One thing that’s always been an issue with poker games is that they tend to focus on only one style of poker. It’s rare that you’re able to recreate the experience of sitting around with a bunch of your buddies, playing a new rule set with each new hand. World Championship Poker featuring Howard Lederer: All In (or WCPFHL: AI for…erm…short) sort of does that, by offering no less than 19 different types of poker to choose from. It’s too bad that’s literally all it has going for it.

Ante Up

The first – and probably biggest – issue you’ll notice in World Championship Poker is the downright abysmal graphics. It’s so painfully obvious that next to no time was spent on polishing up the visuals in this game. It would silly to say they’re PlayStation 1 level graphics, but they’re darn close.

The sound is even sloppier. Not only do you have to deal with the standard, poorly-acted, repetitive phrases in most poker games, but they’re generally completely wrong. You’ll hear one of your opponents talk about what a great hand they have or that they’re “All In” only to see them fold at that exact moment. Fantastic stuff.

Know When to Hold Em

And fold they will. A lot. One of the most annoying bits about WCP is that, in the single-player mode, most of your opponents seem to have checked their cajones with their coats. At a full table it was rare to see more than two players go past the opening round. It’s frustrating to see a player sit on a decent stack of cash round after round because he won’t even call on the opening hand, while those who do bother to play are forced to deal with relatively tiny pots, dragging each game on for what seems like forever.

Of course, you could play online instead. But again, the presentation and interface are so off-putting; it’s unlikely you’ll find very many folks out there to get a game going with.

The Flop

There’s not much more to say about World Championship Poker because, quite frankly, there’s not much to the game. The great selection of poker styles is ruined by limited play options, a horrible presentation and crappy player A.I. Save yourself some cash and just buy a deck of cards instead.

Article by: Greg Sewart
Video produced by: Sean Jennings