Facebook & Zynga – Texas Holdem

In 2007, Facebook began working with a little known-game
developer called Zynga. And the first game to arise from this
partnership was Zynga Poker.

The partnership quickly accelerated Zynga Poker’s growth and
helped make it the world’s largest poker site today.

It also popularized the concept of social poker, where you
can purchase play money chips, chat with friends, and complete
achievements.

It’s estimated that over 350 million people have played Zynga
Poker at least once.

What makes this poker game so popular? And how do you play
it?

Let’s answer these questions and more by looking at Zynga
Poker’s history, how to play, and its pros and cons.

History of Zynga Poker on Facebook

In 2007, Eric Schiermeyer, Justin Waldron, Mark Pincus,
Michael Luxton, Steve Schoettler, and Andrew Trader co-founded a
company called Presidio Media.

Months later, the company adopted the name Zynga, which was
named after Pincus’ late bulldog Zinga.

In July 2007, Zynga Poker, a.k.a. Texas Holdem, launched on
Facebook and became the company’s first game. Powered by this
poker game, Zynga became the most popular game developer on
Facebook with 40 million monthly users.

Zynga Poker Becomes Largest Online Poker Site

Prior to Zynga Poker’s launch, the online poker scene
primarily consisted of real money sites and basic free play
games around the internet.

Zynga changed this, though, by providing a cartoonish Texas
Holdem game with features that emphasized socializing with
friends.

This unparalleled experience drew the masses, with Zynga
Poker’s player base quickly growing into the millions.

In March 2011, ESPN pointed out that Zynga’s Texas HoldEm had
38 million players, making it the world’s biggest online poker
room.

This trend hasn’t stopped because VentureBeat’s Dean
Takahashi estimated that over 350 million people had played
Zynga Poker by 2014.

Zynga Expands Its Market, Adds More Languages

Like many Facebook games and services, Texas HoldEm began as
an English only game. But Zynga added more languages and
expanded to more countries in 2010.

One of the most significant moves was when they added
Mandarin Chinese and marketed to China. Zynga Poker is also
available in French, Indonesian, Portuguese, and Turkish.

PokerCon Held in Las Vegas

Fueled by the success of their poker game, Zynga held
PokerCon at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort in 2011.

PokerCon featured several professional poker players,
including Annie Duke, Doyle Brunson, Gavin Smith, Mike Sexton,
Scotty Nguyen, and Vanessa Rousso. Duke taught an instructional
course to interested participants called Zynga Poker University.

Award winning rapper B.o.B. put on a performance for PokerCon
attendees.

PokerCon also featured a $100,000 live poker tournament held
inside the Palms Casino.

The goal of the 2 day event was to encourage players to turn
their online friendships into offline connections.

PokerCon is no longer held, and no plans have been announced
to bring it back.

Zynga Announces Real Money Poker

In its first several years, Zynga Poker was only a play money
site. While players still pay money to buy chips, these chips
have no monetary value.

But in 2012, Zynga announced that they would enter real money
online poker markets through Facebook.

They initially discussed the US, where Delaware, Nevada, and
New Jersey were preparing to regulate online gaming. But they
settled on the UK because it has a nationally regulated online
gaming market with more potential players.

ZyngaPokerPlus and ZyngaCasinoPlus launched in the UK in
January 2014. Utilizing PartyPoker software, ZyngaPokerPlus
shared a player pool with the bwin.party network.

Zynga got far less traffic than they expected in the UK and
closed ZyngaPokerPlus and ZyngaPlusCasino in March 2015. The
move came at a time when Zynga was struggling, their stock
prices were falling, and they wanted to fully focus on social
gaming.

Zynga Poker, Facebook Tear Up Contract

In May 2010, Zynga threatened to leave Facebook after the
social gaming giant announced that customers would have to
exclusively use Facebook Credits to make in game purchases.

This angered Zynga because it provided an extra layer that
players had to go through to buy items in Zynga Poker and their
other games.

Just days later, the two sides settled their differences by
signing a 5 year contract. Main points of the contract included
Facebook Credits being expanded in Zynga games, and Facebook
agreeing not to develop their own games.

But in November 2012, Zynga and Facebook ended their
contract. While Zynga games still run on Facebook, there were a
few notable changes to the companies’ relationship.

First

Facebook is allowed to develop their own games, although
they’ve yet to dive into this space.

Second

Zynga no longer has to force players to use Facebook to log
into their games. Another point in Zynga’s favor is that they
don’t have to run Facebook’s virtual payment system or ads.

Zynga Poker Undergoes Overhaul in 2014

In September 2014, Zynga made big changes to their poker
product. Changes included:

• New interface that allows for easier navigation.
• Improved lobby that allows players to enter cash games/tournaments quicker.
• New table design with a realistic poker perspective.
• More precise betting system for the iPad and iPhone.
• Bigger hole cards meant to mimic a real life poker experience.

While Zynga stated that these changes were the result of
player feedback, many customers were critical that the Zynga
Poker experience was being altered too much.

One month after the original changes, Zynga announced that
players would be able to use the older version through Zynga
Poker Classic.

How to Play Zynga Poker

You can play Zynga’s Texas HoldEm on a variety of platforms,
including with Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone mobile
devices, along with PC, and Mac computers.

