Why is poker called poker? A quick Google (it's now officially in the dictionary as a verb, surely?) will throw up the theory that it derives from the German word "pochen", meaning to bluff. We subscribe to the alternate view that it's called poker because that's what the wife will brain you with when you roll in, late at night, having walked home because you lost the BMW on your "unbeatable" full house.

Happily, World Series of Poker lets you lose lots of virtual money rather than the real stuff. You can tackle a quick one-off game, or the career mode which involves playing through ten seasons against the pros, trying to make as much dosh as possible and secure a place in the World Series Of Poker All Stars.

A number of variants of poker are included, with the compulsory Texas Hold 'Em, Omaha, Razz (lowest hand wins), Seven Card Stud and Happy Families (well, maybe not, although a pair of Mrs Bun's is worth thinking about).

Success in the career mode is all about winning, or at least placing highly in the tournaments. The game does a good job of making these feel authentic: as players on your table get knocked out, new ones are drafted across, just as would happen in a real tournament. The leading players are also tracked on a round-by-round basis, so you can see how well you're doing in the overall picture.

Unfortunately, the actual presentation of World Series of Poker isn't so hot. The TV style commentary is bland, the graphics are plain and the player animations simplistic and repetitive. Worse still, the player celebration animation occurs before the cards are shown.

This might seem a minor criticism, but it bugged us considerably. When it comes to a big hand, with all the chips on the table and huge amounts of betting, all the tension builds up to your opponent's hand being finally revealed. But before you actually see what he's got, you know whether you've won or lost because he's shaken his hands in the air, or slapped his forehead in disgust. For us, this deflated the moment totally; cards first please, silly animations afterwards!

The computer AI is reasonable, but rather predictable. It doesn't engage in much bluffing and generally plays very conservatively, with lots of folding. Some real-world pro players (such as Scotty Nguyen) are simulated, but they don't play any differently to the others, as far as we could tell.

Further weaknesses include the lack of any online multiplayer option and a poor tutorial which consists of a few screens of basic game rules. Poker novices will feel rather lost as, for example, the Texas Hold 'Em rules don't even explain what a "check" is. All this smacks of minimal effort.

There's an okay poker game in here, with a reasonable career mode. However, the computer AI is rather boring and conservative and the presentation flat. A proper tutorial and some multiplayer options wouldn't have gone amiss, either.