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The Cpu betting's improved, but a lousy layout and tiny hard to read lettering means you need a bigger tv to avoid squinting.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

UPDATED: Oct. 8, 2007

I'm giving this game 3.5 stars overall and increasing my FUN rating to 3 stars, because I've just noticed that the Cpu players will now occasionally LIMP in when first into the pot (thus betting is a bit more realistic than last year's game). Otherwise, it would get just 3 stars overall.

Important Note: The PS2 game case is not accurate. On the front cover my case incorrectly lists that Seidel, Lieu, and Arieh are in the game. As well, the Amazon product description mentions that Shannon Elizabeth is in the game. She's not here either (there are NO player chips for them). However, I believe they are only in the XBox 360 version. Also, on the back of my PS2 case it shows a Heads-Up Ladder Tournament with 12 large player pictures. The actual PS2 Heads-Up Ladder Tournament has only 8 small player pictures arranged in a different configuration. So most likely that picture on the PS2 box is from the XBox 360 version. However, it's also possible that after the boxes were made, they changed the way the game looked, even for the XBox 360 version.

Here's The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good: Some cooler statistics, bit more suspenseful 2 player All-in showdowns (they are a bit slower--thus easier to follow, with some commentary between card flips, and the all-in players are shown in side-by-side, split-screen windows), and although it's a fairly RARE occurrence, the Cpu players will now sometimes just LIMP (Call the BB) into a pot, when they're first to bet in an unopened pot, rather than always RAISE, like they did in last year's game (for No-Limit Texas Hold'em only).

The Bad: If you don't use the fastest Cpu betting speed, the game will sometimes make you wait for about 4 to 7 seconds after you press the X button before your player touches his cards or chips. It happens enough times to be annoying. Much worse than last year's minor wait time. Plus, the Cpu players still only raise 2 or 3 times the Big Blind amount (only more, if antes are involved, I assume) or all-in. Real poker players will bet 2.5, 3.5, 4, etc., times the BB, very often, so it's a rather unrealistic betting pattern they use in this video game.

The Ugly: Has one of the most cluttered and hard to read layouts of any poker game! Only lets you have the one camera view (split screen, side-by-side view). Time to buy a bigger tv set.

SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL:
I've played the game for about 18 hours (NOT online) but much prefer the look of last year's 2007 version. "WSOP 2008: Battle for the Bracelets" should come with a warning, "May cause eye strain if played for more than 30 minutes at a time." However, even though I moved within 5 feet of my 32 inch tube tv, and didn't really get any eye strain, I still hate the way it looks. It just looks so ugly!! It looks like a PC game ported to the PS2. I thought the "Stacked" PS2 game had presentation problems, but wait till you see this mess. What an eyesore--even the hole cards are a bit smaller than last year's game!!!

WSOP 2008 has more variety than last year's game because you now have 43 WSOP events (similar to the very first WSOP game). You play to win cash and "Player of the Year" points in these events: Razz; HORSE; SHOE; Pot limit and Hi-Low Omaha; 7 card stud Reg. and Hi-Low; Texas Hold'em: Limit, Pot limit, No-limit; Mixed Hold'em, and Shorthanded (6 players per table). The Main event (career mode) has 9720 players. Wow! Next highest is 3456 players. In quickplay mode you can only have a maximum of 4608 players in a tournament.

So far, I haven't seen the major betting flaw of the Cpu checking the best hand on the river, when it's last to act (like it unfortunately did in last year's game), but if I ever do, I'll drop my rating to 2 stars overall. When I go all-in, the Cpu players usually just fold or call with Ace-10 or better. I'm assuming that they'll still call all-ins with any two suited cards as well, like all poker video games do.

I've only seen the No-Limit Texas Hold'em Cpu players LIMP in (just call the BB amount), when they're the first ones to bet into an unopened pot, a few times (in both the WSOP events and the Invitionals, etc.). Although it should happen more often, like in real poker games, at least it does occur on occasion. I'm grateful that they fixed this major bug (at least slightly) from last year's game. As far as I can tell, this is the only Cpu betting improvement that they've made in this year's 2008 version, but at least it's better than nothing.

The 29 pros in the game (Note:I don't see Shannon Elizabeth listed anywhere!) are as follows: P.Hellmuth, J.Chan, M.Matusow, S. Nguyen, Men Nguyen, Annie Duke, C.Gowen, C.Violette, D.Ulliot(Devilfish), S.Fischman, M.Luske, M. Pescatori, G.Raymer, J.Hachem, K.Gazes, A.Cunningham, E.Lindgren, J.Harman, Chris Jesus Ferguson, J.Tilly, D.Williams, H.Brenes, T.J.Cloutuier, R.De Wolfe, A.Esfandiari, P.Gordon, P.Laak, M.Mizrachi and Gavin Smith.

