Poker Blitz: Is it the next Zynga game on the chopping block?

While Zynga has been launching hits on Facebook like FrontierVille, it has also been quietly shutting down games behind the scenes, most recently Roller Coaster Kingdom, a tycoon game that puts players in charge of running an amusement park. Is Zynga's Poker Blitz the next on the chopping block?

In a talk at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle, Zynga President of Studios Steve Chiang gave what might be described as a eulogy for the poker-lite game that launched in March.

As part of a larger discussion on why there is not more serious competition in games, Chiang talks about Poker Blitz and says, "I dunno that PVP was the reason that Poker Blitz wasn't successful .... But what we learned at EA was that people want to play the real sport, they don't want the dumbed down version. The better we can do to give the consumers the on-ramp to learn the game like a real pro, the better engagement we have."

Another interesting tidbit – Chiang says a game needs to reach '500K' monthly active users to reach "critical mass" or to be a success. Considering Poker Blitz's number are around that number right now and seems to be falling (according to AppData) well, you gotta know when to hold 'em ... and know when to fold 'em.