Playing virtual poker against friends is more popular than ever. Prospective players now have a multitude of platforms and applications to choose from. You can utilize anything from tablets to smart phones to face off at Texas Holdem. Players can also choose from a vast array of multi player applications, from Zynga to Party Poker. Below are the best computerized poker programs to play poker against real people in 2011. All of these brands are reputable and offer some of the most modern networking features you will find. Challenge friends to a heads up game by inviting them to your table !
Recommended Poker Sites 2011
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Bet Online |  |
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BetOnline.com |  |
Popular Ways To Face Off Against Friends
* Option 1 : Use Xbox 360 and Microsoft Live
Below are four titles allowing multi-player games that can cater to Texas Holdem against friends. Some of these titles offer “webcam texas holdem”, which takes player interactions to an entirely new level. Individual mannerisms are now part of the equation again, as other players will be looking at you just as in a brick and mortar establishment. Although Xbox poker against real people is fun, don’t expect world-class play of course. If you’re looking for serious table games to push your skill level to the next echelon, signing up at an online poker site like Poker770 might be a better solution for you.
- World Championship Poker 2
- Texas Hold ’em – An offering of Xbox Live Arcade, and developed by TikGames
- World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions
- Full House Poker
* Option 2: Play Against Friends On Facebook
Facebook Texas Holdem is an application created by the Zynga Game Network. This tremendously popular program lets you play poker against your friends or total strangers online. The application is free of charge, but you won’t be able to deposit real money like at Poker770. Facebook/Zynga are UIEGA compliant and don’t cater to real money games in the United States or worldwide for that matter. The United States government is currently considering regulating online poker, so who knows what the future might hold. It’s not impossible to see the development of social poker for real money in the not so distant future. Zynga’s, Facebook’s and similar sites’ offerings in a fully regulated poker environment are completely unknown. Their core business model isn’t reliant on player generated rake obviously, but they could always choose to profit from this niche in a fully licensed environment. As such, it’s hard to predict if social media sites will one day be the gold standard of online poker. Although they are tremendously popular, they would compete against harrah’s, Caesers and WSOP brands which have monopoly over the live casino market, and a seemingly unlimited budget. Although Zynga is the defacto standard for free Texas Holdem at the moment, don’t expect any real money offerings any time soon.
* Option 3: Play Poker With Friends On Iphone
Using a smart phone is an innovate way to accomplish the task at hand, and the Iphone is the perfect platform for this. Here are some of the best apps you can use:
- Zynga Live Poker
- MegaPoker Online
- Apple Texas Holdem
As we’ve discussed previously, this nifty little app allows you to play against your friends on Facebook, and was recently ported to the Iphone suite of applications.
Less popular than Zynga, but has all the multi-player technology you will need to compete against your friends in cash games, or tradional heads up format.
Excellent application allowing you to play against eight of your friends via wi-fi.
* Option 4 (recommended): Play Online Poker With Friends
This will be your best bet if you’re serious about poker. Poker site software is incredibly mature and glitch free. By signing up at a place like Poker770 (for free), you can benefit from bleeding edge poker features that you won’t find in the social media space. For example, Zynga software will probably look amateurish in comparison. Honest poker sites invest considerably into their software, as they manage billions of dollars of wagered money every year. With so much on the line, you can expect the software to be top notch.
Play Poker With Friends Online
One of the best aspects of poker is playing with friends. By playing against friends, you can gain new insights into how friends think and react, based on their playing styles. Better yet, online poker gives you the ability to connect with friends across the globe. Even if a friend lives too far away to visit easily, or your schedules do not give you enough time to meet in person, you can use online poker to reconnect and spend time playing together.
Many poker websites allow you to choose a room or invite a player to a room. If you are playing at an online casino that offers this ability, you can play poker with friends quite easily. If you and your friends know each other’s screen names, one player can set up a table or invite others to the table where s/he is already playing. Note that if your friend is inviting you to an open table or a table that was already in play, there may be a wait if all seats at the table were filled before you were invited. Once other players leave, you and your friends can fill the vacant seats and join in the game.
Another interesting way to get actual face time while playing poker with your friends online is to find a casino that supports webcam play. Some casinos are starting to encourage poker players to connect their webcams and join the game with real-time video. From the casino’s perspective, this is great because it proves to poker players that the table is all real people and no players are actually bots. From the players’ perspectives, this is equally great. Webcams allow players to read opponents’ facial expressions, rather than gauging the possibilities based on previous behavior. For those who play with friends, this is another great way to get more time together. (Just be sure not to give the impression you are working with your friends in-game, as that would arouse suspicions of cheating.)
If you and your friends are competitively minded, you may all want to register for the same tournaments and play together that way. If you choose to try this method of playing poker online with your friends, be aware that the type and size of tournament may limit your direct interaction or face to face playing time with your friends. If you end up at a large tournament with many tables, or at a tournament that re-assigns tables frequently, you may not spend a lot of time playing with your friends at the same table. However, it can be a lot of fun to see how you all end in the final tournament standings and to compare results.
Bet365.com has both excellent multiplayer tables and a wide selection of tournaments from which to choose. They are also one of the biggest and most reputable gambling sites on the internet, so you will not have to worry about recommending a bad site to your friends. For American players, CasinoTitan.com offers multiplayer tables and accepts American credit cards.