Below are some quick instructions for how to access Zynga
Poker from the different platforms and how you play the game.

Accessing Zynga Poker through Facebook

No matter what computer or mobile device you’re using,
playing Zynga Poker through Facebook features the same process.

You can start by searching for Texas holdem or poker in the
Facebook search engine. You may also find Texas HoldEm listed to
the side of your Facebook page under Apps.

Note that in either case, you must have a Facebook account
and be logged in to find the Texas HoldEm app.

Once you click on Texas HoldEm through the Apps menu or
search engine results, the game will load automatically.

While Zynga Poker is loading, you’ll be prompted to accept
bonus chips, share chips with friends, and try other Zynga games
like FarmVille and CityVille.

You can close the ads by clicking the X in the upper right
hand corner. Once you’ve either accepted or closed the ads, the
Texas HoldEm lobby appears ready for play.

Downloading the Zynga Poker App through a Smartphone or Tablet

If you’re experienced with downloading apps through a
smartphone or tablet, you should have no trouble accessing Zynga
Poker.

The first step involves navigating to the app store for your
specific operating system (OS). Android OS users visit Google
Play, Apple iOS users visit the App Store, and windows users
visit the Windows Store.

No matter which store you’re using, you can find Zynga Poker
by searching for poker or Texas holdem. Zynga is one of the
first apps that appears in search engines, so this process only
takes seconds to complete.

Playing Zynga Poker

Texas HoldEm features a lobby in the middle of the screen
that offers a variety of stakes, tables, and formats. The
formats include:

• Holdem

  Holdem cash games offer blinds
  ranging from 25 / 50 chips to 200 million / 400 million chips.
  The max buy in and number of players are listed next to each
  table. You can limit the stakes that you see in the lobby by
  using the drop down arrow at the top.

• Holdem Fast

  The Holdem section has two
  different settings: Normal and Fast. The latter is a fast fold
  variant that sees you receive a new hand immediately after your
  action ends in the current hand.

• Shootout

  These Texas holdem tournaments
  see the chip leader from each table advance through a series of
  rounds. You can skip ahead to later rounds by paying gold, also
  used in Zynga Casino, or getting sponsored by a friend.

• Sit N Go

  These are single table
  tournaments that always feature 9 players at Zynga. The lobby
  shows you the buy in, prizes, speed Fast / Normal, and number of
  players seated in each Sit N Go.

When you choose a cash game or tournament that you can
afford, you’ll be taken to the table and asked to read / accept
terms of service. If you don’t have the required amount of chips
to play at a desired table, Zynga will prompt you to purchase
them.

As long as a seat is available and you have enough chips, you
can select a table and choose a seat.

You have the option to bet, raise, fold, or check depending
upon the situation. You’re only given a few seconds to make each
decision before the software automatically checks or folds your
hand.

You can visit another table at any time by clicking New Table
in the top left hand corner.

Also note that Texas HoldEm has a chat function that allows
you to type messages for the table to see.

Experience Points and Levels

At the top of the screen, you’ll see a green bar that shows
how many experience points are needed to reach the next level.

As you continue playing hands, you accumulate experience
points that increase this bar. When you reach a new level,
you’ll be awarded more free chips.

Completing Challenges

In the lobby, you’ll see a section to the right entitled
Challenges. You can scroll down the list to see what the daily /
weekly challenges are and how long you have to complete them.

Examples of challenges include: win $250k chips in one day,
win $1.5 million chips in 7 days, bet on 12 hands, win two hands
at $2k / $4k limits.

Any time that you complete a challenge, you’ll be awarded
tickets. You can click the Redeem button under the Challenges
section to purchase chips, experience points, and casino gold
with your tickets.

Zynga Poker Promotions and Purchases

Zynga frequently advertises that you can purchase more chips
and VIP points. While you’re given free chips to start with,
additional chips allow you to play higher stakes, level up
faster, and complete more challenges.

Examples of offers include: buying 1,127,000 chips + 200 VIP
points for $2.00; buying $2,860,000 chips + 500 VIP points for
$5.00; and buying $17,160,000 chips + 1,000 VIP points for
$10.00.

VIP points are used through the loyalty program to collect
more chips and accolades.

Pros and Cons of Zynga Poker

Zynga Poker has become the world’s most popular online poker
site for multiple reasons. But it also has some downsides that
can be frustrating.

That said, let’s look at both the positives and negatives of
playing Texas HoldEm.

Conclusion

Zynga Poker started the social gaming boom when it was
launched in 2007. The result of the boom is that people have
thousands of fun social gaming apps to choose from today.

Despite all of the increased competition, Zynga still remains
the gold standard in social poker.

They’ve worked to refine Texas HoldEm based on suggestions
and feedback from players. And while we don’t like all of their
efforts, see the Cons list; the overall product stands out in
the crowded social poker niche.

Don’t let the barrage of chip purchasing ads fool you because
you’ll never have to spend money if you use your starting chips
wisely. Texas HoldEm’s level up system not only gives you goals
to shoot for, but also offers much needed free chips.

These chips come in handy when you want to try all of the
Zynga Poker formats, including Fast Holden, Normal Holden,
Shootouts, and Sit N Gos.