here's the crazy part though (again, I only saw 102 hands)...22 trips, 18 boats, 14 straights, 11 flushes, 10 two pair, 7 quads, 4 pairs, and 2 high card. Almost 25% of the time (only the hands I saw...there may have been a few in the aforementioned 14 laydowns) a quad or boat comes up...insane. 72 of the 102 hands are considered premium...there's no way that it should take a straight or better to win 70% of the time. The second major flaw is the amount of time one of the computer players goes "all in." For as much as poker pros complain about amateurs going all in, you'd think that they'd make it a rare occurance in this game. The luck on the computer's side is ridiculous as well. I can't tell you how many times I've called an all in bet holding AK or a pair of 10's or better and ended up against something like Q5 off suit. Almost every time I've been all in pre-flop and have been close to a 2-1 favorite, I lose. The computer will end up catching 4 on the board for a flush or a straight, trip up, quad up, or somehow make a boat. The frustrating thing is that they have no business being in the hand in the first place! So, in the end, it's virtually impossible to win a tourney (or even place in the money) as they typically begin with somewhere between 150-200 players.

To sum it up...don't even think about wasting your money buying this game. You shouldn't even waste $4/$5 renting it.

Some very good players have lent their names to this game, and I am disappointed they did, because I might not have bought it otherwise.

The 2D graphics between games are rather ugly, and the 3D graphics move very stiffly, and seeing we are only playing poker, its not like a superhuman range of movement needs be programed into the game.

But my biggest disappointment was with the play, and thats the heart of any game no? In a 90 minute 5 card draw session, I lost at least 4 times, and observed two other computer players loosing too "Aces Full" Perhaps the program was simulating someone cheating. Certainly by the 3rd Appearance I would have walked away from any real table. Statistically the odds of Aces Full comig up legitimately 3 times in a 90 minute session have to be in the Millions to one. So I cant help but wonder if the program is not tweaked to up the number of premium hands, and that is a huge turn off for me as a player. I enjoy playing in a Casino (small stakes.) and when I cant play there, cyber poker is a nice alternative, but not if the game is not absolutely straight up, and I cant help but wonder if this program is absolutely straight up after a few sessions with it. Im not saying its cheating, but I am saying, I cant say for sure that its not.