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My new favorite for Best No-Limit Texas Hold'Em A.I. in any PS2 game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: January 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

UPDATED as of March 24th, 2007: After playing many more hours, I still love the way the No-Limit Texas Hold'em CPU players vary their play and oftentimes they will even bluff or call with only Ace high or less, on the Turn or River (just like I've seen the real poker pros do on Tv), especially if you're not aggressive enough throughout the hand.

However, I've discovered that just like all the other console poker games, the Cpu players in this game, also tend to over value their suited hole cards pre-flop, and will often call all-ins or go all-in with garbage like 8-2 suited. This is probably the main reason people complain about the garbage hands the Cpu players play and suckout with in all console poker games. A poker players favorite excuse after losing is to say "Yeah, but they were suited.", so it appears to be no different here.

In addition, I have noticed that when you get down to just you and one CPU player left in the Texas Hold'em or Omaha tournaments (heads-up play), the game programmers have incorrectly made the person with the "Big Blind", as the "button". The "Small Blind" is supposed to be on the "button" according to the real rules.

Also, in this PS2 game, the "Small Blind" player incorrectly bets FIRST on every round, instead of just betting first before the flop (as the button), as the real rules require. Although this doesn't ruin or make heads-up play any less challenging, it does however make having the "button", even more of an advantage because you get to act last, both before and after the flop, instead of just after it.

This game also unfortunately doesn't keep any statistics, so you can't see stats like what % of hands you've played in your career, etc.

DEAL ME IN:
I know this hard to believe, but after playing all of the other PS2 poker games, I can safely say that Hard Rock Casino contains the BEST No-Limit Texas Hold'Em CPU A.I. It's 9 handed, and all the 8 CPU players will do so many varied things, like limping in (just calling) or raising different amounts pre-flop. This is something that my previous favorite, World Series of Poker:Tournament of Champions (WSOP:TOC) didn't do properly (see my review, also on this website). The only major problem with Hard Rock Casino is that you CAN'T save in the middle of a poker tournament! This is inexcusable, but at least you can save after the tournaments, and there are usually only a maximum of 218 players in these tournaments anyway.

The cards in Hard Rock are also the easiest to read because they are the largest of all the PS2 poker games.

However, when two or more players go All-in during Texas Hold'em etc., NO win percentages are shown during the hand. Although, if you've played other PS2 poker games or watched enough poker on Tv, you probably know most of the percentages anyway; such as a higher pocket pair is an 80% favorite (or 4 to 1) over a lower pocket pair before the flop, etc.

The rest of the poker games can only be played as LIMIT games, which is disappointing, but those LIMIT games still have good CPU A.I. as well. However, the 5 card draw CPU A.I. checks too much, but this means you can play more garbage hands so it's less boring this way, although unrealistic .

Here are all the various games available to play:

SLOT MACHINES:
-Video Poker
-Video Keno
-More than 8 different but average looking Slot machines (timed Slot tournaments are also available)

TABLE GAMES:
-Blackjack (you can't Surrender in either the regular games, or in the tournaments)
-Casino War
-Let It Ride
-Baccarat (pure luck and boring)
-Craps
-Roulette (ball sometime lands on same number three times in a row, which seems fishy)
-Pai Gow Poker
-Fortune Pai Gow Poker
-Big Raise Hold'Em (Rules: You and 5 other Cpu players play a Texas Hold'Em like game against the dealer, where only a three card flop is used (no Turn or River cards are dealt) and you must either beat or tie his best 5 card hand. If your two hole cards are paired then you can bet up to 4 times the minimum bet allowed (the ante), otherwise you can only choose to bet 2 or 3 times the ante or you can fold and just lose your ante. You get to see one of the dealer's THREE hole cards before you bet, so that's where the slight skill comes into play. However, since ONLY the dealer starts with three hole cards, he gets to discard his lowest unpaired hole card after you bet. So, if for example the dealer had a 5 of spades showing, and then you decide to bet two times the $20 ante, since you have A-9 spades, and you also notice that the other players have only one other 9 showing between them, so you figure your favored. However, when the dealer turns his other two hole cards over, you see he has the King and 10 of diamonds, so he discards the 3 and now it's a closer race. The three card flop is then turned over revealing the Queen of spades, 3 of hearts, and the Jack of hearts. So, you win with your Ace high. There are also ante bonus payouts and 2 card bonus payouts(if you decide to make an extra bonus bet that's made immediately after your ante bet) that depend on how good your hand is.

