Best Real Money POker Apps for BlackBerry
Just a few short years ago BlackBerry was the number one smartphone on the planet. The arrival of the iPhone with its large touchscreen caught RIM by surprise and the company struggled to compete for many years. Despite this BlackBerry still has a substantial user base, particularly in the business community.
Even though you won't find any real-money gambling apps in the BlackBerry App World, you can still play poker tournaments and ring games via the browser of your BlackBerry tablet or smartphone providing you are using newer models like the Q10, Z10 or Z30. If you are using the older Curve or Bold models then you're out of luck. Thankfully Carbon Poker is compatible with BlackBerry and also welcomes real-money gamers from the United States of America. Download any of the following apps to your BB handset to play Texas Hold'em and Omaha cash games and Sit and Go tournaments on the go.
Even though you won't find any real-money gambling apps in the BlackBerry App World, you can still play poker tournaments and ring games via the browser of your BlackBerry tablet or smartphone providing you are using newer models like the Q10, Z10 or Z30. If you are using the older Curve or Bold models then you're out of luck. Thankfully Carbon Poker is compatible with BlackBerry and also welcomes real-money gamers from the United States of America. Download any of the following apps to your BB handset to play Texas Hold'em and Omaha cash games and Sit and Go tournaments on the go.
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Once upon a time, not so long ago, BlackBerry ruled the roost when it came to mobile communication devices. The company sprang into life in 1996 as Research in Motion Limited, releasing the Inter@active Pager 900. This was an immediate success, and the company's profits exploded when the computer giants IBM bought ten million dollars worth of RML units in 1998.
The company chose the name BlackBerry as the full-keyboard interface of their units made them look like blackberries.
They heyday of BlackBerry devices was perhaps from 2006 until 2010, when smart-phones powered by iOS, Android and Windows Phone began to overwhelm sales of BlackBerrys, relegating them to fourth place in the mobile device market.
By 2014 BlackBerry had sold over eight millions units worldwide.
Poker on BlackBerry
The slight downfall in the popularity of BlackBerry mobiles has coincided with the rise in the take up of mobile poker apps. BlackBerrys are also not renowned for having huge screens, which makes them not the best for playing mobile poker upon.
Dedicated BlackBerry poker apps can be a little difficult to locate, and even more difficult to download – indeed very few poker rooms offer genuine BlackBerry poker apps. You can get dedicated apps, but these are more likely to be 'play money' apps made by gaming companies not affiliated with major poker rooms.
BlackBerry 10 – A new hope?
The latest range of BlackBerry devices – powered by the BlackBerry 10 operating system – are more in the style of smart-phones made for iOS and Android-powered systems. Gone is BlackBerry's quintessential push-button QWERTY keypad, and all text is now typed on-screen. As a result, BlackBerry's future in the mobile market seems a little brighter, and hence the chances of BlackBerry owners joining in with the mobile poker revolution seem brighter as well.
Flash-based Sites
Many poker sites used to offer mobile poker apps that required no download as they could be played via an internet browser. This meant that BlackBerry owners were able to play at such sites as the BlackBerry browser could support Flash – although the less 'fussy' a site, the more likely it was that it would be able to offer seamless play to BlackBerry owners.
This became a moot point in December 2014 when BlackBerry announced that BlackBerry OS 10.3.1 and onwards would no longer support Adobe Flash. However, this was not as troublesome a point as it sounded as fewer and fewer online poker rooms were continuing to support Flash, and even Adobe themselves has ceased further development of Flash in 2011.
HTML5-based Sites
HTML5 has become the new standard when it comes to providing interactive or video content via websites, and the majority of poker rooms now use HTML5 for their browser-based apps – indeed most poker rooms use HTML5 in preference to creating bespoke apps that need to be downloaded and installed.
The BlackBerry browser does support HTML5, but very few poker rooms say that they can will guarantee that their HTML5 web-based apps will run on a BlackBerry. If you are a BlackBerry user and you would like to use the HMTL5-fuelled version of a poker room's website, then see if you can access the site by playing for play money first without the need to sign up for an account. If not, take the sign up pledge and see if you can get the HTML5 version of the site to work on your BlackBerry.
BlackBerry Poker in the US
There are, at the time of writing, no poker rooms that accept poker players from the US and who can guarantee that the mobile version of their site will work on a Blackberry device.
There is an alternative …
There are real money poker apps listed in the BlackBerry World app store (such as Texas Hold'em King LIVE poker) – however none of these are linked to familiar names in the poker industry such as PokerStars, 888poker, Full Tilt Poker or Party Poker. You will need to download, install and register the app in order to enjoy a little real money poker action, but the numbers of players you will encounter and the standard of play has to be questioned.
Things can only get better?
