iPhone Poker Games

May 27, 09 by Doug

Due to poker’s popularity around the world, it was a pretty safe bet that as soon as the Apple iPhone launched, there’d quickly be plenty of choices as far as poker games to play on the go.

The nearly 30 different poker games available for download at the Apple App Store are a testament to poker’s addictive appeal, offering poker fans a ton of alternatives when it comes to playing poker on their iPhone. We’ll be examining two of the most popular poker iPhone games available: Zynga Texas Hold’Em and Apple Texas Hold’em.

Zynga’s Texas Hold‘Em game is one of the most popular iPhone poker apps, and for good reason. Zynga’s status as a leading provider of social games for Facebook, Myspace, and the iPhone means that it’s always easy to find a seat at the poker table, with up to 200,000-300,000 poker players online and slinging chips on their network at any given time.

The look and feel of Zynga’s Texas Hold’Em also comes closest to mimicking what you’d expect to find at an online poker site, as far as both the lobby for finding a game and the action at the poker table itself:

Another popular iPhone poker app is from Apple itself: Apple Texas Hold’em. Apple’s entry into the iPhone poker arena is very slick and elegant, and supports single player action versus computer opponents (something Zynga Texas Hold’Em lacks) as well as multi-player action via Wi-Fi for you and up to eight of your friends.

Apple Texas Hold’em lets you toggle between table views as well as turning animations and graphics on or off, depending on your preference. You can also choose different playing backgrounds such as Las Vegas, Aruba, and other exotic locales.

As far as comparing the two offerings, each largely caters to a different market. If you’re an online poker fiend looking for a similar experience, Zynga is definitely the way to go, as it’s built from the ground up to offer a very similar experience to playing online.

If you’re instead looking for a way to brush up on your poker skills solo or to get a game going among friends, then Apple Texas Hold’em gets the nod, as it caters much more to the casual player.