POKER Games:
-Texas Hold-Em (No-Limit and Limit)
-Omaha (LIMIT only)
-7 Card Stud (LIMIT only)
-5 Card Draw (LIMIT only)

All of the above poker games can be played as standard cash games or as tournaments (You CAN'T save in the middle of a tournament, which is the biggest flaw in this game,but you can save the results when the tournament ends, by going to your room and choosing save). The Texas Hold'Em and Omaha tournaments range from 18-180 players, whereas the 7 Card Stud and 5 Card Draw tournaments have between 16 and 160 people in them.

(Note: Both Pai Gow Poker games and Big Raise Hold'Em are considered table games because they are played against the house only, and there are no tournaments available for them.)

Sports Book Betting:
-Football
-Basketball
-Hockey
-All are pure luck (bet the spread, over and under etc.) and none show you the teams playing, so it's a basically useless thing, especially since it's closed most of the time anyway. The only time I play it is if it's one of the current goals that I must complete in the Adventure mode.

Horse Racing: 8 small horses run a short okay looking race in a small square box, as if you're watching on a Tv monitor (that you can skip if want to), where you pick one horse to win, place or show, or you can also bet on Quinella's, Exacta's and Trifecta's. It's fun at first, but because the animation is basic like the PS1, it's only slightly exciting at times. Not a total waste of time because you get to see the various odds and then can see how close your longshot was to winning, but it's something you'll only play maybe once a month, or as part of an Adventure mode goal you need to finish.

GRAPHICS GRADE: B Minus (because of the large,easy to read cards, otherwise it would get a C )
Other than the large easy to read cards, the graphics are colorful but very basic. The cartoony looking characters resemble the Karaoke Revolution ones but the gameplay is more important anyway.

AUDIO GRADE: D
Yes, the CPU table talk is pretty basic,senseless and mostly very annoying and repetitive. The good news is that you can turn it off.

GAMEPLAY: B+ (But without the No-Limit Texas Hold'Em great A.I., it would get a C+)
There's a Quickplay mode, a Tutorial mode to teach you how to play all the games, a separate Poker Tournament mode with 4 levels for each game type(you must win each level to advance to the next one and more players are added to each level), and the Adventure mode, which is the the best mode because it offers many different goals to accomplish before you can advance to the next group of goals.

All of the goals are very similar but different enough to keep it interesting, such as doubling your money in Baccarat (easy to do, as long as you keep quitting as soon as you lose too much, and then trying again), or winning a certain amount of money from a specific slot machine within a specific time limit, like 5 minutes or so. Once you finish a group of goals you're rewarded with money and or clothing etc. They're pretty basic things, like sunglasses or a hat, so I'm just playing to finish each goal and advance to the next group of goals, rather than to trying to win a pair of fancy shoes.

However, because most of the games often involve just pure luck, it can get monotonous if you play for too long. Luckily, you can save your progress AFTER each game or after each single goal is completed, but not during a game (but you can always quit and exit out of the game you're playing and only lose progress of that specific game).

It's a good idea to save your game (go to your room to save stuff) after every goal you complete in Adventure mode, in case you have a power failure or turn off your PS2 before saving. You don't have to finish all the four or more goals at once, so if you get bored or tired you can just save your progress and then continue Adventure mode later on with all the previous completed goals saved.

There are 4 different casinos (only the Hard Rock is unlocked initially), but the only real difference is that each one has a few different slot machines in them and of course different goals to accomplish in the Adventure mode.

