Poker has to be one of the oldest card games in the world, or one of the oldest of any type of game for that matter. Its popularity has meant that there have been many good poker games for PS2 consoles and plenty of choice means good competition and ultimately good game play. The fact that the PS2 has been around for a long time also plays a part in the amount of titles to choose from.
The PS2 was ground breaking when it came out and because of the popularity of the PlayStation Network many people seem to forget that we played online games on the PS2. At the time there were lots of games that were designed for online play and had a great deal of success. The trouble is or was, is that they were run by third party networks and not by Sony like their modern network. That is why many of the games that were intended for online play are no longer playable. Thankfully, poker games for the PS2 are still available for people who want to play online against real people.
World Championship Poker is such one title that was aimed at the online player and has survived today. This had a series of different versions and had mixed reviews. The problem was that when WCP was first released by Crave Entertainment in 2005, not that many people were playing online games from their console. People were suffering a hangover from the dreadful online experiences of the Sega DreamCast and other failed attempts at online gaming. So when a game had a review by someone, they generally talked about the offline game play. Sadly this was slightly lacking and only improved on the highest difficulty levels as the artificial intelligence was poor. Luckily things were good online and eventually as internet connections improved it was WCP’s saving grace.
World Poker Tour is another title that suffers from having poor quality AI that tends to rely heavily on checking apart from when they make terrible calls. It’s no surprise that the offline game is very similar to WCP because it was developed by the Coresoft who worked on WCP for Crave Entertainment. Where this differs is the career mode is better than most poker games for PS2 platforms and it does give the impression that it is going somewhere. The online gaming mode is again very similar but it would be wise to check that it is still being maintained before buying it for that purpose.
A brand that needed no help to gain support was the World Series of Poker with its massively followed real life tournaments. The WsoP brand has a few poker games for PS2 machines on the market and all have had a good degree of success. The three available today are ‘World Series of Poker’, ‘World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions’ and ‘World Series of Poker: Battle for the Bracelets’ and all can be played on or offline.
The Battle for the Bracelets version has an added bonus of allowing players to see their opponents. The Sony EyeToy camera that could be connected to the PS2 can be used to play against up to nine other players online. This is has to be one of the best ways to bring a sense of realism to a console based computer game. People can actually see someone grin when they have a good hand or try to make others believe they have a weak or string hand. Pretend play doesn’t get much better because more of the player’s senses are being brought in to play with the game. All that’s left to do now is actually taste the victory.
Not everyone that looks for poker games for PS2 consoles want to play online so it’s only fair to mention a very decent 1 player offline game. Playwize Poker and Casino has more than enough features to keep someone entertained for a considerable period of time. With multiple casinos and different types of poker games there’s plenty of stimulus for most people. There are even other games that are popular such as blackjack, craps and roulette to have a go at.
Whatever the reason for looking at poker games for PS2 consoles, nothing is going to replace the real life experience. The good about playing with for fun though is that it doesn’t cost the earth and it’s a pleasant way to learn the ropes. Often the players that are seen in the big tournaments are ones that have learned their trade in their homes first. In recent years there has been an upsurge in the popularity of the game and not everyone has a casino nearby. So there’s no guarantee the next poker star isn’t reading this.
