How to Play Poker Online On Linux Using A Windows Poker Client?
Have you ever thought about playing poker on your Linux machine? This is quite easy as you simply need to install proper packages like kpoker or sillypoker from your Linux distribution’s
store and you are done. However, if want to play poker online for real money, then this may not be as easy as it sounds.
There are many MS Windows poker clients available on the internet but the problem is that none of them is a native poker client for a Linux operating system. A few of them just need a Java plugin installed in your browser but there are many online poker clients which you need to install on your Linux machine before playing. In this article, you will learn how to play poker online on Linux using Windows Poker Clients.
To play poker online on linux using a windows poker client, you need to install a wine application. Wine is a software program through which you can run and install windows based poker clients on your linux machine and play poker online easily.
Here is what you need to do to test this method:
– Install wine application
– Install Windows based poker online client using wine
– Run Windows based poker online client using wine
How to Install Wine on Your Linux Computer?
– In case you are using Linux operating with a debian package management ( DEB ) like Debian or Ubuntu, you need to install wine using an apt-get command
# apt-get install wine
NOTE: apt-get will need root privileges!
– If you are using RedHat with redhat package management ( RPM ) and its follows up Fedora or CentOS, you need to install wine using an yum install command:
# yum install wine
NOTE: yum will need root privileges!
How to Install Windows Based Poker Client On Linux?
After installing and running the wine application, you need to download a windows based poker poker client like Poker Stars and install it using wine.
NOTE: Do not run a following command as a root user. PokerStars application will be installed locally into your home directory as specified by a bash’s $HOME environment variable.
$ wine PokerStarsSetup.exe
If you are running wine for a first time, then it may ask you some questions. Otherwise, just install Poker Stars application normally as you would on Windows Operating System. Before running a Windows based poker client, you may need to run the wineboot utility to simulate a Windows reboot:
$ wineboot
How to Install Windows Based Poker Client On Linux?
Now you can start a Windows based Poker client from your linux desktop menu. In case you don’t see a shortcut to a Wine->PokerStars in your linux desktop menu, you can run this application using the following command:
$ cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files
then find a PokerStars installation directory and executable file and run it using the following wine command:
$ wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/PokerStars/PokerStars.exe
Important Note:
Running a Windows based Poker Online Client successfully using wine is not guaranteed! There are many factors concerning the successful run of native MS Windows applications on the Linux operating system. If you fail to start your preferred online poker client on your Linux machine, then you must install the latest version of wine or a CrossOver Software which is a commercial version of wine.
By pankaj gupta
Pankaj Gupta writes for Online Poker Play , an in-depth online poker guide to learn how to play poker online on Linux Poker sites.