Zynga Poker is a good option for anyone looking for casual, free poker. You’ll have opponents from around the world at your table, plus you can invite your own friends. Zinga has cash games and sit & go tournaments, as well as fast-folding poker and 3-way spin & go.

There are ways to spend real money on Zynga Poker, but there is no way to make a profit from playing on the app. The business profits from in-app purchases like chip refills, cosmetics, and others.

Zynga Poker is available on the App Store, Google Play, and in your internet browser. It’s been downloaded over 50 million times on the Google Play store and has great reviews. To have the best experience, there are a few important things to know about Zynga Poker.

Zynga Poker’s app has smooth animations and customizable avatars

Zynga Poker lets you start playing for free, but you’ve got to manage your chips wisely. The software constantly encourages you to refill your chips by spending real money. Investing real money in play-money chips is not a great strategy; it’s better to wait for daily chip refills and play lower stakes.

Getting started at Zynga Poker: First, download the Zynga Poker app for your device (APK or iOS), or play in your internet browser.

When you first open the game, you receive 2,600,000 play chips. The Zynga Poker tutorial will instantly place you into a cash game that uses your entire play money bankroll. Leave the game right away by clicking the arrow icon in the top left of the window, then Select New Table from the menu.

Now you can decide which stakes you want to play, plus a few other options:

  • Stakes
  • Max buy-in or custom buy-in
  • Fast or Normal speed (changes the timer for each player)
  • 5-player or 9-player tables
Fast poker gives players 8-second times, while Normal speed gives 18

When you first start playing, the only games available are Texas hold ‘em cash games.

Other poker formats to unlock at Zynga Poker:

  • Spin & Go: 3-player turbo poker, winner takes all (Minimum buy-in = 5 million play chips)
  • Sit & Go: 5 players, first and second place are paid (Minimum buy-in = 1 billion play chips)
All of the events are locked at first, except a Texas hold ‘em cash game

Leagues: World Champions is a leaderboard that shows the top players on the app and gives out rewards. The ranks start at Rookie and the top tier is World Champion. Playing and ranking on the leaderboard earns you prizes and perks.

There are three main ways to refill your free-play chips.

  1. Wait for Daily Spins and Rose’s Rewards, both will give you chips to use at the table.
  2. Complete missions from the Challenges Tab and you’ll get lots of chips
  3. Buy chip refills from the Zynga Poker store ($0.99 for 150,000,000 chips)
What type of poker do you prefer?

Select the icon with two people in it, located at the bottom right of the application window.

You’ll see four different tabs:

  • Buddies: See your current friends list.
  • Referrals: Click this to send a friend request or enter a friend’s invite code
  • Requests: Accept or decline friend requests
  • Recent: See a list of players you recently met at poker tables.

Once you are linked with friends on Zynga, you’ll be able to invite them to your tables and vice versa. Referring a friend to Zynga Poker puts 100,000 free chips in your account.

Collect 100,000 free chips for referring a friend to Zynga Poker

If you want world-class poker software and a long list of games, PokerStars is a great option. They even let you host private tournaments and cash games called Home Games. Not ready to invest real money yet? No problem, because you can play Home Games using free-play chips. You invite the players and choose the games, stakes, and schedule.

PokerStars has all the types of poker you need, like Texas hold ‘em, Omaha, short deck, stud games, and many more.

PokerStars offers free-play and real-money tables

The main lobby has a great spread of multi-table tournaments, sit & go, spins, fast-fold poker, and classic cash games.

Check out the GipsyTeam review of PokerStars’ software and bonuses.

Winning games of free poker is tons of fun, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll be a winning player in real-money games. The players you encounter on Zynga Poker will disregard normal hand strength and play unpredictably. It’s important to remember that free-play poker is vastly different from real-money poker.

Most casual players are going to run out of chips quite quickly. Zynga Poker’s business strategy is immediately clear and you’re constantly reminded about it. Most players will lose their initial stack and be forced to wait for refills or pay money for chips.

There are a few formats to play, but most are locked behind large buy-ins. You’ll have to double the first free chips Zynga gives your account, just to enter the lowest buy-in sit & go.

Governor of Poker 3 is objectively better for players looking for free online poker.

You’ll enjoy the graphics in Governor of Poker 3

Wide Range of Games:Play Texas hold ‘em cash games, sit & go, spin & go, and push or fold games right away, without needing to unlock anything.

Invite Friends Easily: Send email invites to your friends and host private Texas hold ‘em cash games with custom stakes.

No Need To Spend Money: You’ll still be shown items from the shop, but there’s no need to purchase anything.

You can download GOP3 from the App Store, Google Play (APK), or open the game from your internet browser. Check out our full review and guide here.

Whether you want to play poker against the rest of the world or organize your own games, we recommend 888poker. They’ve got higher traffic than most poker sites, great bonuses for new players, and the option for private games. There are tables for all skill levels at 888poker because you can switch between Play or Real Money.

You can test almost every game using free-play chips

Types of Poker at 888poker:

  • Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Pot Limit Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo

Bring your home games online with 888poker’s Play with Friends feature. You can organize real money cash games or tournaments with your friends and schedule them ahead of time. Inviting your group is easy, just send them a link and start playing.

888poker lets you quickly sign up and start playing, with a great bonus of up to $88 for creating an account. Play cash games, sit & go’s, multi-table tournaments, spins, and fast-fold poker from any of your devices (and on your browser).

Snap games are fast-paced

Fast-folding Snap games are one of 888poker’s most popular games. The moment you throw your hand away, you’ll be taken to a new table with fresh cards. You can use Play Money or Real Money for Snap games.

partypoker is another platform to connect with friends on. You can customize hold ‘em and Omaha games, then invite your friends by sending them a link. Stakes for Club Games at partypoker start at $0.01/$0.02 and are limited to $1/$2.

partypoker has a busy tournament schedule with low entry fees and several speeds, like normal, turbo, and super turbo. If you feel like playing cash games, choose from Texas hold ‘em, pot-limit Omaha, short deck, and a few other poker formats.

This is PokerBros, one of the top poker club applications

We’ve got a curated list of Poker Clubs that we recommend for real-money poker. Clubs work differently from other sites; players compete within groups instead of against the entire player pool. You can easily start your own group and invite your friends for games of hold ‘em, Omaha, short deck, and more.