by , 9:20 AM EST, December 13th, 2005
[Update: I've updated the poker guide with information about FullTilt's new Mac beta. - Bryan]
Two Worlds
If you want to play online poker on your Mac, you can either play at the sites that support the Mac platform natively, or you can use Virtual PC to access sites that cater to the Windows platform. I've done both, and I put together this guide to help make it less confusing for those looking to join the massive world of online poker.
I've divided my look at all the major poker sites into those that support the Mac natively and those that are Windows-only, and I've included performance information for sites that require Virtual PC. My recommendations are based on Virtual PC 7.x, the fastest version of the software yet put out, used on a fast Mac. I've also played on most of these sites with Virtual PC 6 on a 1.2 GHz PowerBook, so that, too, can be done, though I don't recommend it.
Also, I wrote this review for people who are familiar with poker and poker terms (I did include some definitions at the bottom of this guide). If you are completely new to poker, however, I recommend that you to sign up at one of these sites and playing the "free" games (also called "play money" games).
The play on the free side of every site is going to be whacky because there is nothing real at stake, but it will at least give you a feel for the mechanics of playing poker online. Until you deposit money on a site and play in a cash game or tournament, you can't lose anything.
You need to check with local authorities in your jurisdiction if it is legal for you to actually play for money (we at TMO do not condone that you break any laws and this article is provided as information and does not condone nor does it promote gambling from jurisdictions where it is not legal to do so).
Note that the links to the poker sites included are all affiliate links, part of our "Help TMO Grow" campaign. This means that if you sign up with a poker site through one of our links, TMO will get an affiliate bonus.
Lastly, if there is something else you'd like me to add to the guide, .
I tried to present the information for anyone to understand, but I may well have overlooked something, or made a mistake. I'll be updating the guide with additional reviews and other information as it becomes available.
Navigation Links:
Coral Eurobet (PokerRoom skin) - Coral Eurobet is run by a large European gambling conglomerate, and their poker room is digitally attached to their other gaming rooms. It's also recently joined with PokerRoom, effectively becoming a PokerRoom skin (it used to be a PartyPoker skin). This means that when you play on Eurobet, you are playing on the same tables, with the same people at PokerRoom. The only difference is the logo on the table.
Eurobet offer all of the same games as PokerRoom (Hold 'Em, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud H/L), and the interface is exactly the same, with some minor difference in some of the graphics.
In fact, the only real reason to play through Eurobet instead of PokerRoom is the bonus the company offers: Eurobet is offering a 100% First Deposit bonus up to $600, which matches FullTilt's bonus (see below) as the best available. Eurobet seems to let you earn that bonus a little faster than FullTilt, and the fact that you can do so without using VPC makes it all the better.
If you do want to play through the standalone client in VPC, note that it is as CPU-intensive as PokerRoom (it's the same software). Playing just two tables is slow and sluggish, even on a fast Mac. Accordingly, I recommend playing through your browser, which is a seamless experience.
Coral Eurobet requires that money be deposited in the main casino first, and it can then be transferred to and from the poker room without any penalties (your 100% First Deposit Bonus is paid based on what you transfer from the casino to the poker room). Note that their cashier system is handled through a browser, and I don't recommend trying to do any transactions in Virtual PC because their Web page also sucks up the CPU (on a native Windows box, it's not noticeable). I do all my transactions involving the cashier through Safari in Mac OS X.
Eurobet First Deposit Bonus: 100% of your first deposit is paid out as a bonus, up to $600. For this reason, and this reason only, I recommend playing through Eurobet, rather than PokerRoom's branded client. Note that if you already play at PokerRoom, you can also get an account at Eurobet to take advantage of the bonus.
 |
FullTilt Poker - I am delighted to bring FullTilt into the Native Mac Site category, as the company has launched a fully functional, standalone Mac client. It's currently in beta, but I've found it to be fully functional, and it makes playing on FullTilt on your Mac just as good as playing on Eurobet or PokerRoom.
FullTilt has the best deposit bonus in online poker, 100%, up to $600. That means that if your first deposit is $600 or more, you can get $600 in bonuses by playing hands. Most of the other sites offer 20%-25%, with a cap far lower than $600 (a few offer 50%). That's a massive bonus, but the trade-off is that you have to play a lot more hands to actually get that bonus than you do at the other sites. It's worth the trade-off, though, if you're a winning player.
