Party Poker is the biggest non-US-serving poker room in the world. As a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange, Party is among the most recognizable gaming brands in the world. In fact, Party Gaming has stormed through many gaming industries after getting its start in online poker. Also, as a publicly traded company, Party Poker is among the most trusted gaming companies in the world. You can be sure that outside parties are overseeing the activity going on inside of Party Poker and that your money will be safe and you games will be fair. Party Poker has what’s known as “Instant Play” software so Apple poker players can experience the Party experience right in OS X — no download necessary.

In order to run “Instant Play” you must have Java installed on your Apple. However, by default, Java comes installed in recent versions of OS X, so you shouldn’t have to download anything unless you’ve made changes to your Apple (such as removing Java) since you first unpacked it. When you open up the Instant Play client, you’ll be asked whether you trust the Party Poker security certificate. You should click “Run” and you’ll be playing poker in a matter of minutes. The Instant Play version offers an experience very similar to the regular Party Poker client, but you’ll be limited to four tables. However, for most players, that shouldn’t be an issue.

Tournaments

Party Poker offers a wide range of tournaments from the small buyin events meant for new poker players to the big buyin multi-million dollar prizepool events that are filled with the best poker online poker players in the world (well, at least the best who don’t live in the US). For instance, every month Party Poker holds a $1 million dollar guaranteed tournament — it carries with it a $640 buyin. For obvious reasons, the price tag can be quite steep for new players. However, you can satellite into the Monthly Million for next to nothing ($1), so the opportunity exists for all Apple players to take a shot at the big money. It never hurts to try! If you don’t succeed, you can learn from your experience and come back next month and give it a shot again as a better poker player.

In addition to all of the multi-table tournament, Party offers a wide range of Sit and Goes, shootouts, freerolls, rebuys and much more. Just for new players, Party holds a $30,000 freeroll every month. If you sign up for Party Poker via the links on Apple Poker, you will be eligible to participate in the $30,000 freeroll which can be a very good start to building your online poker bankroll.

In terms of weekly events, Party has a $300k Guaranteed tournament every weekend. This event is generally competing with the PokerStars Sunday Warmup as it is a $200+$15 buyin and it’s mainly geared towards the European crowd in terms of start-time (it starts much earlier than most big weekend tournaments due to Europe being a number of hours ahead of the US). Despite the $300k being a smaller tournament than the PokerStars Sunday Warmup, it compares favorably to other “big weekend tournaments” found on sites such as Ultimate Bet, Bodog Poker and Absolute Poker. In addition, the $300k usually doesn’t meet its guarantee, so that means Apple players can gain a little bit of extra value should they manage to win a seat in the tourney or possibly buy in directly for the full amount.

Cash Games

The Party Poker instant play Apple client makes it simple to join a cash game. Like the native Windows Party Poker client, you can navigate through the lobby multiple ways and sort through games to find the best table for you to play on at that moment. You can play all games through the Instant Play client and you can even jump into huge money cash games where thousands of dollars are routinely contested in most pots. However, we should warn you that the waters in the $25/$50 No Limit (a $5000 maximum buyin game) are quite shark-infested! You won’t find many weak players in that game like you will at the lower stakes where the games are quite easy.

If you’re just starting out, Apple Poker recommends trying out the beginner tables which start as low as .02/.04 no limit texas holdem. While you might lose at first if you’re just learning how to play poker, we encourage you to keep at it. The players at the low stakes on Party Poker are usually very easy to beat. As a general rule of thumb, if you’re smart enough to own an Apple computer (which you probably do if you’re reading this site), then you’re smarter than 90% of the players at the low limits on Party Poker. That means you just have to practice, read up on poker strategy and just keep at it. The beginners tables and low limit games are the perfect place to learn poker and get better everyday.

Traffic

Party Poker used to be the biggest online poker site in the world. That is no longer true thanks to Party’s decision to turn down United States resident traffic starting in late 2006. Almost overnight, Party went from being the biggest in the world to being in the middle of the pack fighting to compete. While Party has not been able to catch up with the biggest US-facing rooms for obvious reasons (the US is the biggest online poker market in the world today), they have done an admirable job maintaining their brand in Europe and continuing to build their marketing presence throughout developing poker markets. Thus, Party Poker, despite a major roadblock, is one of the top-trafficked online poker sites in the world today.

Party Poker typically has between 5,000 and 10,000 players sitting at real money poker tables. For obvious reasons, this is more than enough players for you to find a game that you’d like. After all, does it matter if a site has 10,000 players, 20,000 players or even 50,000 players? Not really if you’re a cash game player — you can only play with 9 other people at a time. Maybe it does for tournament players. But unless you’re ONLY interested in playing in the biggest online poker tournaments (ie, the ones that pay out six figures for first place), then Party Poker still has plenty of great tournaments for the typical Apple player.

Promotions

With Party Poker, the promotion focus is both a benefit and a curse. Why? Well, for the most part, promotions and bonuses on Party Poker are geared to the newer players who are trying to learn poker. Party has everything from an amazing poker school to tons of beginner freerolls to various other promotions for beginners. Why do they do this? Well, they want your business and they want you to feel comfortable with the game of poker. Party Poker is smart. They know that new players can be nervous about starting out in the world of online poker, but that’s what makes Party a great site. You can play on Party Poker even if you’ve never seen a deck of cards in your life. They will teach you everything you need to know to be a good player and they’ll throw some free money your way in the form of freerolls while they’re at it.

In terms of tournament promotions, we already mentioned the Monthly $1 Million guaranteed and the weekly $300k guaranteed. Those tournaments are the heart of the tournament promotion schedule, but various other tournaments are promoted regularly and various other promotions are run multiple times per year.

In addition, every new player who signs up through Apple Poker will receive a 100% up to $500 deposit bonus. Between freerolls, guaranteed tournaments and a free $500, Party Poker is making it as easy as possible for new players to get started on the site.

Overall

Instant Play Java-based software is an easy, accessible, fast and secure option for Apple players to take advantage of all that Party Poker has to offer. Combined with all of the other features and promotions that Party Poker provides, there’s no doubt that Party Poker is one (if not THE) best places for poker players to play online poker on the OS X operating system. Don’t let the lack of a native Apple client hold you back from playing on Party Poker. Try out Party Poker’s Apple Instant Play today!