Traffic in mobile apps has caught up and overtaken poker rooms. The main reason is the peculiarities of the laws of different countries, which often either destroy online poker completely (as in Germany), or send players to reservations (as in the European Union). And here apps that accept players from all over the world and are available in official stores on any smartphone come to the rescue.
The more the game became in apps in recent years, the lower the entry threshold became. Desktop clients, full-fledged security services, huge alliances with hundreds of tables, tournament series: a brave new world of poker has grown before our eyes – not everyone likes it, but it's hard to argue with the numbers. This material is for those who have long wanted to understand what mobile apps are, who has a good life there, and how to get comfortable there and start earning.
Clubs and Agents
In essence, apps are not poker rooms, but platforms where they can be created. That is, in each app, there are many poker rooms. Each has its own disciplines, limits, and pool of players. They are called "alliances".
Alliances, in turn, consist of clubs – showcases through which you can access the alliance. Just as you can play on the WPN network through ACR, PokerKing, or Black Chip Poker, so you can get into alliances through one of the clubs.
All apps position themselves as play money platforms and therefore are available in mobile app stores in most countries. There is no cash desk in the client, chips can only be bought through an agent in each individual club.
Agent is your affiliate and guide in the world of apps. They make deposits and cashouts for you and also pay out rakeback. The largest agent in the Russian-speaking market is GT+. For many years we have been finding the best clubs for our players and negotiating with the organizers about profitable deals. We also give full guarantees for both deposits and profit – that is, we guarantee the safety of money.
This is what interaction with us looks like:
- You write to support and say that you would like to start playing in apps. You are transferred to GT+. Experts will ask several questions, including what limits and disciplines you play and at what time. After that, you will be offered a choice of a number of clubs, they will tell you about the traffic and the field.
- Registration in the app. There is no verification. All you need to create an account is to choose a free login, create a password, and link your mail. Sending a passport and utility bills, as in ordinary rooms, is not required here. Next, you apply to the club, indicating a special code that we will issue. You are accepted.
- Now you can make a deposit. Through GT+, you can make deposits and cashouts using cards from Russian banks, many cryptocurrencies, and payment systems. And you can also quickly transfer money both between clubs and apps and between them and classic rooms – including RedStar Poker and PokerKing.
- How much are chips worth? This determines each individual alliance. A chip may cost not $1, but, for example, $0.95 or $0.90. For example, when depositing $1,000 into a club with a $0.90 chip, the player receives 1111.11 chips. Rakeback and profit are withdrawn at the same rate at which the deposit was made.
What unusual things to expect from the game?
In apps, they play everything in general: from Hold'em and five-card Omaha to spins and MTTs. You can also find old-school disciplines like Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud. Heads-ups are still alive – and not only in Hold'em but also in several varieties of Omaha.
Traffic can be assessed in the "Traffic Monitoring " section of our website. Here is the total traffic in the clubs we work with (Hold'em and Five Card Omaha):
The first thing that will surely catch the eye of beginners is vertical tables. The origin of this phenomenon is clear: initially, apps could only be played on smartphones. But even now, when almost all popular apps have desktop versions, the tables remain vertical there too. The exception is ClubGG, where the design of the tables is almost identical to the "big brother" – GG.
Next, you need to be prepared for the fact that additional conditions may apply at cash tables in apps. For example:
- With VPIP requirements. For example, play with a VPIP of at least 30% in NLH and at least 40% in PLO5. If you do not comply, they will usually give 20-30 hands to correct. Otherwise, such tables in a particular club may no longer be allowed.
- Call time. With a profit from such a table, you can only exit after a certain number of hands or minutes.
- Tables for several alliances at once. Behind them are players from different pools. The value of the chip is reduced to a common denominator. Made to support action at high stakes, rare disciplines, and dead time.
- Exotic formats. Apps are constantly experimenting. For example, the popular game Crazy Pineapple is a Hold'em game where players receive three cards and fold one on the flop. There are tables with antes, straddles, and "bomb pots" (hands where everyone at the table folds a few big blinds and goes straight to the flop).
Select
An important feature of the apps is that you can see the results of all players at the table in the current session. The information is available with one click and helps with table selection. Also, in some clubs, it is possible to open your own tables (including HU), an agent helps with this on request.
We asked the GreenLine coach, NL400-NL2K regular Rudolf Freemonk, to talk about the features of the select in apps.
There are not so many games at my limits, so I have to not be lazy and create as many accounts as possible in the maximum number of clubs and alliances to cover the entire field. Even if these are some generally unknown clubs – or those where the game is rarely held (for example, once a week).
Otherwise, the mechanics of the select is not much different from the select in eurorooms. This is the creation of tables, and monitoring of incomplete tables (required!), And queues. Also, in some clubs you have to create several accounts. Up to four tables can be played on one account, and when the game is played, an additional emulator is needed so that you can continue to monitor other tables.
Statistics works (though not everywhere). It is worth looking closely at the internal statistics. For example, at PokerBros these are badges: players with a VPIP of more than 50 receive a VIP tag. You can see who drinks a lot and sit down. And, of course, the same monitoring as in regular rooms. Watch what people show at showdowns, they buy more, they don’t buy more.
I removed double boards and bomb pots, I play everything else, including Pineapple (very good fish come across). I also play tables with VPIP requirements – you can get up to 50% for a good fish. I also play full ring and anonymous tables.
