Poker Club (2020)

Poker Club is good for anyone interested in a very realistic looking poker sim with a big emphasis on tournament play. What you see is what you get, but it is much slower and more flashy than one might expect. The customisation options are impressive, but the beauty only goes skin deep.

With plenty of game modes, an active online community, crossplatform compatibility, and a top-notch visual environment, Poker Club knows how to deliver a realistic poker experience. Where Poker Club doesn't deliver, however, is where the Nintendo Switch handheld capabilities are concerned - the game requires a constant internet connection, which seriously harms playing on the go, and its visual quality on the Nintendo Switch screen decreases significantly. Players at home, though, will find a fun and immersive experience.

I was surprised by Poker Club, because my initial impressions of the game were not very strong. I found the online challenges to be frustrating and the game’s overall speed to be tedious. But as I continued on, I had reconciled these problems without really even noticing. That’s not to say that these issues are not pervasive to the entire experience, but because I had merely grown numb to them. Much like taking a seat at the gambler’s table for the very first time, many frustrations will pass as you take in the easygoing, yet exciting atmosphere of this common pastime. Though it could be better, Poker Club is a charming and lovingly crafted recreation of one of the most popular pastimes around.

I love Poker Club's design and philosophy, but unfortunately, where Ripstone's other games on Switch are exceptional, this is a vastly inferior port and experience.

Poker Club on Nintendo Switch does a good job at providing a truly immersive poker simulation. Unfortunately the entire package of Poker Club isn't great. The incredibly poor AI will teach you nothing in offline mode and the overall slowness of all action makes for a boring experience. Playing online is even worse, as players can take an impossibly long amount of time on each turn. It's just painfully slow enough that you'd likely be better off just playing poker in real life.