Facebook Poker Chips Blog

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The many faces of Facebook Poker Chips

If you’re reading this then you undoubtedly already know just how popular of a game Facebook Texas Holdem poker has become over the last few years. The combined games have tens of millions of monthly users from every part of the world who come together in online poker rooms to duke it out for facebook poker chips. The players at any given table may not speak the same language, they may not have spent the same currency to buy their facebook poker chips, and they may live thousands of miles apart in different corners of the globe, but the one thing they do have in common is a gamer’s drive, a competative spirit, and ofcourse, a love of texas holdem poker.

The popular of this beloved online game has spawned many different developers to try their hand at creating a facebook poker application. Perhaps each successive one will never grow the size and popularity of the first developers to hit the scene many years ago, but each one offers subtle differences that may interest poker players enough for them to give it a try.

Zynga Poker Poker Chips

Zynga poker chips are used in the Zynga Texas Holdem Poker application created by the Zynga Gaming Network. This was one of the first, if not the first application to hit the scene a few years ago and became wildly popular in a short amount of time, benefiting from the near viral growth of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. Anyone who joined facebook or myspace eventually received an invitation to start playing Zynga Poker whether they wanted to or not.  Unless you blocked the application completely, you probably ended up giving in and playing a few hands with your free zynga poker chips.

Playdom Poker Palace Chips

Playdom’s Poker Palace was probably the second game to hit the online texas holdem poker scene a few year ago. Playdom, who has been at odds with Zynga Game Network in the past over similarities of gaming titles such as Mafia Wars and Mobsters offers a similar suite of popular games such as Sorority Life and Tiki farm that appeal to the same gaming base as facebook poker. Playdom’s brand of facebook poker chips and game interface differs slightly from that of Zynga’s, each having their own unique set of options, customizations and quirks.

Playfish Poker Rivals

Playfish offered their own version of facebook poker chips earlier this year with a quiet rollout of their Poker Rivals application. While Zynga and Playdom released games that slightly differed from each other, Playfish went ahead and revolutionized their entire interface, relying heavily on sharp graphics and extreme customization of player profiles down the clothes they wear and the one liners they can shout at the table. There is even an option to pound your fists on the table or wave them around in the air and adjust your sitting position to try and psyche out your opponents in the game.

Glamble Poker Chips

Glamble poker is a smaller texas holdem poker game that was introduced this year, released by an independent developer rather than a social gaming company. While their interface and options seemed rather standard and mundane, they different from other applications in that they gave new players millions of glamble poker chips rather than the customary few hundred or few thousand facebook poker chips that zynga, playfish, and playdom gave out before them. Their motto “glamblers play it rich” was geared towards players who wanted to see what it felt like to play with a million or even tens of millions of facebook glamble poker chips right from the get go. While this seemed to attract players during the games critical promotional release period, it quickly led to chip inflation which spiraled out of control, with players winning billions, hundreds of billions and even trillions of glamble poker chips within a short period of time due to the sheer influx of new players each starting the game with millions of their own chips.

Gambino Poker Chips

The latest arrival to the facebook texas holdem poker chips scene is another release by an independent developer, proving that you don’t need millions in startup capital just to make a facebook poker game. Gambino Poker promises to offer a less intrusive poker game that lets players gamble with their gambino poker chips without annoying popups and unnecessary gifts and promotions clouding up the game. Their motto “poker as it should be” suggests that their target player is one who is exhausted by the constant bombardment of in game flash animations and promotions that distract from the essence of the game. Their interface is simple yet straightforward, with a cool inner city gangster motif to it, with very little if any flash animations.

Electronics Arts’ recent acquisition of Playfish has thrust another heavy hitting game developer onto the texas holdem poker scene. Playfish’s new facebook poker game, Poker Rivals, is a graphically intense addition to the virtual poker line-up, currently dominated by Zynga Poker.

In the realm of social gaming, competing with an existing game that is already extremely popular and established is usually a recipe for failure and generally ends up being a mediocre effort at best, so while Playfish’s addition to the scene is visually stunning and backed by the deep pockets of Electronic Arts it remains to be seen if the final product will be an appealing choice to long time facebook poker players. That being said, the initial reviews of the game seem to be quite good.

The game’s graphical interface and animations are far beyond that of Zynga’s current game, allowing players in the game to customize everything from their hairstyle to their skin color. Players also have a wider range of expressions in Poker Rivals than in other games. While players have always been able to chat at the poker tables in a designated text box, players in Poker Rivals can adjust their body posture, wave their hands around in joy or anger, and even pound the table after a bad hand. It remains to be seen whether or not all this extra movement and expression at the table will be viewed as too distracting to hardcore poker afficionados who just want to see the cards and bet with their facebook poker chips. Though players who enjoy heads up play will enjoy the 1 on 1 option in the game that allows 2 players to go head to head.

Poker Rivals also gives you the option to purchase fancier playing venues such as yatchs and condos in which you can hold private games and invite your friends. This extra real world touch adds another dimension of reality to the game, much like that found in blockbusters like Second Life and World of Warcraft. If there’s one thing online gamers love its customization and Poker Rivals delivers this through the graphically rich and colorful online poker world that they’ve created. Whether this is what casual poker players are looking for in an online texas holdem game remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more reviews and photos of Playfish’s new game, but in the meantime you can play their beta version and decide for yourself  <here>

Playfish, the company recently purchased by Electronic Arts is getting ready to roll out a brand new Texas Holdem Poker Game for Facebook called Poker Rivals. Playfish is looking to challange long time established texas holdem games Zynga’s Texas Holdem application with a unique and flashy interface and by adding a virtual life aspect to the game, where players can build homes, buy yatchs and even vary their physical avatars’ movements at the poker tables.

Zynga’s Texas holdem game has managed to hold the #7 spot on Facebook’s top 25 applications list, with nearly 19 million users, so there are no shortage of poker players in online social networking sites. Playfish’s new Poker Rivals application seems to be aimed straight at this demographic.

Eventhough the game is till in beta, visually it looks great and the play is very smooth. Using their facebook poker chips from the game, players can buy clothes and jewelry to customize their avatars looks. Poker Rivals also allows you to tag players according to their play style, a great feature that lets  you keep track of rival’s playing styles. Poker Rivals is by the far the most detailed and customizable of the online texas holdem games.  Playfish says that more features are being added and tweaked before the official release is scheduled. You can check out the working beta version of the game at this link: Poker Rivals.