Poker: It's the new 'n roll. Everyone's playing it. Everyone! It's not cough sweets and booze Pete Doherty and his band-mates are getting smashed on backstage - it's a pair of Queens and Jack high straights. Don't even think about coming to our party unless you've brought your cards with you. Because poker's hot, hot, hot right now and it's about to hit Xbox in tsunami proportions.

Which means that, as the first and cheapest of this spring's flood of Xbox-based poker titles (Take 2's World Poker Tour having now been put back to April), it's tempting for card fans to simply rush out and buy World Series Of Poker. After all, one card game on Xbox is going to play pretty much like another, right?

Well, that's where you're wrong. And in this case, very wrong. Because given that you're paying cold hard cash for something you can just as easily play for free over the internet, it's not unreasonable to ask that Xbox poker games are (a) attractive and well presented, and (b) at least put up a decent fight with believable computer AI.

Unfortunately, World Series Of Poker falls flat in both these areas. Presentation-wise it's rudimentary in the extreme, with a mere six poker variations on offer. The graphics are basic, the commentary crude and there isn't even a tutorial mode to help new payers pick up the basics. The only thing really going for World Series Of Poker is the control setup, which does a pretty decent job of turning the analogue stick into a wand of money- squandering power.

As for the computer-controlled goons you'll face on a regular basis, we've seen more lucid decision making in a mental institution. For the most part the computer sharks play aggressively, even on stupid hands (situations where AI chumps risk all their money on low ranking cards like a pair of fives are common), to the point where it's impossible to tell if the computer's making a bold bluff, or simply being monumentally thick. It makes playing an intelligent game virtually impossible.

We'd like to say the real-life pros that appear later in the game are better, but we didn't even make it that far, such was the savaging we received from the 'crack-bots' in Career mode. And while we're on the subject, what a lacklustre career mode it is, offering the bare minimum of tournament structures and a hopeless reward system that simply involves collecting commemorative chips and bracelets that can be viewed on a trophy screen afterwards.

You can always play over Live, but as we've said before with poker games, not being able to play for real money takes the shine off things, especially since World Series Of Poker doesn't even offer any kind of online leaderboard or ranking system. Don't let the cheap price tag fool you - you're better off folding on this weak effort.

1. The actual controls and on-screen information are clear and well laid out, so you can easily keep track of big games and tournaments.

1. The graphics are rubbish, with characters that look like they all came from the same cloning tank, and the commentary is a joke.
2. The AI must have been modelled on Jade Goody. It makes playing an intelligent game against the computer a virtual no-hope.
3. There's nothing here to get new players into the 'sport' in the way of tutorials, and poker dab hands will soon tire of the dreary Career mode.
4. The online mode could have been so much better. Without money or any kind of ranking system to play for, what's the point?

A very basic poker package. It's cheap, but so is Jodie Marsh and we wouldn't shuffle her deck with yours.