"That's what life could be like, that's what life could be like..." We uttered over and over again as the cards got laid. 3 of spades, 5 of hearts, 6 of clubs, 2 of hearts, 10 of hearts. "That's crap isn't it?" Yes. "You lose." Again, again and again. That was the fist important lesson learned form WCP. No matter how much you want to win, and no matter how hard you try, the final outcome of each hand is very much in the lap of the gods. And for a regular gamer that's quite a disarming sensation. In fact, it seems like the antithesis of gaming as we know it. All interaction is reduced to what is, in the absence of any real money, a series of slightly random decisions based on no particular motivation. But the monotonous and entirely meaningless gameplay does quickly take on a cathartic rhythm and it turned out the first 'go' on WCP had lasted for well over an hour. It may be a pointless and banal game, but there's something down there, lurking in the very shallow bowels of this budget title, that does make this frighteningly compelling and surprisingly difficult to put down.
As an introduction to poker, WCP does a decent job. There’s a separate tutorial section which runs you through the basics, and although the first time you watch that it seems even more confusing, after a couple of test rounds and another tour of the tutorial, you’ll have a solid understanding of what’s what. Indeed, within 24 hours of popping the disc from the box, we’d gone from poker virgins to out-and-out experts. So when the dealer calls, “There’s the flop… the turn… the river”, you know just what he means and can nod sagely in agreement as the commentator declares “Now that’s what poker’s all about.”
Although there are several poker variants available for play, ‘Texas hold ‘em’ is often considered to be the ’vanilla’ rule-set, and it does allow for a certain amount of skill - so for most, that will be WCP‘s most played section. Each player is dealt two cards, and then 5 communal cards are gradually laid out in the centre of the table. Each player has to build the strongest 5 card hand they can from their own 2 cards and the 5 communal ones. With no-one able to see each other’s hand, play goes round the table, with players upping the stakes, calling (i.e. meeting the stakes) or folding (giving up before the stakes increase). To be a good poker player, you need to be able to guess if your opponents are bluffing or not so that you can respond to the betting accordingly.
As an introduction to poker, WCP does a decent job. There’s a separate tutorial section which runs you through the basics, and although the first time you watch that it seems even more confusing, after a couple of test rounds and another tour of the tutorial, you’ll have a solid understanding of what’s what. Indeed, within 24 hours of popping the disc from the box, we’d gone from poker virgins to out-and-out experts. So when the dealer calls, “There’s the flop… the turn… the river”, you know just what he means and can nod sagely in agreement as the commentator declares “Now that’s what poker’s all about.”
Although there are several poker variants available for play, ‘Texas hold ‘em’ is often considered to be the ’vanilla’ rule-set, and it does allow for a certain amount of skill - so for most, that will be WCP‘s most played section. Each player is dealt two cards, and then 5 communal cards are gradually laid out in the centre of the table. Each player has to build the strongest 5 card hand they can from their own 2 cards and the 5 communal ones. With no-one able to see each other’s hand, play goes round the table, with players upping the stakes, calling (i.e. meeting the stakes) or folding (giving up before the stakes increase). To be a good poker player, you need to be able to guess if your opponents are bluffing or not so that you can respond to the betting accordingly.