Wearing sunglasses indoors usually sends out some worrying but fairly straightforward messages: you're either impossibly arrogant, deeply insecure or completely idiotic. But if you also happen to be playing poker, then there's a strong case for it being a sign of weakness. Not to mention cheating.
Allow me to elaborate. You wouldn't sneakily feed the England squad adrenaline tablets before each World Cup game in order to guarantee an easy, safe passage to the final. Similarly, much as it may be the only way he'll beat Alonso this year, Michael Schumacher wouldn't allow his mechanics to hide a turbo charger in the back of his Ferrari.
Well, wearing sunglasses during a poker game and therefore making it very difficult for your opponents to 'read' your mannerisms and work out whether you're bluffing or not is no different to either performance enhancing scenario above – the only difference is that it is a still legal way of trying to gain an advantage by unscrupulous means.
Glad we got that out of the way. Now let's move on to
World Poker Tour. As its name suggests, this game holds a WPT licence and as such includes the presentation values associated with the TV show.
In addition, it's no surprise to find six faithfully recreated casinos (apparently the attention to detail extends down to the right carpet design – exciting) which host the Tour, as well as eight WPT professionals. The latter come complete with introductory videos shown before a game they feature in and it adds to the overall quality of the presentation. But if you're wondering, yes, you can skip them.
And that's actually a blessing because it all adds to the already exceedingly long loading times – you could easily get a round of Blackjack in while you're waiting for games to begin.
Once in play, the pace remains disappointingly geriatric. You can almost hear your computer opponents' mental activity (it's actually the UMD drive grinding) as they toy with whether to check (which they do a suspiciously often), call, bet, raise or fold. In fairness, their intelligence often seems as limited as their annoyingly repetitive dialogue but aside for the odd very strange call and a seemingly general inability to bluff particularly well, tougher opponents can still offer a half decent game of poker. Ultimately you do get a sense of satisfaction from bluffing your way out of trouble or genuinely beating an opponent's hand.
For the ultimate pleasure treasure, you need to go up against a human brain. Enter the online mode, which in addition to eliminating issues of slow play obviously also eradicates the limitations of the game AI. However, it is not without setbacks of its own. We found the experience uncommonly glitchy (particularly when trying to join game sessions), but the disappointment soon dissipates when things do work as they should. And when they do, that's when
World Poker Tour is at its best.
There's other positives, too. For starters there's a healthy selection of game modes (deep breath): Texans Hold'em, Super Hold'em, Double Flop Hold'em, Omaha, Pineapple, Crazy Pineapple, Tahoe, Billabong, Shanghai, 7-card Stud, 5-card Draw and Triple Draw 2-7 all make the bill. Some include further Hi/Lo variations too.
And anyone moaning that they still can't find something to satisfy their hustling needs can shut up and simply use the custom game option that opens up some 4,000 variations instead.
Equally comprehensive is the Career mode, which enables you to create a player in reasonably detailed fashion and subsequently accessorise their avatar by unlocking clothes and items through rewards achieved during games. That's not to imply the developer is trying to distract you from the actual poker side of things; obviously there's plenty of play options, including the ability to play through an entire WPT season or customise your level involvement as you wish.
So despite being a little clunky both off- and online, this has certainly got the content, the glitzy presentation and tries hard to offer a decent game of virtual poker – and for the most part it succeeds.
Think of it as a sunglass-wearing poker player whose photochromatic lenses occasionally fail: the momentary glimpse into his eyes is enough to let you know his hand isn't quite as strong as outward appearances would suggest.
World Poker Tour is on sale now – click here to buy. 
