You don’t need real money or even real cards. Check out these best free poker apps to play a game of Texas Hold’em Poker with friends online.
Poker is one of the most popular games online, whether to play or to watch. You can now play with friends remotely and even over a video call. One of the games even lets you play poker without chips or cards.
Note: Play responsibly. In any online poker game, don’t add your credit card or PayPal details. Casual gamers are advised not to spend real money on virtual coins. And remember, poker games can’t help you win in real life.
1. LiPoker (Web): Fastest Poker Game With Friends, No Signup, No Download
Want to play a quick game of poker with friends? LiPoker is the fastest way to start a game. Head to the website to create a new game and share the link with friends for them to join. No one has to sign up or download anything to begin, it works in any desktop or mobile browser.
The app allows you to password-protect games in case you want to ensure random people can’t join. The creator sets how much money can be bet per hand. Up to nine friends can play simultaneously, and the game tracks winnings and losings in the “leaderboard.” There are easy keyboard shortcuts for your bets, and a hand rankings chart in case you’re new to the game.
LiPoker allows you to chat with friends in a small window, which also logs all moves. It also includes a video call option, but the video call didn’t work in our test. You can change theme colors, sit out for a few hands, and generally play as you would with friends in real life.
2. Poker in Place (Web): Video Call Poker Games With Friends
The fun of playing poker in person is judging reactions. You get to see your friends’ expressions and “tells,” as hard as they might try not to give anything away. Poker in Place brings that experience closer by adding a video call to a game of poker.
You can play with up to four players at a time. Each player’s video shows up in a little circle at their spot on the table. The audio and video are perfectly stable. Use keyboard shortcuts or your mouse to play a standard game of poker. Like with LiPoker, anyone can use the app in their browser without signing up or downloading anything. But you also have the option to sign up to save progress and settings.
Poker in Place uses Twilio Video for the video calling, and so there is a catch. The free version lasts for 20 minutes. If you want to continue the game after that, you’ll need to pay (it’s the same as the Twilio fee, the developer claims they are passing on the cost). Otherwise, you could make a new game every 20 minutes.
3. EasyPoker (Android, iOS): Play Poker Without Chips or Cards
It’s such a common situation. You find yourself ready to play a quick game of poker with friends, but there isn’t a deck of cards or a set of chips available. What do you do? Just whip out your phones and launch EasyPoker, as it’s the same thing.
This app is one of the ways for a quick poker game between friends, whether you’re bored in a cafe, traveling on a train, or anything else. You will need an active internet connection on both phones though. Download the app and sign up, then create a room to invite friends.
Because you’re all in the same room, you want to “hide” your cards too. So EasyPoker hides your hand at all times, and you have to press and hold the screen to see them. It’s a tiny but excellent user design that makes the game feel more fun and real.
Technically, you could play the game live over the internet with friends who aren’t around you, but given that there’s no chat, the other apps in this article are better for that. Easy Poker’s free version also limits you to four players at a time, and you’ll have to pay to unlock up to 12 players and other customization features.
Download: Easy Poker for Android | iOS (Free)
4. PokerStars (YouTube): Watch the Best Poker Videos on the Internet
The World Series of Poker is the biggest poker tournament to watch on TV, but unfortunately, their YouTube channel has been inactive for a long time. So if you like watching poker tournaments and games on TV, there is no better YouTube channel than PokerStars to get your fix. In fact, if you haven’t seen such games before, you should really give it a chance. It’s a lot more entertaining than you might think.
PokerStars hosts some of the best tournaments in the world, and they’re now available to watch online in slickly edited packages. You can also view all episodes of the poker series Shark Cage and The Big Game. The stars in the videos are the Who’s Who of poker, including Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.
The YouTube channel also has a team of video editors putting together fun playlists and clips. The PokerStars Top 5, for instance, has some incredible videos about the best nightmare hands, celebrity appearances like Ronaldo, and other entertaining action.
5. The Best Poker Apps to Play Online (Android, iOS)
If you want to play a game of Texas Hold’em Poker online with strangers, you are spoilt for choices. Even if you don’t know the game, you can learn it quickly and have a fun time without spending any actual money.
- TOK: Learn how to play poker if you haven’t played before. TOK teaches the basics of poker with a neat quiz format to ensure you’ve got a hang of the game. Without that, you’ll get eaten alive in the online games. TOK also includes an AI mode to play against three opponents offline.
- Governor of Poker / World Series of Poker / Zynga Poker: These are three of the biggest apps to play poker online. There’s very little to separate them, so choose the one you like. All games have millions of players online, so you’ll easily find a table to start a match quickly. Each game gives you a virtual cash bonus daily to play, so you don’t have to spend real money through in-app purchases. Just be patient.
- Appeak Poker: Appeak is also like the other three games, but relatively new and without as large a fan base. However, it’s a much lighter game that doesn’t hog battery or resources, so it’s excellent for older phones.
Download: TOK for Android | iOS (Free)
Download: Appeak Poker for Android | iOS (Free)
Please note that all online poker games have in-app purchases and are trying to get you to pay to buy virtual coins. It’s best to disable in-app purchases on a device that an impressionable mind might use.
PlayingCards.io and Other Games to Play With Friends Online
Poker is just one of the games you can play online at the excellent card game website PlayingCards.io. You can set up the table and deck how you want, and invite friends to join in. Check it out, and other such free multi-game apps and websites to play with friends online.
Read the full article: 5+ Best Free Poker Apps to Play Texas Hold’Em With Friends Online