Once again, it's great that the Cpu players will still sometimes show you their hole cards after everyone has folded, just to taunt or impress you.

As well, the Next card cam, which shows you what the river card would be, even if everyone folded, is still included in this game as well.

Unfortunately, quite often (but never on the fastest speed), after I press the X button to complete my action, there's about a 4 to 7 second delay (at least there's no more standing up for all-ins) before your player will do anything. It's annoying because it does slow down the game somewhat. Sometimes, it's because you can hear the PS2 drive working just before Lon or Norm are about to say something, but other times there are no comments; just your guy turning his head and contemplating the meaning of life, I suppose. However, if you use the fastest Cpu betting speed, you won't get to experience the slower and more suspenseful all-in showdowns, which last year's game desperately needed. That's why I use the Normal speed. Plus, I can still speed up the Cpu player betting by just pressing the X button anyway, so I guess it could have been worse.

It's hard to believe, but WSOP 2008's loading screens seem to take an eternity to end (probably just 30 seconds-like last year's, but it seems longer). Uggh!

GRAPHICS AND AUDIO:
Because you are forced to play this game with only the ONE lousy camera view (with NO possible way to change it--NOT even with the L3 or R3 buttons, or by changing the speed of the Cpu betting), and the tiny lettering, I can only tolerate playing this game for about 30 minutes at a time. The bet amounts etc., are way too tiny to see without squinting (slight exaggeration on my part), even for my 32 inch tv. Because last year's layout looked so much better (in the 'Normal' Cpu betting speed setting), I usually played it for 1 to 3 consecutive hours at a time-often even longer. If you enjoyed last year's game as much as I did (even with the numerous betting flaws), than you're probably going to buy this game (like I did) and try to concentrate on enjoying all the good stuff that they have included. I would say that's probably a good idea, although make sure you brace yourself before you first start playing--you will immediately long for last year's far superior layout and easier to read lettering and numbering. The popular saying, "Just grin and bear it" comes to mind.

Clearly, this is at least 10 steps backwards in the graphics department. I'm going to have to sit right in front of my tv and stare at the screen until I can figure out what's going on--that's how bad it looks. You'll want to play this on a 50 inch LCD screen at least (even if you have the XBox 360 or PS3 version). What a shame! If I keep playing, by next week I'll probably have to get stronger glasses, or perhaps binoculars. I don't see why they have to show a birds-eye view of the table at all times (even on normal betting speed) and a split screen view of the player who is betting. That's perhaps why they made the letters and numbers too small to read easily. Again, it's one of the worst poker layouts ever!! I despise it!

Clonie Gowen (now a brunette), Annie Duke, C.Violette and most of the other pros look uglier than Kathy Liebert without makeup--yes that UGLY!!! Marcel Luske looks realistic enough (upside down sunglasses), as does Alen Cunningham, Johnny Chan, T.J.Cloutier, S.Fischman and several others. Lon McEachern and Norman Chad are back to announce, and Norman looks a little better (thinner) than 2007's version perhaps. They've even added many more audio phrases for Lon and Norman to say, as well as keeping most of the old phrases from last year, so it takes a bit longer to tire of the less frequent repetition. To hear Mike Matusow make some funny comments, don't bet for a long time and then listen to him whine, "why are we waiting..ohhh...". Or even, "I've been waiting so long I'm going to act out of turn."

It's silly that they still don't have sound effects for the chips. They just use the sound effect of a card being dealt instead. However, at least they removed the annoying coughing and sneezing from the game.

So far, like in last year's game, I've seen the Cpu players unrealistically toss just one chip into the pot when it was for a large amount, but at least in this year's game, I have yet to see them put all their chips into the pot unless they are actually all-in (unless the player with more chips, pushed all-in BEFORE the shorter stacked players also pushed all-in).

Okay, I'm now sitting 5 feet from the tv, still squinting trying to read Hellmuth's tips (same as Ferguson's from last year's game) and chip leaders on the ticker (you CAN'T change the size of the lettering, like last year's game let you do), and slowly getting used to the washed out white chip totals under each players name, though I still think I will go blind if I keep playing.

