PokerTableRatings Team Signs with Zynga

If you haven’t heard by now, Zynga, the minds that brought you such Facebook games as Farmville and Mafia Wars, has acquired the team behind PokerTableRatings. Many in the industry have inaccurately reported that Zynga purchased PokerTableRatings outright, but that is definitely not the case and so we’ll go ahead and squash that rumor right now.

An article published by TechCrunch explained, “It’s important to note that Zynga is hiring the team behind MarketZero, but will not be operating or acquiring MarketZero’s business.” MarketZero formerly operated PokerTableRatings and its founders include Gustavo Abdala, Amir Elaguizy, Nir Leibovich, Timothy Sullivan, and Jason Wang. Even our contact at PokerTableRatings is changing as a result of its team turning over.

According to the same website, the user experience at PokerTableRatings likely won’t change as a result of the acquisition. Instead, members of Zynga seem to be the ones that will benefit the most. The company operates Zynga Poker and could now introduce features like the table selector, buddy list, and player rankings by picking the brains of the former PokerTableRatings team.

PokerTableRatings sells hand histories and even offers a PTR Premium service that, according to our review, “is the next evolution in the world of real-time cash game data collection. You get an unparalleled level of access to some of the deepest features found for any poker-related website.”

At the time of writing, nearly 20,000 people have bought poker hand histories from PokerTableRatings. When searching for hands, you can filter by poker room, table size, and stakes, just to name a few.

In a post in its forum, PokerTableRatings addressed the TechCrunch article and the high volume of chatter around the online poker community. Its new team assured customers, “So what does this mean for PTR and our members? Nada. PTR hasn’t skipped a beat and we’re working hard to make sure PTR continues to be the best place to find stats on every online poker player. You may see a few new faces in the forums and support, please don’t haze them too much, as we’re trying to break them in easy.”

Zynga has been at the helm of a bevy of transactions in recent months. Over the last year, it has acquired the social network Flock, Bonfire Studios, and Toky’s Unoh Games. In one of its biggest splashes, it brought DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg into the fold as a member of its Board of Directors.

The company was founded in 2007 and, according to TechCrunch, is named after creator Mark Pincus’ bulldog. It has since developed and marketed a variety of mobile games including Poker, Scrabble, and Vampire Wars and become one of the leaders in social networking-related games.

PokerTableRatings allows you to see how some of your favorite poker players, like Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, have fared online. We use PokerTableRatings when writing news articles to view some of the largest online poker pots of all-time. Its WebHUD and Table Finder are among its most popular tools and you can also read the latest and greatest poker news.

Surfing PokerTableRatings is free, but PTR Premium will set you back $9.99 for 200 searches. Monthly plans start as low as $12.99 and are good for 1,000 or more searches. If you stick with the site’s free option, you’ll get 10 daily searches and access to your very own buddy list.

Visit Poker Table Ratings today to learn more.