Zynga Poker on Facebook has millions of users
Facebook has undoubtedly made its name to the networking industry. With lots of applications one can enjoy, it is of no doubt why Facebook is now the hottest networking site worldwide. One of the known application that facebook has is the Zynga Poker. If you were to mention the Facebook poker to many of the serious poker players, you will most likely get scorned and ridiculed. However, on the contrary, the Texas Hold-em from Zynga is the best selling among all the other applications of Zynga. Zynga’s Texas Hold’em Poker has over 15 million of users active each month, which dwarfed known dedicated online poker rooms like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
With the success of the said Facebook application, the creators of Zynga Texas Hold’em are very impressed of the user’s response making it the number 1 game of Zynga. According to Zynga’s General Manager of Casino Games, Sam Singh the said game is constantly on its fifth place on Facebook and Myspace.
In addition, Texas Hold’em was also Zynga’s first game that turned into an online gaming powerhouse and got the ability to earn more than $100 million a year despite of its being an inexperienced social gaming company that is co-founded by Mark Pincus. It is also wise enough to have the Texas Hold’em, which brought Zynga onto the top has a key social element included.
With the popularity of poker that made it a universal game, millions of players are now playing poker from all around the globe. According the Singh, Zynga’s Texas Hold’em got the inspiration of making one’s “Poker Night” with friends a regular nightly event wherever in the world you maybe.
In 2009, with the cross promotion between Zynga and World Series of Poker (WSOP), Facebook Poker players are given the chance to play at the 2009 World Series of Poker tournament Main Event. Two seats are offered and one of them was able to make it to as far as Day 3 of the said prestigious gaming event.
Singh said that, it would only take some time before a player can finally bid goodbye on Facebook and start making its waves in live poker.
Singh further stated that Zynga’s Texas Hold’em is the largest in the planet, thus he assumes that sooner or later they will see a champion that has sharpened his playing ability at Zynga. In 2009, one of the finalists from Zynga has made it until Day3, making it for Singh to hope that in the next WSOP tournament, one of the winner will be from Zynga Texas Hold’em.
It has been known that Poker became popular when Chris Moneymaker made its way to the WSOP Main Event after he had won in $39 PokerStars satellite and made his way to the tournament.
With what has happened with the Facebook player who made it to Day3, a possible similar boom will probably take place according to British poker journalist Shelley Rubenstein. Carter “ckingusc” King, an elite online poker player who won the PokerStars WCOOP Main Event in 2008 also believe that the popularity of poker in Facebook will bring positive development to the poker industry.
Chris Moneymaker Changes His Game
Known online poker player Chris moneymaker changes the face of poker by the time he won the 2003 WSOP (World Series of Poker) Main Event. This historic win of the moneymaker that attracted a huge amount of players made some change of their own in the following years.
The historic win resulted the birth of a new breed of young hyper-aggressive players that turned traditional poker on its head, which on the other hand leaves Moneymaker and many of the players scratching their heads.
As a matter of fact, as a result of the birth of new hyper-aggressive players, Moneymaker, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, experienced a tournament drought after making it to the final table during the Work Poker Tour, which happens the year after his remarkable WSOP win.
According the Chris, he thought he had figured out the game from the middle of 2004 to the middle of 2006, but he was wrong because the game has changed a lot during the period and he was not able to keep up with it.
Chris said, “I opened a lot of pots and I was getting three-bet and I just assumed it was aces, kings, or ace-king and I wasn’t adjusting. After a good little while of not cashing and thinking everybody else is getting better cards, I just realized I better start focusing on the game more.”
As a result, Chris Monyemaker started to work on his game at the beginning of the year 2009 and things turned out right this time as he stared out with some huge scores during the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.
After which, Moneymaker finished third during the WSOP Circuit prelim in Tunica before he take a chip lead to the main event.
While Moneymaker was on his way to the book a spot in the PokerStars EPT Grand Final’s third day in Monte Carlo, he said that he thought he had opened up his game more just by raising more hands, but people were three and four-beating light.
After discover what the people are doing, Chris Moneymaker started to study the game a little bit more. He then started three beating more and four beating, which he never did before in his poker career. However, what he did was proven beneficial, as team PokerStars Pro says that he already started to take poker a little more seriously and was able to fix some leaks of the game like his propensity three-barrel more often and when he is short stacked, he give up.
This change of game from Moneymaker resulted him to be among the leaders in the Monte Carlo PokerStars EPT finals as it comes near to an end from having as low as 9,00 of chips.
With the positive results that Chris Moneymaker got, he said he is hoping for it to continue. He also wants to prove to himself that he can win tournaments again and he did that in WCOOP.
