Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe

Developed by IGG Inc., Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe is a very popular Facebook poker application with over 548,600 active monthly users. Anyone who has played Zynga Poker will feel at home very quickly here because in many respects the apps are strikingly similar. The game involved is Texas Hold’em, and the lobby presents five main categories labelled Beginner, Regular, Expert, Master and Fast. The first four categories obviously refer to your level of experience, whilst the fifth is for games that are played at a faster rate than normal, making them useful for players who like things to clip along at a decent pace.

As is usual with online poker apps on Facebook, all of the action takes place in a Flash window inside your browser, so in most cases there is no preparation required to get involved and start playing. All you need is you browser, the desire to play poker and a few minutes to get started.

Playing Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe

Texas HoldeEm Poker Deluxe has a very fast start-up sequence which enables you to go from deciding to get involved to actually sitting at a poker table in less than 30 seconds, and that is no exaggeration. All you have to do is visit the Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe app page, click Play, click Allow so that Facebook can allow the app to access your user data and the main game screen will appear in your browser as if by magic. One more click to Play Now and you will see your avatar image occupying a seat at a suitable table.

Like Zynga Poker, Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe uses an Experience Points system to track your progress from a complete Level 1 beginner (as far as this game is concerned) all the way up to Level 100. You acquire Experience Points by participating in games, winning hands, achieving pre-set objectives and so on. In simple terms, if you focus on enjoying the poker with or without your friends, the Experience Points - and therefore your Experience Level - will take care of themselves.

There are both ring games and tournaments (Sit and Go, Multi-Table and Shootouts) to participate in here, and both formats are very nicely presented in traditional online poker style. Graphics are clear, the action buttons are intuitive and if you have played poker anywhere else then you won’t have any problems playing Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe. For those of you who have little or no experience of online poker, a Tutorial feature is coming soon (the button is already in the lobby, albeit greyed out) which will teach you the basics.

You are given a generous stack of chips to begin with and most players find that starting stack to be more than sufficient for their needs, especially when they take advantage of all the bonus chip offers that come along. That said, there is a facility to buy more chips with real cash if you want to do so - perhaps to get involved in games that are currently beyond your bankroll’s capabilities.

The Social Aspect

When you play Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe you can invite your friends and receive invites from others. Whoever you play against, be they friends or strangers, you can all chat with each other using a simply text-entry interface located at the bottom right of the poker table. Free poker chips can be sent to your buddies, and the advantage of doing this is that it encourages them to send you free chips back, which helps to keep your bankroll topped up. There are also plenty of virtual gifts to obtain for yourself and your poker buddies.

If you give the app permission to do so, Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe will post relevant stories to your wall, which makes it fairly easy for all of your friends (both players and non-players) to keep track of how you are doing. This can be a good way of encouraging some of your non-playing friends to get involved and join you at the tables.

Conclusion

Texas HoldEm Poker Deluxe is a fantastic Facebook poker app that will give you a massive amount of fun. It takes literally moments to get started but the gameplay is delightfully addictive and the odds are good that you will be very happy to continue playing here for the long term.