On October 13, 2006, president G. Bush signed into law the 'Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act' barring US-based players from transferring funds to online gaming sites.

Though the law will take effect only in July 2007, some poker rooms no longer accept new US real-money players, and prevent existing players from the US to deposit new funds in their accounts.



However, at Full Tilt Poker, it's poker as usual for all poker fans, including US-based players!

The Mac User's Guide to PokerRoom

Below you’ll find everything you need to know about PokerRoom. The info available here was checked and verified in order to give you the most accurate and up-to-date coverage of this popular Mac-friendly poker site. 

PokerRoom is the world's third largest online poker site.

PokerRoom is ranked first on Google for the keyword "poker."

PokerRoom is ranked 3rd among Alexa's list of most visited poker sites.

In 2004, PokerRoom was the fastest growing online poker site, growing as twice (323%) as the entire online poker industry (154%).

Number of registered players: Over 4 million players from more than 140 countries.

Traffic: 5,000-10,000 active players at any given moment. 

Available Games: Texas Hold'em (by far the most popular poker variant on PokerRoom and anywhere else), Omaha, 7-card-stud, Chinese Poker, and 5 Card Draw (the newest addition, available since June 2005) 

Minimum limits are 0.25$/0.50$ to a maximum of 300$/600$. PokerRoom also offers pot-limit and no- limit games.

 

Software

PokerRoom's top-notch proprietary software is available in 2 versions:

1. 6.2 MB Downloadable client (Windows only)
2. Fully featured Java applet (Mac, Linux, Windows)

Both versions are equally stable, neatly-designed and user friendly. The PokerRoom application, client-server performance and reliability, and overall online experience create one of the best poker environments on the Net.

PokerRoom and Macintosh

PokerRoom's commitment to the Mac community is revealed in the opening lines of the site's "About Us" statement:

"PokerRoom.com is a place for everybody - PC and Mac users alike - and no downloads are required! We have been around since 1999 and has since then grown into being one of the world's largest poker sites."

Pokerlistings.com defines PokerRoom as "the best choice for Mac-users" 

The spirit: The PokerRoom website and poker software were designed on Macintosh and, unsurprisingly, look great when viewed on Macs. PokerRoom was founded by two Swedish poker-playing students. The site's first applet was developed by the Java-whiz brother of one of them.

Mac Tech

OS9.x The PokerRoom software has been tested with Mac OS 9.2.2 together with Internet Explorer 5.1.7. (It might also work with earlier versions of Mac OS9 and maybe even some versions of Mac OS8, but that is not guaranteed.)

Two things are required to make it work:

Mac OS The software works with Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later, together with Safari 1.0.2 or later, or Mozilla 1.5 or later.

No special settings are required for Mac OS X.

OS X 10.3.9 There are some possible problems for players with Mac OS X 10.3.9. The following link directs you to instructions on how to fix the bug by upgrading the Java version.

Click Here for instructions from Apple.

To access the download required directly please Click Here

Players with Mac OS X 10.3.9 who encountered login problems and followed the above instructions by Apple, were able to access the games at PokerRoom.    

Rake                   

PokerRoom's house rake is calculated as 5% of the matched bets in the pot, up to a maximum of $3. This rule also applies to play-money games in order to give them a realistic feel. The maximum rake varies depending on the number of players. The fewer the players, the lower the rake. 

Note: PokerRoom's rake is much more attractive than PartyPoker's, which runs as high as 10% (!) in the low limit ($0.50/$1 and $1/$2) games.

Tournaments (AKA tourneys) are played by a group of participants, all paying a fixed buy-in and fee to a pool. This pool is used to pay the winner/s. All participants receive the same number of chips and play until their last chip. The winner is the player who finishes the tourney with all the participants' chips in her/his possession. 

Unlike traditional ring games, the risk in tournament play is limited to the initial sign-up fee. 

  

Multi-Table Tournaments - Tournaments are played on multiple tables simultaneously. When participants are knocked-out of the tournament, players are moved to other tables. When enough seats are free a whole table will be removed, until only one table remains. 

Buy in and Fee - To enter a tournament the player must pay the buy-in (The player's contribution to the prize pool) and a fee (the combined fees go to PokerRoom for hosting of the tournament). There is no rake in tournament hands.

Starting Chips - Each player receives the same amount of chips at the start of the tournament. 

Satellites - For the chance to win the big prizes, players can enter the bigger tournaments through qualifier satellites. This option enables players to join high stakes tournaments for just a few bucks. 

In the qualifier tournament, instead of cash prizes, the winner is awarded a ticket to another tournament. The ticket is valid as a buy-in, and no additional fee is required.

Free Rolls and Added Cash - see Promotions.

Scheduled Tournaments - Scheduled tournaments have a fixed starting time. When the tournament time approaches, all registered players will participate. 
 