NEW AND IMPROVED:
An excellent improvement in this new game is that when 2 players go All-in, they've slowed it down more, so that you have a bit more time to digest who's ahead. Lon mentions what you have and they usually talk in between each card flip--again, it's so you can more easily figure out what you need to win, like on Tv; although there's still room for improvement. The game switches to a player vs. player split screen, and Lon will even say stuff like, "if he doesn't get another 9 he's going home." (you can press X to skip his comments if you want). Win %'s (for Texas Hold'em only) are also still shown. Unfortunately, when there are 3 or more players still involved in an All-in hand, you don't get a split-screen. Instead, you briefly see your own hole cards and the cards of the Cpu All-in players, just before it switches to a shot of the flop being dealt on the table. No hole cards or win %'s are shown at all. You can only tell who's leading if you remember everyone's hole cards or the announcers give you a hint. This 3 player All-in problem didn't happen in last year's game.

Thankfully, this year, the stats are much improved. They even list your results for all the 169 specific hole card combinations (suited or unsuited) that you were dealt. Pretty amazing. Unfortunately, it combines the results of all the different game types (Texas Hold'em, Stud, Razz, Omaha) together, rather than keeping them separate, like they should have. This confuses things and cheapens the value of it all. It also only counts a hand as being 'Played', if you get to see a flop with it (just like last year's game stats). So, any money you won or lost without seeing a flop, won't be counted. Although, seeing how many times you've been dealt pocket Aces over your career, or that you've made (or lost) the most money when you played A-6 offsuit, is only a novelty that isn't that helpful. Any two cards can win you the most money if you keep getting them in late positions and your opponents are dealt weaker hands, or perhaps you keep getting lucky on the Turn with 7-2 suited, etc. Also, since the stats don't list from what position you were dealt these hands it's not really that helpful. Still, it's a nice thing to have for curiousity sake. Extra note: For Omaha, the career stats only count your TWO best cards of the four dealt (regardless of which ones you used to make your final hand), as the two hole cards dealt to you for that hand.

In addition, if from the 'Training' mode, you play 'Same Hand Jam' (see how much money you can make playing the same pocket cards-that you select, from all 9 positions), or try the 'Hand Picker' (choose your pocket cards and play one hand from a random position), both the hands you select, and dollar amounts you win, will be counted in your stats. It will also happen if you play 'Phil's Poker School', but in that mode only the very first hand of each section is always the same (pocket Jacks twice, and then pocket 6's).

Wow! One of the nice things is that it keeps complete hand histories-for last 5 hands (not partial lame ones that the WPT video game kept-but full unbelievably complete ones), showing flops etc. However, they are ONLY kept properly for Texas Hold'em and Omaha, and if you play HORSE or SHOE, oftentimes only the bet amounts will be correct. Still, I would say that this is something I never thought would be included in any poker console game; especially not for the PS2.

In Quickplay mode, if you desire, you can even play Speed Bet-No Limit Texas Hold'em (with a 10-20 second time limit to bet), but the regular games still give you unlimited time to bet.

The blackjack and video poker are boring (Quickplay mode), although I did get a royal flush with the video poker and won 8000 credits--does nothing for you though (can only get unlockable poker chips if play in career mode), so who cares. Although, because you can play them (press L1) at anytime during an actual poker game, it could be handy if they let you play them when you're Online, waiting for some other human player to bet, or because you've folded your hand and are just bored.

They still have a No-Limit Texas Hold'em Heads-up Tournament, but this time it also saves your position in the Tournament even if you lose-so you don't have to start over from the beginning. Instead, you try to see how fast it takes you to beat 8 Cpu players, one at a time (Hellmuth or Chan will always be the last player you face).

The game also still has auto-save, but now it only activates if you press the start button (or automatically, if your tournament ends and you end up at the main menu). So, every once-in-a-while you should press the start button to save, in case you get hit by a power failure or the game freezes like last year. So far, there have been NO freezes. Last year's auto-save was better (not counting the freezing of course) because during the career mode it would activate by itself after every hand. Only in the Quick Play mode would you have to press the start button to save, like you now must do in this year's game after every few hands, to be safe.

Now, when you fold your hole cards, you can still see what they were for the rest of the hand, just like in the very first WSOP video game. Maybe they hired some of those old programmers back (or just used some of the old code), because they certainly screwed up the look of the game. Yes, that's my guess, because the first game even had a similar table view all the time...except for close-ups, and you can now use either the left or right joystick for betting as well.