Trackers, VIP cards, and emulators
In mobile apps, you can display HUDs in different ways to calculate amateurs and regulars.
- VIP cards. They are available for purchase in every app, they give a variety of bonuses from the ability to “throw” glasses of beer at opponents to really useful ones: statistics on opponents, additional time banks, and protection against disconnection.
For example, PPPoker has two types of cards – black and platinum. The first one ($26) activates VPIP, PFR, 3-BET, СBET stats, total number of hands, and ratio of pots won to lost. The second one ($64) adds ATS, check-raise, and folds to 3-bets and c-bets — plus it brings the stats directly to the table, without going to the profile.
At Suprema Poker everything is easier and cheaper. $12 will unlock VPIP, PFR, 3-BET, CBET, number of hands and pots won/lost. For $30, you will be able to view the overall statistics of players in specific clubs. Active GT+ players receive cards for free. - Hand2Note. HUD display in apps requires an ASIA or PRO subscription. The first one ($39) unlocks the basic functionality, the second one ($59) activates the dynamic HUD, extended pop-ups, Range Research, and other advanced features. GT+ players with $1,500+ rake per month get H2N ASIA for free, $2,000 gets H2N PRO. We also offer our own advanced HUD for apps.
- EliteHud. With a subscription from $31, it works in PokerBros, PPPoker, ClubGG, for $39 – in all. Converts hands for trackers, activates hotkeys, shows stacks in BB, and automatically switches tables when it's time to move.
- KingsHands. It also converts hands for trackers and supports hotkeys, brings pot odds to the table. It also opens up additional features in apps: for example, in PPPoker in the desktop version it allows you to run up to five accounts (and up to five tables from each), and in PokerBros it turns on automatic switching between tables and opens access to tables prohibited for playing with the emulator.
- Emulators. Programs that run on Windows and mimic the Android operating system. You will need to run several of these at once if you decide to play at PokerBros: it is most convenient to play only one table in each emulator.
What does the modern app market look like?
The ancestor of modern apps is considered to be PokerMaster. GipsyTeam started working with him in 2018. Prospects became immediately visible – Asian amateurs willingly gave money, returning the regulars to the "golden years" of poker. Hundreds of our players managed to decently replenish their bankrolls there, but gradually the fields began to deteriorate, and the risks and security problems grew. GipsyTeam then decided to temporarily stop cooperation with Chinese apps.
But everything changed when PPPoker appeared. The ease of registration was especially appreciated by Americans who were hungry for online. At the same time, a security service began working in the app, which detects bots, chip dumping, and team play. Russian-speaking poker players GipsyTeam began to register there almost immediately after the launch. At the same time, we began to guarantee the players the safety of deposits, taking all the risks – and we work this way to this day. PPPoker remains the most popular app with clubs from all over the world, from Vietnam to India. If you correctly draw up a grid, there will be enough games at any time of the day: alliances all over the planet, which means that somewhere there is always prime time.
The app developed rapidly, and soon one of the largest unions decided to separate. So at the end of 2019, PokerBros broke into the market with predominantly American traffic. Today it is the second most popular app and is the one of choice for most GT+ players. It has the best security system to date, and there are still a lot of players from the USA.
Since then, the app market has exploded. The owners of the largest Brazilian alliance PPPoker have created their own app Suprema Poker.
I quickly saw the prospects in this market and the perspicacious GG Network: the ClubGG app boasts advanced software and an interface just like GGPoker (with no preflop rake).
There are also exotic options like NUTS Poker: this app focuses on limit games. There you can find action in Omaha hi-lo, 2-7 triple draw, badugi (as well as baducey and badacey), stud, stud hi-lo, and razz. The game starts at approximately 18:00 GMT. You can often meet Ilya Gorodetsky, Andrey Zaichenko, and other famous players at the tables.
What's the catch?
Grinding in apps has its own characteristics and requires more effort and attention than playing in rooms. First of all, this is the need to regularly look for new clubs: new and promising ones appear, in old ones, the game can come to nothing. And it can also come to nothing for you personally, especially in small private alliances: the organizers sometimes take drastic measures and can show the door not only for bumhunting, but also for tight play, excessive profit, or even just like that.
Not only the player but also the agent can be blocked. Smaller private clubs sometimes terminate partnerships with affiliates and close deals: in this case, we withdraw players' money and either give them access to the same alliance from other clubs or offer them to switch to other alliances.
Also, players have to be more careful at the tables so as not to run into teamplay or bots. GT+ checks the game in clubs, but the player also has to always keep an eye out. Not everyone is ready for such adventures, but they are worth it: hundreds of regulars have been successfully playing in apps for years, and the profit of GreenLine fund players (playing only in apps) has exceeded $10 million in 3 years.
You will also need a powerful computer to play with emulators. Which one, we recently told in the channel "What's on the River?"
But the skills of a system administrator are not needed: everything will be installed and configured for free by our technical support upon request.
Along with the industry, the department of our company that helps app players has also grown rapidly. In 2019, it had only six people, but today it is a whole separate office with two dozen employees. Every day we monitor the market, look for and conclude profitable deals, and check new clubs for honesty. Then we tell the players where to look for the most promising fields for their disciplines and limits.
To start the game, write to GT+. We will tell you about both large and small clubs, select the best app for you, set up the software, help you make a deposit in a convenient way, and start paying rakeback weekly. Contact us!