This time around, Chris Moneymaker does not want to think that he is unfortunate. He wants to stay positive throughout the game instead of worrying about his past.
David Williams: The WPT Champion
The (WPT) World Poker Tour World Championship is now over with David Williams as the champion raking in $1,530,537 worth of cash prize.
Williams has started his international fame when he finishes as a runner-up in the 2004 World Series of Poker main event. Right now, he had his second largest score of his career as he champions in the Bellagio’s World Poker Tour Championship.
The 2010 WPT World Championship final table was star-studded and Williams winning was almost as remarkable for who was not around as it was for who was there. Spectators of the game are now talking about whom of the two players Hellmuth or Nguyen will be joining Carlos Mortensen as the only players with both the WSOP and WPT crowns because of the deep runs that the two players have. However, as the Hellmuth finishes and seventh and Nguyen at Eighth, the spectators’ focus left to the five stars and a newcomer.
During the final table, Irish online poker pro John O’Shea finish at sixth place and was the first player eliminated during the finals. Finishing at Fifth place was the seven-time bracelet winner Billy Baxter, while 2009 WSOP bracelet winner David Benyamine finishes at fourth with a cash prize of ($329,228). On the other hand, former WPT Winner Shawn Buchanan won $587,906 worth of cash prize as he finish at 3rd place. The WPT Championship day was over with the elimination of the reigning Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Eric Baldwin as he finishes at second raking a cash prize amounting to $1,034,715.
According to Williams, the tough lineup of players for the finals made him feel to calm down because he already have previously played with them and because of that, he already knew what to expect except for the new players wherein he do not know what to expect yet. Williams is not pressured at all to win because for him, losing against the known great players of poker is already a success to him.
According to Williams, his WPT winnings ended a famine of almost two years wherein he is not successful enough to win a six-figure prize. His WPT win definitely boosts his confidence and Williams is happy with what he have right because he feels like he had made many changes.
One of the changes that Williams made was when he works with the mindset coach Sam Chauhan who has gained the attention of the poker enthusiasts by working with Antonio Esfandiari just before he had his deep WSOP main event run last year. According to Williams, Sam Chauhan taught him to be positive and focused during the game. In addition, through Chauhan, Williams stated that he was taught how to meditate and become thankful to all the blessing he got. With the positive energy that CHauhan brought to Williams, he was able to stay calm and focused during the tournament. Frustrations never affected him and he never went on tilt during the play.
Aside from the huge cash prize that he took home during the tournament, Williams also got his Bodog sponsorship.
Best poker jokes to laugh with for a break
Whether you are at the winning side or at the losing side of your poker career, do not ever forget to have a room for laughter and fun at all times. To give you a good laugh while having a break on your poker games, below are some of the best poker jokes ever collected online.
1. Good Hand
A 12-year-old boy comes home from school and excitedly walks in into his parent’s room. As he enters, mom and dad are on the bed making love. The boy asks his parents “What are you doing?” dad answers, “Playing poker, now get out of here.” He then goes to his older sister’s room only to find her out with her boyfriend on bed making love. The boy again asks “What are you doing?” sister replied, “Playing poker, now get out of here”. The boy then decided to proceed into his older brother’s room finding him masturbating. The boy then asks “What are you doing?” brother replied “Playing poker”. The boy then asks “I thought it takes two to play poker?” brother then replied “NOT if you have a GOOD HAND.”
2. Blonde Poker Player
Have you heard about the blonde poker player who brought with her a bag of frozen French Fries to a poker game? She was being told by someone to bring her own CHIPS.
3. The Poker Players Wife
There was this group of poker players that were playing until after midnight when one of the players returned from the bathroom with an urgent message to tell. The player said to the host “Bruce, listen, Richard is in the kitchen making love with your wife.” Richard then said, “OK that’s it, this is definitely the LAST DEAL.”
4. Shuffling the horses
A friend is talking to his friend who is one of those lucky players who almost draws at all times whatever he need to have a winning hand in poker but loses big amounts in at the races. The friend asks to a friend, “why this was the case?” his friend replied, “Well… they won’t allow me to shuffle the horses.”
5. Poker Doctors
While at home, a doctors phone rang and as he answers, a familiar voice of a colleague from the other end of the line said “We need a fourth for poker.” The doctor whispered, “I’ll be right over,” and immediately put on his coat. His wife then ask “Is it serious?” the doctor answered gravely “Oh yes, quite serious. In fact, three doctors who are already there!”
6. Poker Cheating
Once there were four cowboys playing poker. There was a lot of money at stake as the cards were dealt. Each of them are keeping close eyes with one another and when time comes that one of them called the hand and laid out his cards, another player stood up in amazement and said “Hey! George is cheating. He is not playing the cards that I dealt him!”
