Not everyone loves to install poker software on their computer. Maybe you use a shared machine at school, or a work computer that you can’t install poker programs on. Alternately, maybe you just like to keep your home computer as clean as possible.

No matter what the reason, though, online poker rooms have come up with a solution for you. Many sites now have no-download options that allow you to play online poker for real money without installing any software at all. These Flash poker sites and browser based poker sites can be used from anywhere on any operating system, making them a flexible and reliable option no matter where or when you want to play.

Top Rated Instant Play Flash Poker Sites

Advantages to Flash and Browser Based Poker Sites

Flash and browser-based poker sites have many distinct advantages that have made them increasingly popular in recent years. For one, you can use these versions of your favorite poker sites from anywhere in the world. Whether you’re on a public computer, at work, staying with a friend or anywhere else, the instant play poker room means that you can be ready to play in seconds.

Secondly, Flash poker sites allow players who use operating systems other than Windows to play in a wider variety of poker rooms. While downloadable software clients have to be created for each individual OS – meaning that only Windows users (and occasionally, Mac users) have the chance to use them – a browser-based poker site can work in most browsers, allowing players who use Linux, Ubuntu and other operating systems to play, too.

Disadvantages to Flash and Browser Based Poker Sites

The one major disadvantage to using a browser-based poker site is that the client is usually not quite as well-developed as the downloadable software version. Usually, this means that the browser-based version of a poker site will not have all of the bells and whistles that are available in the full client; some game modes may also be unsupported. On rare occasions, Flash poker sites can also be more bug prone, since the combination of the browser you use and the Flash poker site may be slightly less stable and prone to crashes than the poker room’s downloadable software.