Also, by selecting the NEW 'Playing Style' poker tool, the game will tell you if you're playing tight, loose, or average (it updates after every hand). If it shows you're playing tight, you might want to try to loosen up a bit and do some more reraising to win some easy pots, especially since the Cpu players often like to reraise preflop, from the blind positions. When they do, especially if no one else is in the pot, reraise them and they will often fold, giving you the pot.

CONCLUSION:
So, after a night's sleep I can safely say that if I could only keep one of the three WSOP games I have, it would be last year's 2007 version (although I'm assuming that the 2008 game also has the 2007 Cpu betting flaw of checking with the best straight, on the river, when it's last to act-I'll let you know if I ever see it here). Even though you get to play Omaha, etc, in the career mode in both WSOP #1 and WSOP 2008, the graphical layouts of both are eyesores, and I can still play Omaha etc., tournaments in 2007's 'Quick play' mode anyway. Also, I don't enjoy squinting to see how much money the other players have during the WSOP 2008 games. In addition, even though the Cpu players now sometimes Limp into a pot (still too rarely to take notice of), instead of always raising, it still plays pretty much the same as 2007's game anyway (albeit with better presentation of all-ins, and cooler stats).

Yes, they've made some progress, however, I believe the ugly layout and very small lettering has actually killed this game. Too bad. If they would have just kept the same layout from 2007, it would have been much more addictive and enjoyable.

Still, if you love playing poker video games like I do, there's still enough fun to be had here. Don't let my first day, low, 2 star FUN rating, deter you from buying this. I've decided to increase it to 3 stars because the Cpu players will now at least occasionally Limp into an unopened pot. Mostly, I'm just upset that they made the game look so cluttered! Hopefully, I will eventually be able to accept the visual changes (or just buy a bigger tv) and focus more on the gameplay. I'm still going to keep playing this to see if they fixed some of the other bugs from last year's game and to see what else they've added. Pass me the binoculars please, I'm not finished playing yet.

Better than last years!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The new features in wsop 2008 version are nice. There are times you go into heads up and it does a split screen with the %. That is pretty cool. The online multiplayer is funny. But it doesn't lock up like other poker games on the ps2. This one has a pretty good connection. There should be more lively AI's. In this version you can tell they are working little by little to improve this area. Yeah I don't like the animation in the background. Actually not animation but rather a still shot of people that dont move and it doesn't look real. There should be an option just to have an empty background. I don't know why that bugs me. Anyways... The added mini games is another nice touch. While waiting for other players, you can play black jack. I sometimes find myself lost into black Jack. The fact that you can now set it to fold ahead of time and not wait, THUMBS UP! Just like in pokerstars. It isnt much of a feature but little things like that make it worth while. There are some flaws in the game. Like in the other review it's true. The lettering is horrible. You really do have to strange your eyes just to make out the letters and chip count. It should of been blown up when it is on the player. The betting is funny too. You would raise $100 and your character would grab a stack. Than if someone raises you $500 your character grabs 1 chip of the same color and throw it in...lol. Another flaw I would see is I would have the best hand. Pocket ACES, Push all in with 3k. Only to be called by an AI pro with a 10,7 suited, sometimes unsuited. That doesn't make sense??????

The fact that they put many poker pros into 2008 is great. Almost all of the models look like them on the ps2 version, except for men the master and annie duke.

Some improvements that can be added maybe on the next one should be the conversional part of the game. It's annoying to hear the same jokes over and over.

I was worried about the graphics on the ps2 version. Since the xbox360 looks alot better and the lettering maybe clear. But it's actually alright. The gameplay is pretty fun. I actually play this one. Unlike the earlier version. It was barely touched... The headsup action really is a nice touch and draws you into the game. I can only hope for more additions to next years version. For $50.00 bucks It's not worth it. For $29.00. Okay, maybe a try. But still thought it should of been $19.00 bargin bin title.

Unplayable due to tiny "Heads Up Display" - 2007 version is better

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As a player of almost every console based poker game, I of course felt the need to pick up the latest wsop title to see the improvements over the previous version.

I found that It was almost impossible to follow the action due to the tiny print on the "Heads up Display" which tells you what the bet amounts and the player's current stacks are. It was made worse by a split screen which could not be turned off.

It's really unfortunate when a game developer takes the trouble to make an otherwise decent game and then makes it unplayable throught some completely avoidable error like making the controls counter-intuitive or the text impossible to read in a game where it is crucial.

Within a few minutes of trying to deal with this game, I put it away and took out my version of wsop 2007 which is very similar except for the more readable text and cards.

Also almost all of the dialog and commentary is the same for 2008 as it was for 2007.

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