Zooma Poker (Hold 'em)

         Online poker applications have been growing in popularity in recent years. The most popular one that I've noticed is also known as Texas Hold 'em, a variation of community card poker(aka flop poker) due to Myspace and Facebook. It's the one where each player gets two cards in their hand, and try to use the 5 cards in play on the table to make the best hand combination for themselves. Presenting one of those apps, Zooma Poker, developed by Zooma apps. It's a free smartphone application for Android smartphones. Download it Here from Google Play.



Quick and non thorough summary of how to play. 
    Players may use up to 5 cards, including the five cards on the table and the two faced down in their hands to poker hand. Players may look at the two cards in their hands. After a round of bets, the three cards on the table, "the flop", are revealed and a round or bets are made. Two more cards, each with a round of bets, are revealed next. The fourth card is referred to as "the turn". And the last card is called "the river". A card is "burned" before the turn, and again during the river. This means the top card is placed on the bottom of the deck. This is done to prevent cheating in the possibility that the burnt card has a distinguishable mark on it so players will not know during the betting. The winner after the river bets receives "the pot" or sum of bets made during that hand.

Placing a Bet
   You may Call, meaning you match the current bet with an equal amount. Raise means you match the current highest bet and add some more of your chips to increase the bet. Once a bet has been made, you cannot withdraw it or get it back (besides winning the pot). To Fold means to forfeit your current hand and give up that round and your chance to win the pot.

 You can't really pause an online poker game once you have made a bet. The game will automatically lift you off your seat once the time has elapsed and you've missed your turn. This means the game has determined that you are no longer playing. The artwork in this smartphone app isn't plain, however the details don't look very fluid. My older Xperia Play's screen sensitivity is not very compatible with poker games so I cannot accurately judge the smoothness of the game. If you just want to try things out you may Play as a Guest. By doing so, every time you log in, you have 1500 chips to spend or use. In fact, you get 4000 free chips when you start. Other things you can do are chat and message. Too many passwords and user names to remember? Zooma Poker lets you use log in with your Facebook.
After losing almost all of my chips as a quest, I logged in for the first time using my FB. I got the 4k on startup and 1k as my daily reward. However, when I pressed on "Play now" it tells me I do not have sufficient chips to play. As far as I can tell, this is a Free game with no advertisements. Uncommon in apps nowadays.

 Card games/apps are still games, but might seem to get a higher maturity rating as in less childish. It's not exactly a video game and playing poker is usually more of an adult thing in my opinion. What do you think? How does this app hold up against some of the most popular poker apps? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading.