In the world of sports practice makes perfect and poker is no different. Anyone who knows the many games of poker knows that the most important aspect of the game is patience. World Championship Poker 2: Featuring Howard Lederer gives anyone the chance to learn how to play the many different games of poker for fun and allows gamers to face the biggest names in the poker world. The fastest growing spectator sport is answering the call to gamers and Sony’s PSP is not safe from the stone cold poker face of developers.

Features:

14 different poker games including Texas Hold ‘em, Omaha, 7-Card Stud, and 5-Card Draw

True to life poker professionals Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Greg Raymer, Amir Vahedi, Paul Darden, Conie Gowen, and Robert Williamson III.

Online multiplayer (infrastructure supported)


Gameplay:

World Championship Poker 2 has a simple premise, play poker and win. Gamers will be given the opportunity to create a player in their own likeness or create a wacky player with a pirate hat. The character you create is fully customizable and you the gamer can choose the clothes, the hair, the body and even the attitude. With this character, games will be able to jump right into a game of poker, called “Quick play”. In this area, the poker can be set up with up to 6 AI players and one of the featured games can be selected. There is a story mode in World Championship Poker 2 where you lead your character to the top of the poker world and face the legends on the way up to the top.

In multiplayer, all of the different variations of poker are available including seven multiplayer exclusive games: Crazy Pineapple Eight, Tahoe, Super Eight, Chicago Low Spade, Chicago High Spade and 5 Card Stud. The character you created can be used for online multiplayer as well as all the winnings you have made.

When playing a poker game, all the goings on will be narrated by Matt Savage, the world’s foremost Poker Tournament Director. Dealing the cards will become repetitive and thank the developers for allocating a button to speed that process up. Your opponents each have a weakness, but it takes time for you to figure out each opponent’s weakness or “tell”. Along with each character’s “tell” they each have a personality, which as in the real game, can play to your advantage or disadvantage.



Graphics/Audio:

The graphics in World Championship Poker 2 are nothing to write home about. The character models aren’t the best seen on the PSP and the card graphics aren’t anything special. The animations that follow a player’s action of calling, raising, or checking a hand quickly become repetitive but depending on your character’s personality, if you win the hand, you will be treated to a catch phrase that reflects their personality. For example, if you have a “college-boy/girl” personality, then you will hear something like “Who’s your daddy, that’s right, it’s me” or some generic phrase. While playing poker there is background music but the tracks are limited soon you will want to put on your stereo or your own music. The narration is spotty and will not cover everyone’s move, but will cover a different move that is played, for example the first player to call, raise or check will always get the narration. Neither the audio nor the visuals will win awards for their performances but get the job done.

Overall:

World Championship Poker 2: Featuring Howard Lederer is a solid poker title for the PSP. Don’t expect this genre to win any awards in the near future but World Championship Poker 2 can be entertaining. This game isn’t going to sell because of mind-blowing graphics or its innovative sound. World Championship Poker 2 is a fun poker game to play and does it’s job, a poker title without a lot of bells and whistles.