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Poker is ridiculously popular nowadays, online as well as in huge live poker tournaments and small private home games. What initially sparked the poker boom is not entirely clear; some say it really took off when amateur poker player Chris Moneymaker (yes, that’s his real name) won the World Series of Poker after qualifying through a $39 online satellite. Suddenly everyone figured they could turn a few bucks into millions on the felt.
Now the height of the poker boom has come and gone, but the game remains ever-present in TV shows, online, and in video games. It didn’t take long after the iPhone was launched that poker games started appearing in the App Store. Even Apple has acknowledged the popularity of poker and has developed a Texas Holdem game. If you are a poker fan looking for the right app for your iPhone there are lots of alternatives – some really good ones and some that are just awful (the movie-based Rounders for example).
Zynga Live Poker
“Live Poker” is definitely one of the top picks. If you’ve played online poker before you will feel right at home with this game, as the interface seems like it’s taken from any random online poker room.
Although you can’t play for real money, you do get to play online. It’s even integrated with Facebook and lets you connect and play with your friends, provided they have the app installed.
THTouch
If you don’t require multiplayer functionality but rather a more solitaire-style approach to waste some time with on the bus, THTouch (as in Texas Holdem Touch I would guess) is a nice alternative. Its interface is intuitive, using tapping, touching and swiping to perform actions like call, fold or raise.
MegaPoker Online
MegaPoker Online is another Texas Holdem game that is heavily inspired by regular online poker rooms. It has full multiplayer functionality and lets you play online via Wi-Fi/3G/EDGE. You get to choose between the no limit and fixed limit holdem varieties in tournament form as well as the less common pot limit betting structure.
Apple Texas Holdem
People usually expect a little more from an Apple-made application, and Apple Texas Holdem is no disappointment in that regard, as it’s one of the best poker apps so far on the iPhone. “Texas Holdem” looks and behaves as well as you’d expect, although it’s not as fully featured as some of the other offerings from a multiplayer perspective, although you can play with eight of your friends over Wi-Fi. The game has both a classic top-down view of the table or a first-person perspective.
In the unfortunate event that you don’t have an iPhone to play poker on, why not check out some traditional free online poker alternatives. Try some Party Poker free rolls for a chance of winning something for nothing.
