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In dual press releases issued this week Zynga has announced the purchase of MarketZero –the marketing team behind PokerTableRatings.com– and that the MarketZero Team would be joining Zynga to help usher in what would seem to be a new age for the company’s online poker operations. It was also clearly stated that the move will not affect PTR or any of MarketZero’s existing businesses.

It would seem that Zynga, the company who makes a number of popular games for social media including Farmville and Mafia Wars, is serious about taking its wildly popular Texas Holdem game from a play money site to a real money online poker site, and since the people at PTR are some of the best security and marketers in the business, this appears to be Zynga’s next move –possibly when legislation is passed in the future.

You may recall that it was PTR who uncovered the flawed encryption at both UB Poker and Cake Poker last year, and has also managed to offer data-mining services despite a number of online poker rooms putting in place measures to prevent this practice.

The Zynga press release stated: “MarketZero’s founders include Gustavo Abdala, Amir Elaguizy, Nir Leibovich, Timothy Sullivan and Jason Wang. The team’s experience and deep knowledge of the online poker industry will be invaluable as we work together to build out cutting-edge features and further enhance Zynga Poker. Please note that Zynga will not be acquiring or operating MarketZero’s existing business. MarketZero is known for popular online portals, software programs and social poker databases including PokerTableRatings.”