FullTilt is one of the larger sites, and it offers Hold 'Em, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud H/L, as well as Razz. Indeed, it's one of the only places I have seen where you can consistently find several Razz games playing. FullTilt also offers multi-table tournaments and Sit & Gos.
Lastly, FullTilt offers a VIP Freeroll for the top 1,500 raked players (it's not that hard to qualify). The freerolls are divided up into three 500-person tournaments, with a total prize pool of $50,000. That's a nice reward for their active players.
FullTilt performance through VPC: If you still wish to play through VirtualPC, FullTilt performs very well on the Mac through Virtual PC, far better than PartyPoker, and I've encountered no problems with it.
FullTilt Sign Up Bonus: 100% First Deposit Bonus up to $600 (the best available)
 |
Pacific Poker - Pacific Poker is known as having some of the loosest players in online poker. I haven't spent a lot of time playing poker at Pacific, but I can confirm that this reputation is deserved. That's good news for good players. The trade-off is that game selection can be a bit weaker than at the larger sites, as there aren't as many players as the largest sites. Still, Pacific has plenty of players and plenty of games going.
Pacific offers Hold 'Em, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud H/L, as well as Sit & Go and multi-table tournaments.
Pacific's Mac support comes in the form of a no-download Java client that you play directly in your browser window (just like PokerRoom).
Min. Requirements:
Pacific Poker Sign Up Bonus: 25% sign-up bonus.
 |
PokerPages - PokerPages divides up its poker rooms into three distinct entities. The PokerPages advertised site is a "free to play" site. Bugsy's Club is the cash site, and it features Hold 'Em, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud H/L, Razz, and Sit & Go and multi-table tournaments for all of the above.
Bugsy's Club tends to have mostly No Limit Hold 'Em cash games and tournaments. While there are limit games to be had, the game selection is smaller than the NL game selection. Also, there are lots of Mac users here because of their Mac support, and I have found the people at Bugsy's Club to be the friendliest and best (in terms of environment) at any of the sites. You just don't see as much whining, trash talking, and other kinds of issues at Bugsy's Club as you do at other sites.
There's a third poker room, too, called PokerSchool Online. This is a play-money site, but one that requires a monthly or annual membership. In exchange, players can win awards for winning play, including entry into both Brick & Mortar tournaments and online tournaments, as well as some cash prizes. It's an interesting concept, but one I personally haven't played.
PokerPages' support for the Mac has been top-notch since I've been playing there (more than 18 months), and the software works very well. It's a Java app, and Java works very well under Panther and Tiger alike.
PokerPages Sign Up Bonus: 30% 1st Deposit Bonus up to $150
 |
PokerRoom - I've been playing PokerRoom through Eurobet (review coming soon), and I know Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus can be found at this Mac-friendly site playing Hold 'Em and Omaha H/L. The site offers the standard Hold 'Em, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud H/L games, as well as some Chinese Poker for those a little more into the gambling spirit. PokerRoom is one of the larger poker sites out there, and it is certainly the largest that supports the Mac natively. You'll find Sit & Go tournaments and multi-table tournaments, as well.
There are more lower limit games than higher limits, but at most levels, there are plenty of games to be found, with thousands of people online. In addition, PokerRoom offers micro-limits as low as US$.15 - $.30 for Limit poker, and $.10 - $.10 for No Limit.
The company also charges a lower rake in that the lower limits are capped ($2 max rake in $2 - $4 games, for instance, $1 at $1 - $2, and a maximum of $3 from anything higher), but charges a higher percentage (10%) until that max is hit. I haven't run the specific math on the effect of this structure, but I believe that at a loose table, this will work to your benefit, while at tight tables, you're giving up more to the casino than at other sites.
Here's what Dr. Mac has to say about the site: "PokerRoom has all of my favorite games as well as a plethora of tournaments including the awesome shorthanded�Turbo sit-and-go�Hold 'Ems. They're limited to five players with the blinds increasing every three minutes. Stakes range from $5 to $50 so there's always a new one starting. They're lots of fun and only take 15-30 minutes. If you visit PokerRoom.com, watch for me -- my nom de poker there is 'SlickMacDude.'"�
PokerRoom's Mac support comes in the form of a no-download Java client you play directly in your browser window. Better yet, it works with Windows, Linux and the Mac, too. A standalone client is available for Windows that you can play in Virtual PC. The Windows client is very CPU-intensive in VPC, however, worse even than PartyPoker (see below). Playing just two tables is slow and sluggish in VPC, even on a fast Mac.
Accordingly, I recommend playing through your browser, which is a seamless experience, no matter how many tables you play. It's a Java app, and Java works very well under Panther and Tiger alike.
Sign Up Bonus: 20% up to $100 on your first deposit.
Hollywood Poker - Review coming soon.
GamesGrid - Review coming soon.
Note that I strongly recommend Virtual PC 7, as it performs significantly faster than previous versions of VPC.
 |
PartyPoker - The world's largest online poker site. Party regularly has 40,000 or so people playing at any given time. That means they have the best table selection, and they offer a very wide range of limits (.$50/$1 to $100/$200 Limit, and $25-$2,000 buy-in No Limit). Party offers the usual Hold 'Em, Omaha, Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud H/L.
Party also offers a huge range of multi-table tournaments, including $1 buy-ins to more than $600 buy-ins, Sit & Gos, multi-table Sit & Gos, Step Tournaments, a variety of free tournaments, World Series of Poker satellites, and more.
On the down side is Party's client software, which looks like it was designed by Windows users (it was). It's ugly and not all that intuitive, but is certainly usable.
PartyPoker performance through VPC: Another negative is the fact that their client software is, for some unknown-to-me reason, very CPU-intensive. Much more so than the other sites I've played through Virtual PC. On a mid-speed Mac, you'll notice interface delays if you play more than one or two tables at the same time, but on a fast, dual processor Mac, you won't have any problems at all. Four-tabling at Party is just as fast as can be for me on a dual 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5 with a 23" Cinema Display. Almost any Mac 800 MHz or more will be fine if you're only playing one table.
PartyPoker Sign Up Bonus - 20% First Deposit Bonus up to $100
GoDaddy - Review coming soon.
PokerStars - Review coming soon.
UltimateBet - Review coming soon.
In some ways, I should have started out my guide with this section, as many of us simply don't know what to look for when we're starting out. Fortunately, I got to figure it all out before you, so here we go.
Game Availability: Look for a site that has the game or games you want to play. If micro-limit NL games are your cup of tea, make sure that the site you are signing up for offers it. If it doesn't, keep looking, because some site will. Heck, PokerStars recently introduced Royal Hold 'Em, an evil variation of Hold 'Em that uses only broadway cards.
Table Selection: This is a more subtle aspect of choosing a site. Table selection refers to your ability to choose from amongst a number of tables, or to be able to move to another table if you don't like the action where you are. There are entire volumes written by more accomplished poker players than me about how to choose a table, but what I'll point out here is that the fewer games there are at the level you wish to play, the fewer options you have.
Personally, I've found plenty of selection at Eurobet/PokerRoom at 5/10 (limit) and below. For games bigger than that, you'll want to look to the bigger sites -- Party, UltimateBet (review coming soon), PokerStars, FullTilt, and sometimes Pacific.
Sign-up Bonus: The sign-up bonus is a big deal to some folks, and many poker players will do some "bonus whoring" (as its known), and sign up at new sites just long enough to clear their bonus. The best sign-up bonuses are at FullTilt and Eurobet. They're offering a 100% bonus up to $600, and that trounces what every other site is offering. Eurobet has the added benefit of being a PokerRoom skin that offers native Mac support through their Java client. PokerPages' 30% bonus up to $150 is the second best at this time, and after that, one site is just about as good as another.
Interface: I'm an interface snob, as many Mac users are, and I hate using software with a poor interface. For instance, PartyPoker's interface is terrible. It's very Windowsy and unintuitive. PokerRoom/Eurobet's interface looks good, but a couple of features are ass-backwards (you have to "sit out" to add more chips to your table, for instance). Also, there is no way to turn off avatars with the Java version of the client, while I can't find a way to turn off animations in the Windows client. These are minor nuisances, but ones that don't keep me from playing.
FullTilt has a nice interface, and PokerPages has the best interface for a native-Mac site. PokerStars (review coming soon) also has a very good interface with a lot of good features, and UltimateBet (review coming soon) is among the better designed sites, too.
