World Poker Tour 2K6 Ships Today for Xbox and PS2

Let the games begin.

Today marks the beginning of the poker video game competition, as the first major player this season, World Poker Tour 2K6 by 2K Games, hits stores. No official reviews have been written yet, but below is a preview of the game from September, courtesy of IGN.com.

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…2K Games' World Poker Tour is one of three blockbuster poker titles coming this year. The other two are Crave's World Championship Poker 2 and Myelin's Stacked. So there's going to be a fight in 2005. Right now we don't yet know what WPT offers over those other two games, since we haven't yet seen nearly complete builds of those ones. We can still tell you what's in this baby, though.

Professional players, of course, will make appearances. WPT's cast of card-made millionaires includes San Francisco's local magician, Antonio Esfandiari, his pal and celebrity poker go-to boy, Phil Laak, Evelyn Ng, WPT founder Lyle Berman, Mike Mizrachi, Erick Lindgren (who will kick your ass in a tournament), Mimi Rogers, Mike Sexton, and Hollywood Vince Van Patten. In addition to vague likenesses, each contributes voice talent to the game. Vince and Mike obviously pitch their own commentary as well.

You won't be encouraged to grab one of these pros and get to it. Players of WPT are instead offered a very robust character creation system similar to World Championship Poker's. This utility allows for slider and part-based character customization. My boy Hot Pie was easy enough to make: Add one part gauntness to jowls, sunken eyes, a frightened stare, crooked teeth, a grey ponytail, excessive chops, a distended gut, and disproportionately skinny arms and legs...Presto! Instant Hot Pie. Only thing is, I had to invest time in WPT to win Hot Pie his trademark trousers, black top and red beret.

I earned the extras by acquiring various chips in-game. Those are broken down into bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond categories. Chips can be used to purchase things like rings and shoes. The glitz is intended to show how skilled a player you are, but some chips are awarded at random (way to hit a royal flush, dude). Chips also aren't arranged into any sort of system. That is, five bronze chips do not equal one silver. Nor then can 20 gold chips be used to purchase anything that costs one bronze. So if you have ten diamonds, but just want those cheap loafers, you're boned unless you have a copper handy.
After creating some kind of Hot Pie, you'll be able to take him into WPT's career mode, regular exhibition play, or online matches. We haven't been able to play online, but WPT promises all the Eye Toy and chat support Crave's World Championship Poker instituted as standards.

In terms of exhibition play, WPT offers 15 base poker variations and a poker editor that allows players to create thousands of insane games based on a few categories. First pick one of the 15 types of poker (Hold 'Em, Crazy Pineapple, 7-card, etcetera), then outfit it with extras. For instance, I created Omaha Follow the Queen Lowball with No Flushes and a Round of Pass the Trash (to the left). I'm hoping 2K builds off this idea by implementing a random game generator for in-house multiplayer -- a sort of dealer's choice.

The career mode is supposed to really be where it's at, though. That's where players get to take their own variations of Hot Pie into the thick. Currently, career play is totally linear. Players are tasked with completing a tournament and/or its associated satellites before moving on to the next round (win or lose). Six real casinos and escalating stakes have been included to make progression interesting. Expect to gamble at Commerce, The Bicycle, Foxwoods, Borgata, Aviation Club de Paris, and Bay 101.

Career gameplay is separated into Amateur and Professional levels. Right now amateur is off. IGN will explain why in its eventual review. Just know that Pro is at least enjoyable, assuming you can reach it. I had a very hard time getting anywhere in the Amateur career level because of some bugs, anyway.

For instance, I played two 100-person tournaments in which each participant began with 1,000 chips. No re-buys. No add-ons. At the end of each tournament there should have been no more than 100,000 chips in play. Yet on the final table, while I was sitting behind a stack of 2,000 and staring at piles of 10 and 20k, one player had 24 million. I kid not. He had 24 million chips. This guy came from another table so the first time I saw him was at the final round. Surprise! You lose!

In the next tournament a fellow called The Admiral had 92 million when there should only have been 100,000 in play. I had 15k going into that final table (right alongside most other players) and this dude walks in with 92 million to stack against my 15k. After I busted out in third (an accomplishment considering how wacky the Amateur AI is and how much money was being thrown at me) I noticed the post-game breakdown page. It said The Admiral finished in 2nd behind another player that had no more than 32k when I departed. So basically some scrub with 32k beat out a guy who had 92 million in heads-up play while the blinds raised every 3rd or 4th hand. Believe that.

So yeah, career needs a fair bit of work. But at least the presentation is looking pretty good. The interface is sleek (WPT's has always been a winner), and there's ample recorded footage of Shana. Many of the television show's Poker Corner's have even been included, as well. Best of all, there's this wild emotion maneuver that lets a player express himself by manipulating an analog stick. Emotions include horror, fear, joy and more. They're even supposed to alter the way the AI behaves, but it's hard to know how without any documentation.

I'm hoping WPT's kinks get ironed out before the final rolls along. I'm also hoping 2K includes 100% more Shana.

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For the complete review at IGN.com, click here.”

Originally published October 18, 2005