If you’re looking to up your game for the next big real-life tournament, you’re in the wrong place.Ever wanted to play poker with Claptrap, Sam & Max, Brock from The Venture Bros. Showdowns still provide a bit of a thrill, especially with the win percentage calculators and close ups on the faces of the opponents, but by and large this is just serviceable poker. You can’t bring in a friend to mix things up, either – a shame, since all the platforms Poker Night 2 is on (XBLA and PC at the moment, PSN and iOS versions to come) are so social. Yeah, the competition is challenging, but you can only play no-limit Omaha and Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s really just the backbone for joke delivery, or as Poker Night 2 calls it, an excuse to hang out with friends. I should probably mention the actual act of playing poker – you know, the game part of this thing. You could adjust the amount of conversation in the last game, but that option’s been removed this time around, and it's a sad reminder that even the best comedian’s routine goes from awesome to boring if it’s on a loop. The fantastic writing helps, and hours in I still experience the occasional new joke, but after just a few tournaments I was already hearing punch lines that were past their expiration dates. My first few hours playing Poker Night 2 were full of giggle after chuckle after guffaw. Just like in Portal, the psychotic AI’s poignant cracks at the intelligence of the competitors never disappoints. This table's show-stealer, though, is the dealer: GladOS. Watching Brock make off-color conversation about the Venture family and listening to Claptrap crack inside jokes about the development studio behind Borderlands 2 tickles my funny bone in a deep sort of way that makes me feel rewarded for my fandom.

Those personalities are the backbone of the Poker Night 2 experience, which means that if you’re not familiar with the franchises they come from you probably won’t love the jokes the way I did.

Why was poker night 2 removed