Why is it that online poker rooms tend to neglect one of their biggest membership markets – Mac poker players? Yes, of course, Windows PC users make up a large majority of the online poker community, but Macintosh is making a great comeback these days, so it would seem the online poker industry should make larger strides to accommodate them.

In the past, Mac poker players were left with a single option – playing online poker via the Flash client. Not every online poker room even supplied a flash client, making this even more difficult. Then came the popularity of “PC Emulator Software”.

These programs run in the background on a Mac computer, allowing it to run PC-based programs on a Mac. The problem here is that many of these PC emulators are resource hogs, causing the poker client to run slow or become fidgety.

Well, we’re proud to proclaim that not every online poker room has ignored to overwhelming call for a Mac poker client. Today, there are several online poker rooms that have actually supplied downloadable poker software for Mac players. When you crunch the numbers, less than 1% of the online poker industry has taken this vital step, but on the plus side, it’s only the most distinguished poker rooms that have.

The first online poker room to introduce a Mac poker client was PokerStars, released as Beta in December of 2007, then fully released in early 2008. PokerStars was already the world’s largest online poker room at the time, but without the provision of a flash poker room, the development of a Mac-compatible poker download was a huge milestone for the poker site, and the industry.

Full Tilt Poker was very quick to follow. Full Tilt introduced its Mac poker client just a short time later. Not surprisingly, Full Tilt is the second largest online poker room in the world.

For a long time, these were the only two poker rooms with a downloadable option for Mac poker players. In mid-2008, Absolute Poker and UltimateBet made the significant move to the Cereus Poker Network, jolting both poker rooms back to life. Shortly thereafter, Absolute Poker became the third poker room to announce the provision of a Mac poker client.

These three online poker rooms – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute – are the only quality options for Mac poker players. If you don’t want to play in Flash, losing a great deal of quality compared to download software, and you don’t wish run a PC emulator in the background, try joining one of these three exceptional online Mac poker sites.

One other notable feature these three online poker rooms have in common is their commitment to US player acceptance. In fact, PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute rank respectively as the top three US-facing poker rooms, and the only three Mac poker rooms, in the entire industry.