Performance: If you're on a slower Mac, you have no choice but to play on one of the sites that supports the Mac natively (or through a Java client). Fortunately, PokerRoom/Eurobet offers a very good poker room, and I am definitely fond of PokerPages.
If VirtualPC is an option for you, you'll find that PokerStars (review coming soon), UltimateBet (review coming soon), and FullTilt all perform quite well in Virtual PC. Party is more of a system hog, but is still playable on most faster Macs.
My recommendation: For Mac users who want to play poker online without using Virtual PC, I have to recommend Eurobet. You have all the native Mac goodness and good table selection of PokerRoom combined with the best sign-up bonus available. A $600 bonus is a tasty addition to anyone's poker bankroll. If you prefer to play through the real deal, instead of a skin like Eurobet, PokerRoom itself is my next recommendation.
The addition of a Mac beta for FullTilt makes that site my third choice. FullTilt isn't quite as big as PokerRoom, but it's big enough, and I love the fact that it's a full, standalone application. It also has the same $600 first deposit bonus as Eurobet, so it's a w00t all around.
If you're OK with using VirtualPC, I'd recommend PartyPoker. While their bonus isn't the best, it's simply the biggest poker room on the Internet. That means that table selection is second to none, and it can support your entire career if you so wish, as it offers the broadest game availability anywhere.
One More Thing: The most important thing to realize is that you can have an account at more than one poker site. That means that if you don't like the action at one, you can always go to another. In fact, many poker players keep money on multiple sites, playing when and where their fancy strikes them (just remember where you have money so that you don't forget it). If you're playing with a limited bankroll, as most of us are, the only thing you have to consider is that it can take a day or more to withdraw money from some sites, making transferring funds a limiting factor if you intend to play a lot.
For myself, I've found that there are some games that I personally enjoy most at a particular site. For instance, if I want to play Razz, it will be at FullTilt. If I want to play a larger Sit & Go, I can (currently) only find that at PokerStars (review coming soon). Of late, I've been playing a lot of single table Sit & Gos at PokerStars, too. For small stakes action, I like PokerRoom/Eurobet, though I enjoy the action at FullTilt, too. For larger games, PartyPoker has the most to offer. I imagine that Omaha and Omaha H/L is better at one or two of the sites, too. The point is that if you don't like the action where you are, try another site.
Texas Hold 'Em/Hold 'Em - Texas Hold 'Em is the most popular poker game in the world right now, having supplanted 7 Card Stud or Draw Poker long ago. Each player has two cards in their hand that only they can see, and there's a "community board" of five cards that everyone shares. From those seven cards, you make your best five card hand (you can use none, one, or both of your cards, as needed).
Hold 'Em is seemingly simple, but mastering the game is an issue of understanding drawing odds and pot odds, and understanding your opponents. The game is divided up into four betting rounds (Pre-flop, Flop, Turn, and River), and is played with two forced bets called the Small Blind and the Big Blind.
Omaha - Omaha is similar to Hold 'Em, but it's played with four cards in your hand, and the community board of five cards. Another difference is that you have to use two cards from your hand. Omaha is often played as "Pot Limit."
Omaha is also divided up into four betting rounds (Pre-flop, Flop, Turn, and River), and is played with two forced bets called the Small Blind and the Big Blind.
Omaha Hi-Lo/Omaha H/L - Omaha H/L is played like Omaha -- four cards in your hand, five community cards -- but the pot is split between the "high hand" and a "low hand." The high hand is just what you'd expect, the best hand that can be made (top pair, two pair, three-of-a-kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush).
The low hand is the worst hand that can be made, and most Omaha H/L games are played where the lowest hand you can have is A2345. There's also an "8 qualifier," which means that there is no low hand unless three cards from the board and two cards from your hand are unpaired cards of 8 or below. This is not the place for an Omaha tutorial, however, so look to one of the many poker books or online resources for more information on playing this game.
Omaha H/L is also divided up into four betting rounds (Pre-flop, Flop, Turn, and River), and is played with two forced bets called the Small Blind and the Big Blind.
7 Card Stud - Seven card stud was once one of the more popular poker games, but has largely lost favor to Hold 'Em. It's played with seven cards in your hand, with the first two down so that only you can see them, the next four face up for everyone to see, and the last card down, too.
