Thanks to poker, if you’ve got the skills to pay the bills it’s possible to make an entire career out of playing a game.
But even poker players sometimes need some downtime — a few hours away from the grind with a little escapist fun. And videogames are a great way to scratch that itch, no matter what you do for a living.
But then you load up a game and, wouldn’t you know it, it’s as if you’re right back in the poker room! Only this time you’re not trying to make your rent money; instead you’re working through a mission, playing a mini-game or on a side-quest.
Here are a bunch of videogames for poker players who, just when they thought they were out, got pulled back in again.
Ask the Org: What are the best and worst poker video games?
Red Dead Redemption
Any Western worth its salt features a saloon with a badly tuned piano, gutrot whisky free-poured by a barman wearing an apron, and a poker game in the corner being played by six heavily armed cowboys.
Many would consider Red Dead Redemption and its sequel among the finest Westerns ever to not star Clint Eastwood, so you can bet your wool serape it’s got all the rootin', tootin' poker games you can shake a six-shooter at.
Texas hold’em is the name of the game, and there are various establishments where you can partake for various stakes. There are some games which will require you to be properly attired before you can sit in, particularly where higher stakes are being played. The poker plays relatively straightforward — usual hold’em rules apply — and if the fancy takes you there’s multiplayer options where you can take on other players in the game world.
And of course, just like in the movies there’s always the possibility that someone’s cheating — and that someone is you.
Wearing a particular set of clothes affords you the chance to hold out cards from the deck and reintroduce them into your hand at an advantageous time. You’ll need to complete a brief mini-game to ensure your opponents don’t spot the maneuver, otherwise you’re likely to find yourself in a duel.
And we don’t mean playing heads-up.
Play it if: You always wanted to cheat and/or shoot an opponent (please do neither of these in real life).
Poker Night at the Inventory
What would happen if fictional characters from cartoons and videogames sat down to play poker?
That’s the concept behind Poker Night at the Inventory and its sequel, Poker Night 2, which features the likes of Max from Sam & Max, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 as your opponents in a five-handed hold’em sit & go.
Usual rules apply, with rising blinds forcing the action, though you may encounter players going broke and re-buying using their possessions (which can be unlocked and used in the shooter Team Fortress 2 if you win them).
The poker action may be fairly standard, but just as in the best real-life poker games it’s often the conversation that provides the biggest laughs — especially if you’re familiar with each character’s origins.
The writing is funny and the voice acting is great. It’s just a shame the dialogue repeats itself a little too frequently.
Play it if: Your home game falls apart at the last minute and you’re left on your own at home, craving some social poker.
Watch Dogs
In Watch Dogs you play a tech-savvy whizz kid with a flair for poker, running around Chicago in a baseball cap (no, not Joey Ingram).
Gameplay focuses on exploring the city, using advanced technology to uncover people’s personal details to use against them in a bid to take down the mob, rival hackers and an overpowered, city-wide surveillance system.
But among the open world, off the game’s critical path, lies a wide range of mini games and distractions. And guess what? That includes poker.
Once again, hold’em is the game but this time you’ve got some handy gadgetry on your side to give yourself an edge. Whether it’s hacking into nearby security cameras to sneak a peek at your opponents’ hole cards, or remotely monitoring their stress levels for a ‘live read’ like no other, the advantages you gain through technology can make all the difference.
It’s no wonder the issue of banning phones at the table has been so heavily discussed in recent years.
Play it if: You couldn’t even win with actual real-time assistance (RTA).
Yakuza 0
This game puts you in the shoes of the fairy Tinkerbell as you navigate the fantasy world of Peter Pan.
Just kidding; as the title suggests, this is a story of Japanese gangsters fighting for power, money and with deadly weapons.
As you explore a recreation of late 1980s Tokyo you’ll be pulled into numerous mini-games and side-missions, including arcades where you can play authentic Sega games such as Outrun and Space Harrier, but let’s be honest — you’re here for the poker.
No shady saloon games this time; to play poker in Yakuza 0 you’ll need to head to the glitz and glamor of the casino. Alongside casino classics such as baccarat, blackjack and roulette you’ll find a number of poker games waiting for you, and there’s good and bad news.
The good news is that this game offers more than just the standard fare of hold’em, with both Pineapple and Omaha variants waiting for you at a range of stakes.
The bad news? It’s strictly limit. What is this, 1989? Actually, yes — that's kinda the point.
Play it if: You’re a fan of limit poker (and graphic violence).
World Series of Poker / World Poker Tour games
The most visible effects of the poker boom of the 2000s were a rapid rise in the world’s poker playing population and an explosion in televised poker tournaments, but the impact was also felt elsewhere. This includes a slew of branded poker videogames.
That’s why we’ve grouped these WSOP and WPT games into one entry: there were simply too many of them to count and, ultimately, more than the market could handle. It didn't help that were pretty much universally terrible.
The first branded WSOP game on consoles released in 2005, aiming to replicate the thrills of competing in poker’s biggest showcase complete with 3D models of some of poker’s biggest stars of the era.
The big problem, though, was the AI. Poker is tough to enjoy when your opponents’ moves make zero to no sense, and back then it seems the ability to program decent opposition was deemed less important than being able to represent Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson in a handful of polygons. For the record, the game was awful at both.
At least five further WSOP console games followed in the ensuing years, featuring the likeness of Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth and Michael Mizrachi (what ever happened to that guy, anyway?).
AI was a similar issue in the WPT games, which debuted around the same time with the same underpowered tech problems. The WPT’s real-life commentary duo of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten lent their voices to the game for an element of authenticity, but while the AI was arguably better than the WSOP games’ attempts, it still undermined the illusion of reality with some questionable and confusing logic.
The WPT did bring a couple of original elements to the party, however. The first was ‘Bluff Master Technology’, which allowed you to select facial expressions for your avatar to employ at the tables — not the game-changer it could have been, considering a) your avatar looks like it was molded from wax by someone wearing oven gloves, and b) all your opponents are computer-controlled and therefore unlikely to be experts at the art of live reads.
The second, more interesting addition was the ability to create entirely new forms of poker by combining elements from existing games. Drawmaha fans, eat your hearts out.
Play them if: You absolutely have to.
Which games did we miss? Were we too harsh, or too generous in our evaluation of the games above? Have your say in the comments.
