iPad Poker Sites

To say that the iPad has revolutionized mobile entertainment would be understating the case. Over 15 million iPads have been sold since the original iPad was released, and sales numbers are growing every day. Given the tablet’s popularity, there must be some iPad poker sites out there… Right?

Not quite. It turns out that the very technology which makes the iPad such an impressive device also prevents online poker sites from developing iPad applications. What’s more, the legal issues surrounding online poker make it difficult for developers to sell apps in the official App Store.

This all means that very few poker rooms offer iPad poker sites as apps. However there are ways to play on any poker site you want using the iPad. In this article, we’ll examine some of the issues surrounding iPad poker site development. We’ll also take a look at how to play poker on the iPad using remote access technology.

Below you will find information on how to play poker on your iPad as well as the best iPad poker sites currently available for iPad users.

Best USA iPad Real Money Poker / Casino / Betting Sites

USA Players Please Read - At the moment there are no US poker sites with software that is compatible with an iPhone. If you're still intersted in betting on your iPhone, check out the Android site below. Slotland Casino offers real money iPhone casino games for US players.

Can I Play Online Poker on My iPad?

Yes, but there’s a catch: very few iPad poker sites are iPad-native, which means you’ll have to do some technical trickery to get set up.

Since it’s rare to find a poker site with an app built for the iPad, you’ll have to access your personal computer from your iPad in order to play poker. You need to set your iPad to act as a remote control for whatever PC you’ve got poker software installed on.

Sounds difficult, right? It’s not, really. As we’ll soon see, it’s just a matter of installing some software and clicking some buttons.

Why Don’t Poker Sites Make iPad Apps?

There are a number of reasons why poker sites haven’t yet introduced full iPad compatibility. The three main ones are:

1. When a company wants to develop an app for the iPad, the app must conform to the Apple App Store terms of service. Buried in the bowels of this document are a number of restrictions dealing with app content. These restrictions severely limit the ways in which a gambling company can implement a poker app.
2. Most poker sites maintain Flash-based poker clients for cross-compatibility reasons. Unfortunately, the iPad doesn’t support Flash.
3. The development process for iPad apps is way different – and way more restrictive – than the development process for PC-based software. The iPad doesn’t support Java applications, for example (unless the iPad is jailbroken). Many poker sites are coded in Java. This prevents regular iPad users from being able to run a Java-based poker app on the iPad.

Until these issues are cleared up, it could be a while before the mobile poker boom hits. We’d all love to play online at iPad poker sites, but sometimes technology just can’t move fast enough.

This all said, a precious few companies have been able to squeak out functional poker iPad apps thus far. These sites do offer iPad-native poker clients, though functionality is pretty limited.

What Are Some iPad-Native Poker Sites?

A site called Switch Poker released an iPad poker client a while ago. As far as I know, it is the first iPad poker site of its kind.

Switch Poker isn’t connected to any non-mobile poker site; it’s a mobile-specific operation. This means that there aren’t very many players who use the site, which is a big downside. Further, US players aren’t accepted at Switch. Its operations are very limited at this time.

The whole point of an iPad poker site should be to add mobile functionality to an already-popular poker site. There’s really no sense in forcing players to separate their regular poker accounts into two: mobile and non-mobile. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Switch poker does.

It’s far from perfect, but at least it’s a step forward for the poker industry. Hopefully the big poker sites will take lessons from switch, and we’ll soon be able to choose from a wide array of iPhone poker sites natively.

How Can I Play at Non-iPad Poker Sites on My iPad?

Good news: you can still play at any online poker site using PC-based software on your iPad. You can do so by accessing your PC’s desktop from your iPad and controlling it remotely.

The technology behind this is widely used in the business world, especially in IT support. If you’ve ever contacted the IT help desk at your office, chances are you’ve had an IT guy remotely access your computer from his. Sometimes remote access is used in meetings and conferences as well, generally to pull up reports and presentations from off-site computers.

Playing at iPad poker sites involves the same processes. You connect to your computer from your iPad, and ‘take it over’ in a way. This allows you to do anything you can do on your PC right from your iPad screen – including play poker.

To set this up, you’ve got two options: