PokerStars for Mac Reviewed

The Quick Pitch on PokerStars

The largest online poker site and one of the first to offer a true Mac only download poker client. Game selection is fantastic and an online tournament kicks off literally every second. The VIP program rewards players at all levels with prizes ranging from free tournament entries or a hat to big cash payouts and exotic sports cars. With a server farm the size of a small island, the games are smooth and reliable with rock solid security to ensure your information (and cash) are kept safe.

Software: 9 out of 10

As we mentioned above, Mac owners will quickly feel the love when visiting PokerStars.com because there’s a real .dmg download option. The approximately 14MB file is a quick install and once executed, is a fairly intuitive process to complete. After entering some basic information (you need not enter any sensitive information until you’re ready to play for real money), the lobby window will appear and you may begin to search for your favorite game.

Game play is very fluid with minimal lag if you’re on a decent connection. Aesthetically the designers were very mindful of the Mac “look” and as a result, the PokerStars client looks right at home next to your other Mac applications.

Security: 9 out of 10

Some of the highest stakes poker games in the world are actually played online at PokerStars. There are many of the leading players in the world that frequent here and literally keep millions of dollars in their player accounts. The software is audited on regular basis by two different companies (BMM International and Cigital) to ensure 100% compliance and safety for the players. There’s also a dedicated team of fraud specialists who employ state of the art technology to catch cheaters and defend against hack attempts.

Popularity: 10 out of 10

With the largest player base of any other online poker site, the 10 out of 10 rating here is a no-brainer. If you’ve ever so much as turned on an ESPN broadcast of the WSOP, you’ve seen a PokerStars sponsored Pro or one of the commercials. Their current stable of sponsored players runs the gamut from Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer (both  World Champions) to sports legends such as Boris Becker and Mats Sundin. They also sponsor a few bus-loads of players in each years Word Series of Poker via a range of qualifying tournaments (some are free to enter!).

Competition: 7 out of 10

The large fishbowl (pun intended) of players here naturally tends to attract many new players. As a result, you will find a wide range of talent sitting at the virtual felt. At the micro stakes and lower limit games you should be able to quickly identify the weaker players versus the more serious, established players. Leveraging technology such as Co Pilot for Macs is a big help here as it will speed up this process.

Promotions: 7 out of 10*

Why did we put an * on the rating here? The primary reason is that most people expect a big deposit bonus when signing up for an online poker site. The fact is that many competitors such as Full Tilt Poker do indeed offer much larger incentives to deposit first at their site. However, even with their more modest deposit incentives PokerStars more than makes up for the lack of initial deposit matching. How? With their PokerStars VIP program. If you’re looking to hit and run, you will definitely want to look elsewhere. If you’re looking to play poker for the long term, you’ll welcome the VIP program as the rewards value increases in proportion to the amount of time you spend playing on the site. To simplify – play for a few minutes a day and you’ll get free tournament entries and a t-shirt. Play for a few hours a day on a regular basis and you’ll land cash back in your account, plasma screen televisions, and perhaps even bigger prizes. For more information on this program, download the PokerStars Mac Client now and check out the VIP Store.

Support – 9 out of 10

Taking a page from other world class customer oriented companies, the staff at PokerStars is at your disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You may contact them via email or fax and can expect an answer to your questions within a 1-3 hour time frame for most inquiries.

Overall – 8 out of 10

Many Mac owners may actually rate them a 10 out of 10 but we feel there’s always room for improvement. The team over at PokerStars feel the same way. They’re constantly looking to make improvements to the Mac download client and ensure a great experience for their players. Security is always on the top of their minds as is making your time spent playing enjoyable. The ownership behind PokerStars plans on taking their tremendous momentum as the largest poker site on the planet and continuing to grow. To summarize, you really can’t go wrong by playing here.

Full Tilt Poker Client for Mac Reviewed

The Quick Pitch on Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker or as the cool kids would say, FTP is one of the largest online poker sites boasting up to 100K online players during peak hours.