The truth is that if you do only own a BlackBerry mobile device, and playing mobile poker is important to you, then you are going to experience difficulties in joining the 'play as you go' mobile poker party. It is simply the case that the development of mobile poker apps for BlackBerry devices has never been seen as a priority by poker rooms, and in all honesty, things are not likely to change in the immediate future. If you DO really need to play poker while out and about, buying a cheap iPad or Android-powered tablet to compliment your BlackBerry is possibly the most effective solution.
The company chose the name BlackBerry as the full-keyboard interface of their units made them look like blackberries.
They heyday of BlackBerry devices was perhaps from 2006 until 2010, when smart-phones powered by iOS, Android and Windows Phone began to overwhelm sales of BlackBerrys, relegating them to fourth place in the mobile device market.
By 2014 BlackBerry had sold over eight millions units worldwide.
Poker on BlackBerry
The slight downfall in the popularity of BlackBerry mobiles has coincided with the rise in the take up of mobile poker apps. BlackBerrys are also not renowned for having huge screens, which makes them not the best for playing mobile poker upon.
Dedicated BlackBerry poker apps can be a little difficult to locate, and even more difficult to download – indeed very few poker rooms offer genuine BlackBerry poker apps. You can get dedicated apps, but these are more likely to be 'play money' apps made by gaming companies not affiliated with major poker rooms.
BlackBerry 10 – A new hope?
The latest range of BlackBerry devices – powered by the BlackBerry 10 operating system – are more in the style of smart-phones made for iOS and Android-powered systems. Gone is BlackBerry's quintessential push-button QWERTY keypad, and all text is now typed on-screen. As a result, BlackBerry's future in the mobile market seems a little brighter, and hence the chances of BlackBerry owners joining in with the mobile poker revolution seem brighter as well.
- mFortune
The mobile-only poker room mFortune is one of the very few poker rooms that offers a dedicated poker app for BlackBerry users. The app allows BlackBerry owners to join in with cash games up to a maximum of eight players per table, and new players can benefit from a free £5 bonus. At the time of writing, mFortune had yet to add tournaments to their BlackBerry poker app, but they had announced intentions to add heads-up, double-up, classic Sit & Go's and Stack Champ tournaments.
Flash-based Sites
Many poker sites used to offer mobile poker apps that required no download as they could be played via an internet browser. This meant that BlackBerry owners were able to play at such sites as the BlackBerry browser could support Flash – although the less 'fussy' a site, the more likely it was that it would be able to offer seamless play to BlackBerry owners.
This became a moot point in December 2014 when BlackBerry announced that BlackBerry OS 10.3.1 and onwards would no longer support Adobe Flash. However, this was not as troublesome a point as it sounded as fewer and fewer online poker rooms were continuing to support Flash, and even Adobe themselves has ceased further development of Flash in 2011.
HTML5-based Sites
HTML5 has become the new standard when it comes to providing interactive or video content via websites, and the majority of poker rooms now use HTML5 for their browser-based apps – indeed most poker rooms use HTML5 in preference to creating bespoke apps that need to be downloaded and installed.
The BlackBerry browser does support HTML5, but very few poker rooms say that they can will guarantee that their HTML5 web-based apps will run on a BlackBerry. If you are a BlackBerry user and you would like to use the HMTL5-fuelled version of a poker room's website, then see if you can access the site by playing for play money first without the need to sign up for an account. If not, take the sign up pledge and see if you can get the HTML5 version of the site to work on your BlackBerry.
BlackBerry Poker in the US
There are, at the time of writing, no poker rooms that accept poker players from the US and who can guarantee that the mobile version of their site will work on a Blackberry device.
- Carbon Poker
Carbon Poker do have a mobile version of their poker room. Take a trip to m.carbonpoker.ag on your Blackberry to see if the site will work for you. Carbon Poker says that the site is only designed to work on iPads, iPhones and Androids, but you never know your luck. - Bovada Poker
Bovada are another site that allows US-based players to sign up for accounts, but again say that the site is only 'guaranteed' to work on iPads, iPhones and Android-powered devices. If you have a BlackBerry, you can try visiting m.bovada.lv/poker on your device and see how you get on. Bovada offers Texas Hold'em, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo for cash games, plus their version of fast-fold poker, known as Zone Poker.
There is an alternative …
There are real money poker apps listed in the BlackBerry World app store (such as Texas Hold'em King LIVE poker) – however none of these are linked to familiar names in the poker industry such as PokerStars, 888poker, Full Tilt Poker or Party Poker. You will need to download, install and register the app in order to enjoy a little real money poker action, but the numbers of players you will encounter and the standard of play has to be questioned.
Things can only get better?
The truth is that if you do only own a BlackBerry mobile device, and playing mobile poker is important to you, then you are going to experience difficulties in joining the 'play as you go' mobile poker party. It is simply the case that the development of mobile poker apps for BlackBerry devices has never been seen as a priority by poker rooms, and in all honesty, things are not likely to change in the immediate future. If you DO really need to play poker while out and about, buying a cheap iPad or Android-powered tablet to compliment your BlackBerry is possibly the most effective solution.