Sit & Go - Single table tournaments with (usually) 10 players. A Sit & Go tourney will start once all the seats are filled and the prize pool is fixed.

Re-buy and Add-on - During a tournament, when a player runs out of chips, he/she is usually knocked out of the game. In some tournaments, however, the players are allowed to post another buy-in to get more chips. 


Bonus Policy

A deposit bonus is an extra cash bonus a player gets the first time he/she deposits money to his/her PokerRoom account. The standard First Deposit Bonus for all players is 20% of the player's first deposit amount, up to $100. For example, if the first deposit is $100, the bonus amount would be $20. 

This is the standard bonus. During some promotional campaigns the deposit bonus can be larger. 

To get the deposit bonus the player will need to collect enough player points within 60 days of the initial deposit. A bonus requires 7 player points for every dollar. For example, 140 player points reward the player with a deposit bonus of $20. 

Player points are earned through playing games for real money on PokerRoom. The points can be used for collecting various bonuses, qualifying for special tournaments and claiming freeroll tournament cash prizes. 

The first deposit will also award the player with a ticket to the Shark Cage, an invitational tournament accessible for new depositing players. The ticket will be valid for 7 days and is non refundable. 

Reload bonus is an extra bonus offered by PokerRoom to loyal players who have made deposits in the past. The usual 7 player points per bonus dollar applies.

Promotions

PokerRoom offers various promotions, among them:

Freerolls - A free-roll tournament is a tournament with prize money, which is absolutely free to join. 

Free-rolls are extremely popular. You should be quick to register if you want to make it to one of them. 

There are 3 daily freerolls, starting at 00:30 AM ET, 09:30 AM ET and 2:30 PM ET. Each carries a bonus cash prize pool of $500.

Top 45 players receive bonus cash. In order to receive the bonus prize you have to accumulate 4 player points/$ within 60 days of the event.

Lucky Dollar - You can make it to these cool tournaments with only one dollar in your virtual pocket! 

Lucky Dollar is an Added Cash Tournament - the prize money is added by PokerRoom on top of the regular prize pool! The added cash can be distributed between all the cash winners, or sometimes only to the gamer in pole position.

Several Lucky Dollar tournaments are available throughout the week. In all of them, cash (up to $2,500)  is added to the prize pool.

Royal Money - Hit a Royal Straight Flush on any Texas Hold'em real money ring game table and receive a special Royal Money bonus. The payout amounts to 100 times the big blind of the table limit played (maximum $5,000) when making the Royal Straight Flush.

Play on a $2/$4 limit table and the bonus pays $200 ($2x100). // If you play on a $50/$100 or higher limit table you can win $5,000! // All suits pay equally. The bonus is added automatically

Refer a Friend - Do you have friends that you think will enjoy PokerRoom.com? Invite them and get $50 for getting them to start playing! They will also receive an extra bonus of $25 just because you referred them!

Pokah

           

Pokah, the lively, nearly half a million member poker community, is definitely one of PokerRoom's biggest assets. Membership is required, but is FREE for all registered players.   

Pokah is the place to relax between games, meet new friends, participate in discussions, read articles, and share poker tips. The community enjoys an active discussion forum, a messaging service for private exchanges between members and an online application  that enables users to form public or private groups for discussions and/or playing. 

The Pokah Forum

The Pokah Blog

Credibility & Integrity

PokerRoom is the first and only poker site that has been accredited with the eCOGRA seal of approval.

Approved on 14 June 2005, the eCOGRA's Seal indicates that the games at PokerRoom are fair, that they operate honestly, that monetary deposits are safe and that winnings are paid out in a timely manner. Click here to see the eCOGRA certificate.

PokerRoom uses thawte SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates, which offers secure communications by encrypting all data to and from the site. 

PokerRoom is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (Canada).

In April 2004 PokerRoom became the First site to be
certified by G4, the Global Gaming Guidance Group.

Third party auditors check PokerRooms games routinely,
examining the proprietary software and approving that:

There is no statistical bias in the dealt pocket cards.

There is no statistical bias in cards dealt to any of the board positions.

The shuffling algorithms and the random number generator, have been designed to ensure a completely random and unpredictable shuffle. 

PokerRoom enables you to check the statistical analysis of over 500,000 real money hands dealt in the Texas Hold'em poker game. 

Security

All communications between the PokerRoom servers in Canada (Kahnawake) and the client program running on your computer are encrypted. 

The player's name and credit card information is always scrambled when processed by the Poker Room systems, using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. 

This means that the player's cards, name, address, credit card number, and password are fully protected.

Each player's cards are sent exclusively to that particular player's computer. None of the other computers know what your hidden cards are. 

PokerRoom uses the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol that encrypts all data. The credit card processing at PokerRoom is handled by Montreal-based SureFire Commerce, a publicly traded company, which currently processes over $1 billion of consumer payments annually. This guarantees the security of the thousands of online transactions handled daily at PokerRoom.com.

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