Hard Rock Casino has two difficulty levels, but I only play on the hardest level which provides excellent CPU A.I. ,especially for No-Limit Texas Hold'Em, which I believe has the best A.I. of all the other PS2 poker games released so far (as of Jan.18,2007) so I don't know or even care, how the easiest level plays.

Thankfully, in ALL of the games, you CAN speed up the Cpu player betting, just by pressing the X button. Although, they bet pretty fast on their own anyway.

Unfortunately,when you play in any of the tournaments, you'll find that you CAN'T save in the middle, which is especially very annoying for any LIMIT tournament since they take longer.

As well, when you play Texas Hold'Em or Omaha, you'll notice that after the flop is dealt, both the turn and river cards are dealt face up to the left of the flop, instead of to the right of it like in all the other PS2 games, unless you're sitting directly across from and facing the dealer. This can be quite disorienting at first and makes the programmers look rather silly, but now that I'm used to it, I just pretend that I'm sitting directly across from and facing the dealer, and that way it's easier for me not to get confused.

The No-Limit Texas Hold'Em CPU player A.I., is better than any other previously released PS2 poker game because the CPU players will bet so many different amounts pre-flop, like 4.5 times the Big Blind (BB), or 5.3 times the BB etc., and the CPU players will also sometimes just limp in (just call), even when they're the first one to bet into a pot. These are things that my previous favorite PS2 poker game, WSOP:TOC didn't do,so it felt less realistic. However, WSOP:TOC has the best No-Limit Omaha CPU A.I., and good enough LIMIT poker A.I. for it's other poker games, so it's still worth getting both games if you're a really big poker fan.

The Blackjack tournaments are both tough and fun. They are very similar to the Hoyle computer game tournaments,where there are 30 hands per round and you might have to finish in the top three of six players to advance to the next round,etc. Sometimes however, just like in the Hoyle Blackjack tournaments, the CPU players don't bet enough to give them a chance to advance. As well, in Hard Rock Casino, you ALWAYS get to bet LAST, so you can always see what the other CPU players have bet so that you have the advantage to make just the right bet, especially on the last few hands of the round so that it's easier for you to advance. This is not how the real life tournaments are played! However,even with this betting advantage, I still haven't won a tournament yet, so I need all the help I can get and enjoy the challenge!


OVERALL GRADE: B
Alhough this game doesn't offer as much variety or depth (unlockables etc.) in it's POKER games as many of the other previous PS2 poker games, it still has good to great A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) which keeps me interested and challenged. If your looking for a game of nine handed No-Limit Texas Hold-Em where the eight CPU players offer enough smart and varied play, but with only basic but colorful graphics and big easy to read cards, then you definitely should try this out. I'm very picky with poker A.I. and so far, the A.I. here, is my favorite! I'm not saying it's perfect, but other than NOT being able to SAVE in the middle of a tournament, NOT having win percentages shown during all-ins, the backwards way the Turn and River cards are dealt, and incorrectly making the "Big Blind" as the "button", during heads-up play, I'm still very satisfied with how the poker was programmed. Especially the wonderful No-Limit Texas Hold'Em, which has realistic enough all-in calls or bets and very good betting variations and playing styles to keep the game interesting.

As well, the Adventure mode goals kept me interested in some of the other games (like the slot machine tournaments or Pai Gow poker etc.), that I normally wouldn't play for more than ten minutes otherwise. I still have two casinos left to unlock so I've got many more hours ahead till I get to solely focus on the great No-Limit Texas Hold'Em gameplay.

I also enjoy trying to win the tough Blackjack and slot machine tournaments, although once I win them, and also finish the Adventure mode, I'll probably just stick to playing the No-Limit Texas Hold'Em tournaments with the occasional game of LIMIT 5 Card Draw, Big Raise Hold'Em or Blackjack thrown in for some added variety. Still, if you haven't played many other poker or gambling games, the other games included here should still entertain you when you're in the mood to gamble with no real money at stake.

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