PokerStars now owns the three top poker blogs
One of the known Poker sites, the PokerStars seems to be not satisfied at all of being on top from the poker industry itself. The known poker site right now wants to become a “one-stop shop” when it comes to the best poker information and blogging, which resulted into acquiring three of the top poker blogs.
It was just recently that PokerStars announced of its acquisition of the three top information and blogging site in the poker industry that include the PokerPages.com, PlayWinningPoker.com, and the Poker-Babes.com, wherein all have already been existing for long and witnessed the constant changes that the poker world has.
Created in the year 2000, the PokerPages.com was the known and the original poker news and information site on the internet and since then, the site has been providing extensive articles, news, and interviews for the benefit of its readers. Aside from the valuable news, the most attractive content the PokerPages had was the extensive poker tournament results for both the American and the European poker events with dates back in the 1970’s, the early days of poker. Before PokerStars acquired the site, PokerPages also had fallen on hard times.
The management of PokerPages.com decided to stop operation in October of 2009. However, all of the previous information the site had was maintained and preserved with hopes for someone to buy and continue its operation. During its operation, the site had featured talented writers like Mike Paulle and Amy Calistri. On the other hand, PokerPages.com also become the outlet for players like T.J. Cloutier, Kenna James, and “Hollywood” Dave Stann, wherein they write about their strategy and their lives as well. Now that PokerPages.com was being acquired by PokerStars, the wealthy information about the game tournaments and strategy that the PokerPages had is expected to be preserved and eventually expanded in the future.
PlayWinningPoker.com on the other hand was the home for one of the best-selling poker books of all time, “The Winner’s Guide To Online Poker” that was written by poker player Steve Badger. The said book was published in 2000 and was the first book written for an exclusive purpose of beating the online game. With the success of the book, the website PlayWinningPoker.com was created for the purpose to discuss different disciplines of poker that eventually resulted into becoming one of the best outlets for poker strategy. Poker psychology and bankroll management were also a few of the aspects PlayWinningPoker.com has that other do not mind to consider.
inally, the Poker-Babes.com was the poker site created by poker player Shirley Rosario. Rosario is one of the well respected online and live poker player who was once became a proposition or “prop” player of Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. With her top tournament finishes, Rosario was able to create a mark in the Los Angeles poker world. In 2003, Rosario created the Poker-Babes.com. The site was able to build a tremendous resource for some of the more offbeat games that include Razz and Badugi. In addition, the site also provides a list of poker player profiles.
The Benyamine, Williams, and Basebaldy’s final table on the World Poker Tour World Championship
Happening at the Bellagio, the WPT (World Poker Tour) World Championship is now down to its final table finally after six days. Best players who are still standing in the final table include David Benyamine, David Williams, and Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin who have the biggest stacks in the final table followed by Billy Baxter, Shawn Buchanan, and John O’Shea. The $25,000 buy-in event was still able to produce a stacked up top six, which made the World Poker Tour TV producers happy despite of the close but no cigar finishes of known poker players Phil Hellmuth and Scotty Nguyen.
You can never really say who the big chip leader is when it comes to heading into the final table. During the WPT, Benyamine, an internationally feared French pro player has half of an ante more chips compared to Williams that already has made many deep runs this year. On the other hand, Baldwin who won just about everything in 2009 is only two big blinds behind Benyamine and Williams. O’Shea who is now the table’s short stack just recently had a big chip lead before he doubles up with Baldwin, which was when Baldwin has shipped with pocket jacks and O’Shea called with his tens. Baxter also had doubled through O’Shea just right before the day ends. By the time that Baxter doubled, O’Shea moved all in with a pair of trey from the small blind, which made Baxter to wake up with aces in the big blind. The event had allowed O’Shea to start the final table with 12 big blinds.
During the event, Faraz Jaka who has been leading in the race for WPT Player of the Year had been out from chip leader by just a few huge hands on Day 4. On Day 5, three players were left alive with chances to catch Jaka. However, all these three players must win the tournament in order to get the title from Jaka. Both Nguyen and Hellmuth had a chance at the season’s top honor but no one from the two made it through the finals. On the other hand, Buchacan still had the chance to catch Jaka is he will make it to the finals as the last man standing from fifth in chips. If this happens, Buchanan will be the first one to win both the WPT Championship and the WPT Player of the Year. In this season, Buchanan had finished 4th place at the Five Diamond Classic and at the Bellagio and placed 24th at the LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino.
On Day 6, ten players started the day and it took the players about 10 hours to play until they reach the final six. All of the players have started the tournament with 500 big blinds. On Day 5 the tournament begins with O’Shea as the chip leader that has 113 big blinds, two others had over 90 and the three other more had at least 70.
