Before I made the switch to an iPhone, I used a Blackberry for years and loved it. Despite some amazing new Blackberry and Windows phones hitting the streets developers just aren’t creating real money poker apps for these phones. And although they lack dedicated poker apps, these phone are more than capable of playing poker games online. I’ll walk you through how to get games going on your favorite phone.

Now I haven’t tested this on all Windows phones and Blackberries, I just don’t have the time or money to buy every device and test it, but these instructions will work with all new model phones with touch screens. I’ve played games on Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry 10.2.1 so future OS releases from these manufactures should work flawlessly. The great things is that because you don’t need to download an app to play you don’t have to install anything which reduces potential complications. It also means that you never have to “update” an app. Poker companies are always releasing updates so this can become a hassle if you have to update an app every week or so to get the latest version.

What You’ll Need:

• A touch screen smart phone
• Internet connection. Minimum 3G wireless internet connection or wifi.
• Modern mobile browser (supports HTML 5) that accepts cookies, so turn private browsing off  (how to for Windows or Blackberry ).
• Account with a poker room that has browser based games.

How to Access Mobile Poker Software

To streamline the experience, you can follow these steps. Visit the poker site you’d like to play at. Any site that offers a mobile version of their games will detect the mobile device you’re using and show you options for choosing to play on their mobile version.

Entering in addresses to mobile sites is a pain. So the first time you visit the site, makes sure to create a shortcut on your Windows or Blackberry device to the sites mobile poker pages. This will give you the same feel as having a dedicated app on your phone so you access the room to play a quick game when on the go.

Games & Tournaments Offered

If you have played online poker on a PC, don’t expect the same experience on a mobile device. The mobile versions of poker rooms are toned down versions geared towards the capabilities of mobile devices. Multi-tableing is not possible and the choice of games may also be limited depending on the room.

Tips for Blackberry and Windows Phone Players:

• Don’t try and play on your mobile device and PC from the same account at the same time. Log your account out from one device before logging into another device.
• Open your poker account from a PC. The initial account setup with personal details as well as financial information can be a pain on a mobile device so I always advice players I know to create their accounts before going to play on a mobile.
• Don’t bother with the free Texas Hold’em or poker apps available for Windows or Blackberry phones. Nothing is free and these sites usually try and get customers to pay for things down the line. If you’re going to make in app purchases, you might as well play the real thing and have a shot at winning some money.

So, you don’t need to give up your Windows or Blackberry smart phones to play poker. In fact the latest generation of Nokia Lumia phones and the Blackberry Z10 are excellent to play poker on! There are plenty of rooms to choose from when it comes to playing online and maybe rooms will create dedicated apps for players in the future.