It is now easier than ever to find a poker room online that will support mobile play on your iPhone or iPad. In fact, I have compiled a list of the best iOS device-friendly sites to play poker on an iPhone. As mobile devices become the go-to resource for email, web browsing and games, poker rooms have been quick to come up with poker games that work well on smaller touch screens. Most poker sites will clearly have a mobile option located on their homepage, with information about how to access the mobile version of their poker client. A few have dedicated apps available in the App Store, though a number of rooms have developed mobile versions that are played in a web browser on your iPhone or iPad.

App or Mobile Version?

There’s a lot of confusing information out there about how to play poker on your iPhone. For a long time, poker sites did not have apps that could be downloaded in the App Store, but that has started to change. A few poker sites have developed apps that you can download in the Apple App store, although finding the correct app can be a challenge for some rooms, since there are so many poker-related apps and some try to trick users into downloading them, even though they’re usually not actually poker rooms with real money games. Other sites have developed mobile versions on their poker rooms that are accessible through Safari or other mobile web browsers. These mobile versions are accessed through the browser on your iPhone and function like a dedicated app. In many ways, using the browser-based mobile version is easier, as it takes up less space on your phone, it doesn’t need to be updated, and since you’re accessing it from the site itself, you know you’re getting the actual poker client from the site you want to play on.

In my list of top mobile sites, I’ve indicated which rooms offer which versions, they don’t usually offer both. You can also just visit the website of the site you want to play on, and they will indicate, usually on the homepage, how the mobile version of their site is accessed when they detect you are visiting their site on a mobile device. As with any mobile version of a game, there are going to be limitations to what is available in terms of game availability and the amount of details you can access through the lobby on the regular website version.

Setting Up Your Account

One of the things I recommend, is that if you want to set up an account to play on your phone, you do it on a computer with a keyboard or at least use an iPad. It’s possible to do on your phone, but I’ve  found it much easier and faster! on my laptop – but maybe that’s just because I find entering my information on a tiny touchscreen keyboard to be an utterly frustrating experience. Once your account is set up, you can access the mobile version of the site you’ve joined on your phone and log in.

 

Adding Money To Your Account

Managing your bankroll and depositing money are all available options on a mobile phone. Every room that I’ve tried has figured out how to do this well. You just need to enter your credit card / payment info and you’re done. When adding money though always find a promo code to maximize your deposit, this is something that I find easier to do on my PC that allows me to quickly browse a site to find what I’m looking for.

Game Selection on an iPhone

Something to remember, is that due to the constraints of playing on an iOS device, you won’t have access to as many game options or as many tournaments. Because of these limitations, I find myself only playing on my iPhone when I want to play a couple quick’n’easy games when I’m waiting for my flight at the airport, or in the waiting room of the dentist. Of course, you can’t play multi-table games (the screen is barely large enough to play just one table!) but it wouldn’t make sense to have that ability on a touch screen device anyway.

Another couple tips for when you are playing on your iPhone are to make sure your device is charged! It might just be that the battery in my iPhone 5 hates when I play Hold’em, but I’ve noticed that my battery life is drained more quickly than when I’m just browsing the internet. Making sure your wireless connection is strong is critical and avoid playing where you might get disconnected easily. There is nothing more frustrating than being dealt a strong pair and then not being able to do anything. I’d recommend attest a 3G connection.