Facebook new breeding ground for poker fans
Around 140,000 people a day are using the social networking site Facebook to hone their poker skills rather than search for long-lost friends.
The Texas Hold’em application has proved extremely popular since it was launched just a few months ago despite the lack of a cash reward on offer.
Upon signing up, players are given 200 Facebook chips and a rewarded a further 500 for every friend they invite to join the movement.
However, the growing numbers of independent games being organized by the site’s users are attracting thousands of players, many of who are completely new to the game.
Since the site was opened up to developers in May of this year, more than 3,000 applications have been added by software developers, with around 80 per cent of all users having at least one program on their profile, according to recent research by the Los Angeles Times.
Just last week the daughter of poker pro Ron Kluber used Facebook to invite people to watch his progress at the Main Event of this year’s World Series of Poker.