If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering where you can go to play Texas Holdem for Mac OS. I’m happy to inform you that your wonder is now gone. Below you will find a list of online poker sites that spread Texas Holdem for free, as well as for real money, with further information about the history of Texas Holdem underneath that list.
Best Poker Sites for Mac
*Learn how we rate online poker rooms.
The sites above are the best online poker sites for Mac. These Internet poker rooms allow players to wager real money against real opponents in virtual Texas Hold em games. Each site listed above has Texas Holdem poker software for Mac, and many are nearly identical to their Windows software. The online poker sites that have been compatible for Mac the longest include Party Poker and Pokerstars.
The History of Texas Holdem
Texas Holdem has been widely adopted by the poker world, and is by far the most popular poker game in the entire world. This beloved game has captured the hearts of all professional gamblers, fans and businessmen, and they often wonder what new developments the game will bring.
Not much is known of its early history, but Texas Holdem is thought to have originated in the early 1900s. Many professional players preferred Texas Holdem over other poker games, and in 1971 it became the game played at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Texas Holdem would increase in popularity over the following decades, and was a contributing factor in the poker boom of the early 2000s.
In 2003, an amateur poker player named Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event and its $2.5 million first prize after qualifying through a tournament on the online poker room Poker Stars. Poker has not been the same since. The following year the Main Event would have triple the entrants, 2,576 to be exact, and a first place prize of $5 million.
As a result of the poker boom, online poker rooms found themselves inundated with new members. Millions of poker players signed up to have a convenient place to play poker, while also having a chance to win their way into big money tournaments such as the WSOP. This has also led to the online tournaments becoming more and more robust, with million dollar guaranteed tournaments running frequently.
PokerStars has even launched their World Series of Online Poker, where the winners receive huge payouts and the prestige that comes along with winning a major tournament. With the number of online poker rooms available today, the choices for potential online poker players are endless. This is why we have reviewed many of the most popular online poker rooms, to provide you with information you can use to decide where to play.
Online poker is also a great medium to learn how to play all forms of poker. Today there are three common variations of Texas Holdem: Fixed Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit.
Fixed Limit Texas Holdem
In Fixed Limit Texas Holdem, players can only bet and raise specific amounts. For instance, in a $1/$2 game, players can only bet or raise in increments of $1 in the first two betting rounds (preflop and on the flop) and in increments of $2 in the final two betting rounds (on the turn and the river card.)
Pot Limit Texas Holdem
In Pot Limit Holdem players may bet or raise any amount as long as the amount does not exceed what is already in the pot. Don’t worry, in online poker, the poker software will tell you exactly how much pot is if you wish to bet it. In a live poker game, calculating pot can be done by applying an easy trick:
- Multiply the last bet by 3, add any other bets, and add your bet.
No Limit Texas Holdem
In No Limit Holdem players may bet or raise up to any amount of chips that is in their stack. No Limit Texas Holdem is still the version played in the WSOP Main Event today.
Related Pages
- Learn more about Texas Holdem, check out our Texas Holdem rules guide.
- If you’re ready to start playing online you can read our reviews of many different online poker sites.
If you want to play Texas Holdem for Mac at Party Poker or PokerStars, then please read our guides to playing Party Poker for Mac and playing PokerStars for Mac.
I hope this index provided you with what you need to play free Texas Holdem for Mac.