Apps for a poker n00b?

September 27, 2011 6:29 AM

Can anyone recommend an app for learning and playing poker on the iPhone or iPad? Not interested in gambling or playing competitively, and I have no prior poker experience. Quite happy to pay for an app, if it's decent.
posted by Ritchie to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

For all things poker - check out the 2 plus 2 poker forums.
posted by thatguyjeff at 6:50 AM on September 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Do you just want to learn the rules and have some fun against a weak AI? If so then Apple's own poker app is great fun and of course very well designed as you would expect from Apple. It certainly doesn't teach you much about how to play poker "well" though or equip you with much strategy knowledge beyond the basic rules about what is a good hand.

I don't know about apps that would teach you strategy for how to play against real people though.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 6:50 AM on September 27, 2011

Best answer: I dunno about apps, but when I started playing poker regularly, the first book I read was extremely helpful - Phil Hellmuth's Play Poker Like The Pros. It's available as an ebook that you could read on your devices.
posted by hootenatty at 6:56 AM on September 27, 2011

Best answer: You may want to clarify what you mean by 'poker'. There are a lot of versions.
If you mean Texas Hold'em, like on TV, I have the free version of World Series of Poker Hold'em on my iPhone and it has taught me the basics and provided some decent distraction while waiting for appointments and such. It has visual clues that help you get a sense of what good hands are that you can then turn off to make things harder.
posted by pixlboi at 7:33 AM on September 27, 2011

Designed for iPhone, check out THTouch -- it has an an elegant user interface.
As said above, it's Texas Hold'Em & will teach you the basics while providing decent distraction.
posted by omnidrew at 7:50 AM on September 27, 2011

Response by poster: Okay, I've downloaded Apple's Texas Hold 'Em, WSOP Hold 'Em and THTouch, and Hellmuth's book as well, so I'll try them out and report back in a week or three. Thanks everyone!

I don't mind which version of poker, really - I just want a game to challenge my mind that a) I don't know the rules for yet, and b) has a real-world analog. So I picked poker.
posted by Ritchie at 4:37 PM on September 28, 2011

Response by poster: Right. Out of the three apps, WSOP Hold 'Em was best for me. Apple's app was very attractive, but takes too long to play with all the animations and so on. THTouch has a control scheme that took me too long to get used to (but I can see why some would like it).

Hellmuth's book is very good, although his notion of a poker beginner and an actual poker beginner are two completely separate creatures. It's made me want to play poker against people, which wasn't the original plan.

Thanks again, everyone!
posted by Ritchie at 3:38 AM on October 28, 2011