It's usually played with an "ante," whereby everyone contributes a very small bet before you get your cards. Once the flop (the first three cards) is dealt, the lowest card showing will be the "bring in." From there, the best hand showing will lead the bet. The betting rounds occur on the flop (the first three cards), 4th street, 5th street, 6th street, and the river. That's one more betting round than Hold 'Em.
7 Card Stud Hi-Lo/7 Card Stud H/L - 7 Card Stud H/L is played just like 7 Card Stud, but there will also be a "low hand" that takes half the pot. Just like in Omaha H/L, there is usually an 8 qualifier for the low hand, and the best low hand to have is A2345 (rarely it will be A2346).
It's usually played with an "ante," whereby everyone contributes a very small bet before you get your cards. Once the flop (the first three cards) is dealt, the lowest card showing will be the "bring in." From there, the best hand showing will lead the bet. The betting rounds occur on the flop (the first three cards), 4th street, 5th street, 6th street, and the river. That's one more betting round than Hold 'Em.
Razz - Razz is an old-school game that was popular in California card rooms for many a year. Online, it can only be found at FullTilt and PokerPages to my knowledge.
It's played like 7 Card Stud (two down, four up, one down), but there is only a low hand (the pot goes to the player with the worst hand). There is no qualifier, so a pair of aces can win the hand (but almost never will), and the best low hand to have is usually A2345.
Razz is a "drawing game," which means that most of the players are drawing to improve right up to the last card. That can get expensive if you don't know what you're doing, so play your Razz carefully. Its drawing nature is also why players that love the game also hate it; it can be frustrating.
It's usually played with an "ante," whereby everyone contributes a very small bet before you get your cards. Once the flop (the first three cards) is dealt, the highest card showing will be the "bring in." From there, the best hand showing will lead the bet. The betting rounds occur on the flop (the first three cards), 4th street, 5th street, 6th street, and the river. That's one more betting round than Hold 'Em.
Rake - The amount that the house (the casino) takes from each hand as a fee for playing. In brick and mortar casinos, the rake can range from $1 per hand on up, and can be taken in the form of a drop (each player pays a fee once per round), a rake (the fee is taken out of the pot), or a time charge (all the players pay the fee once per half hour).
At online casinos, the rake is lower than the B&M casinos, though it is still very high. Most places charge 5% of each pot, with a maximum of $3 or $4. If you're paying a higher percentage, the maximum rake should be lower than that, so pay attention.
The rake is what sets poker apart from playing table games (Black Jack, Pai Gow Baccarat, Craps, etc.) in a casino. With table games, you're playing against the house, and the odds are set up against you. With poker, you're playing against the other players, not the house, and the house makes its money from the rake. That's a good thing, as long as you're a winning player.
Limit - Limit poker is the kind of poker most people are familiar with, usually from home games. A game like Texas Hold 'Em is structured with four betting rounds (Pre-flop, Flop, Turn, River), with the first two being limited to an amount called the "Small Bet," and the later two being limited to a "Big Bet."
Most of the time, the Big Bet is twice the size of the Small Bet, and you'll see limit sizes described accordingly. So a $2/$4 game means that the Small Bet is $2, while the Big Bet is $4.
Pot Limit/PL - Pot limit poker is less common, save in Omaha games, but can be found in most of the online casinos. Pot limit means that you can bet anywhere from the Big Blind to the amount already in the pot. So if the pot is $10, you could bet up to $10. The next round, you could bet $30 (the $10 in the pot, the $10 you bet, and the $10 you were called by your opponent).
The thing that confuses most people in playing pot limit is how much you can raise. For instance, if the pot is $10, and your opponent bets $10, you can raise the bet to $40 (the $10 in the pot, the $10 bet, and your $10 call now make the pot $30, which means you can raise by $30, making the bet $40). Of course, your opponent could raise you the pot, making the bet $120. Fun, huh?
Fortunately, when you're playing online, the software will handle the math for you.
No Limit/NL - No limit poker is the kind of poker that you'll usually find on TV, and it's how most of the big tournaments are structured. With No Limit poker, the only two limitations on how much you can bet are the size of the Big Blind (the minimum you can bet), and the amount of chips you have on the table.
