There are about 40 million poker players that play poker on a regular basis. If you too are one of the many poker players from around the world, this article is for you. In this piece, we’ll talk about the most popular poker games, the most popular websites where you can play poker games, and we also have some little-known facts about poker we’d like to share with you. Interested? Read on.
Did You Know: Poker Facts
While doing our research about popular poker games, we stumbled upon some truly fascinating facts about poker that we wanted you to know as well, so here they are.
The longest game of poker lasted for more than 8 years. Can you believe that? Neither could we, especially since we know that this came from an unverified source. So we did the only thing we could, and that was broadening our search for more accurate answers. Here’s what we’ve found: the longest game of poker was really an 8 year-5 month-and-3 days marathon. The game took place at the Bird Cage Theatre in Arizona, and no one has broken this record to this day.
On the other hand, there is a record for the longest poker game, set by Phil Laak who played for 115 hours. He left the table with a profit of $6,766 and a new record in the Guinness World Records.
Lastly, we found out that poker card games have not always been played with a 52-card deck. There were times when 4 players played a poker game with a 20-card deck. Interesting, right?
The Most Popular Poker Games
Texas Hold’em: When talking about poker games Texas Holdem is one of the first things that pop into poker players’ minds. This is the most popular poker game in the world after all. Here’s one interesting statistic about the game: if you happen to need two exact cards on the turn and the river, your chances of getting both those cards are as low as 0.3%.
Omaha: Second on our list of the most popular poker games, comes Omaha. If you are a beginner in the poker world, and you’ve just mastered Texas Holdem, here’s the main difference between Omaha and Texas Holdem. Namely, unlike with Texas Hold’em, in Omaha, you get 4 Hole cards, and you must use 2 of them in a combination with 3 Community cards.
2-7 Triple Draw: Once you master the Omaha and Texas Hold’em versions of poker, it might be time for you to move on to 2-7 Triple Draw. You might want to take advice from the expert in this poker game, Justin Bonomo, and that’s not to focus on straight draws, but having a deuce in your hand.
Seven-card Stud: While we’re on the topic of different poker games that are widely popular, it’s impossible not to list Seven-card Stud. This poker game has been around long before Texas Hold’em got into play, and it’s still one of the most popular choices.
Five-card Draw: Whether you like free live poker or playing poker online, Five-card Draw is known for being one of the most fun poker games among many different types of poker players. This is the simplest version of poker, and if you’re not that worried about winning, but want to enjoy a poker game for fun, Five-card Draw is definitely the right game for you.
Dealer’s Choice Poker Games: Lastly, we wanted to include dealer’s choice games. Dealer’s choice is a card game where the dealer is the one that decides which game will be played. The reason why this type of poker game is popular is that it has unusual rules and players can’t select which variants of poker will be played.
Now, that we’ve shared with you these six popular poker games, it’s time to move on to the next topic on our list – free online poker games. We have found the best websites where you can play poker for free. But before that, let’s take a quick look at the difference between free online poker games and ‘freeroll’.
Play Poker for Free: Freeroll
A freeroll is a special type of tournament where you don’t need to invest anything (meaning there is no buy-in), and you can still enjoy a game of poker. What’s more, you’re eligible for winning real money. Here’s the difference between free poker games and freerolls. In free poker games, you don’t use real money in order to play or participate in different tournaments.
You also don’t win real money when you win a game of free poker, but when it comes to freerolls, the outcome is completely different. Namely, freerolls allow you to play on real money poker sites, such as Sky Poker, Ladbrokes, etc. You don’t have to invest any real money, but you can earn it.
Best Websites for Playing Top Poker Games for Free
If you don’t want to play poker for real money, but you’d rather find top free poker games and play them online, we have a list of websites that offer free poker games online – no download.
Zynga Poker
First on our list is Zynga, a site which is rated as one of the best websites where you can play poker games for free. This website is the perfect place to play Texas Hold’em poker, without worrying about real money. Zynga Poker allows you to invite your friends or choose a random player from millions of Zynga poker players.
What’s great about this website, is that it allows both poker beginners and experts alike to enjoy poker games. If you’re new to poker, you can learn a thing or two from some of the best poker players that play on Zynga. There’s also a social feature, allowing you to make new friends on Zynga who are also poker enthusiasts like yourself.
PokerStars
Another great website where you can play the best poker games for free is PokerStars. PokerStars offers a wide array of choices when it comes to different poker games and tournaments. The website was launched in 2001, and since then it’s improved its aesthetic, customer support, and increased its choice of poker games.
Some of the games you can play on PokerStars include Texas Hold’em, Single Draw Lowball 2-7, Omaha, Fast fold variants of Hold’em and H.O.R.S.E, etc.
PokerStars has a great ‘Home Games’ feature. Home Games is used to create private games, as opposed to playing at a public table. This feature allows you to play with your friends only, and it may come in handy if you want to organize an online poker night with some of your closest friends.
888 Poker
Another online place where you can enjoy poker games for play-money is 888 Poker. This online casino is famous for its numerous poker games, 3D tables, webcam games, and of course, many poker players.
What makes 888 Poker great in regards to playing poker for free is that is hosts the 888poker ‘Practice Play Lobby’. This is the place where you can enjoy playing poker without any real-money investments and perfect your game. Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo, are just some of the many games you’ll find here.
As soon as you sign up, 888 Poker will reward you with a bonus of $88 and you’re under no obligation to make a deposit in order to qualify for this bonus. So, if you do decide to play for real money, and you’re ready to make your first deposit (which will be doubled), you’ll have some extra cash to start with.
Poker Games Offline
Now, let’s talk about offline poker games. This is not the most popular choice amongst poker players, as the pace of an offline poker game is rather slow. However, if you’re a patient person, there are some really good free poker games offline.
Some of the best offline poker games are poker apps, such as the Texas Hold’em Offline Poker Android app. This poker app will provide you with rich animations, HD graphics, different levels of play (from easy to hard), etc. Texas Holdem Poker is one of the top free poker games in the Google Play Store for offline play.
Poker Games Free Download
Once you’ve downloaded their software, you’ll be asked to log in and start playing online. This is one of the ways to get poker games for your desktop computer, mobile devices, and so on. Another way to get free downloads and play them offline is to find their downloadable version with the help of search engines.
We’ve used google and found PokerTH with a free download. The game is 34.42 MB, and it’s free to play with up to 6 competitors.
Poker Games Unblocked
Another thing we wanted to talk about is poker games unblocked. If you happen to have some extra free time at work, and you’d like to spend it on a poker game, there are many websites out there that host some of your favourite poker games unblocked. This means that you get to play a poker game for free, and you don’t need to download it, and yes, you can play it at work! (But we wouldn’t recommend it!)
Anyway, we hoped you liked our selection of the top poker games available right now. Make sure you have reliable antivirus software before you download any program to your desktop computer or mobile device. That’s all. Thank you for reading!