This means you can go "all-in," which means putting all your chips into the pot. For someone to call you, they either have to match that amount, or go all-in themselves.
Please note that it's only in the movies (and TV) where one player can win the pot simply by betting more than another player has.
Mr. Whipperwill: "I'll see your $50, and I'll raise you a thousand."
Young Andy: "Gee, I don't have no thousand dollars, Mr. Whipperwill."
Mr. Whipperwill: "Well son, there's always the deed to your daddy's ranch..."
In real life, if you don't have enough to cover a bet, you are simply contesting for the amount of the bet (and overall pot) that you can cover. In online play, the software takes care of all this. In a B&M casino, the dealer will handle it.
Oh, and "I'll see your $XX and raise you $YY" is called a string raise, and is NOT ALLOWED, except in the movies.
Small Blind/Big Blind - Blind games are games played with two forced bets to give everyone something to fight over. The Small Blind is usually 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 the size of the Big Blind, with the Big Blind itself being the size of the Small Bet. That may seem confusing to some, but what it means is that a $2/$4 Hold 'Em will have a Small Blind of $1 and a Big Blind of $2.
Make sense? Good, because it's a little different with NL poker where the name of the game is the size of the blinds. So, a $2/$4 NL Hold 'Em game would be structured with a Small Blind of $2 and a Big Blind of $4.
Bring-In Bet - A bring-in bet, or more commonly just the bring-in, is another kind of forced bet intended to stimulate action. It is usually found in stud games, particularly any of the 7 card stud games. The bring in is almost always a minimum bet that is lower than the Small Bet for that game. For instance, in a $3 - $6 stud game, the bring-in might be $.50 or $1.
Bring-in players also have the option of "completing" their own bring-in bet, which means that they come into the pot with a full Small Bet. Players coming in behind the bring-in can either call it, or complete it themselves. Once the bet has been completed, it can be raised as it normally would.
In high-handed and hi/lo games, the bring-in will usually be the lowest card showing on the flop. In a low game like Razz, it will be the highest card showing. This might seem unfair, since in either case the player with the worst hand showing is being forced to enter the pot, but such is poker. This person is the sacrificial lamb chosen to stimulate the action.
Lastly, please note that only the flop has a bring-in. On every other betting round, the best showing will lead the bet.
Tight - A "tight" player is one who is defined as playing fewer hands than a "loose" player. What this means in practical terms is that when a tight player enters a pot, he or she will usually have a good starting hand. Learning how to play both tight and loose players is a big part of every poker player's challenge.
Loose - A "loose" player is the term given to someone who plays a lot of hands, something that very few players can do profitably (but that's a conversation for another time). When a loose players enters a pot, he or she might have anything, and the vast majority of players on the Internet are far too loose for their own good. Learning how to play both tight and loose players is a big part of every poker player's challenge.
Brick & Mortar/B&M - Brick & Mortar casinos are real casinos, like you'll find in Vegas, Indian lands, and everywhere else in the world. Folks in the online poker world tend to refer to them as B&M casinos to distinguish them from their online counterparts.
Skin - A "skin" refers to a poker room that is really just a branded subset of another poker room. When PartyPoker was first getting off the ground, the company licensed itself out to four other poker rooms in a bid to get market share. Once Party became the big daddy of the poker world, it cut all four of those skins off, with one, Coral Eurobet, joining up with PokerRoom.
When you play at a skin, you're playing the same tables with the same players that you'll find at the main poker room, but the graphics will be branded with the skins' look and feel.
multi-table Tournament - A multi-table tournament is simply a tournament with a lot of people playing. Most B&M tournies will have 100 or more people in them, but an online multi-table tournament can easily have 1,000 or more players. These tournaments usually pay out to the top 10%-20% of the field, with the lion's share going to the folks at the final table.
Sit & Go (SnG or S&G) - A Sit & Go tournament is basically a short tournament, most often comprised of one table of nine or ten players, depending on the site. It's true meaning, however, is that it's a tournament with a pre-defined number of players that will begin as soon as that many people have signed up.
Accordingly, there can be multi-table Sit & Gos, and PokerStars (review coming soon) even offers 180-person Sit & Gos.
Off-Site Offers: Compatiblepoker.com has lists of all the Mac poker rooms that offer download and no download poker software for Macs.