Introduction to BitCoin poker

[Micon]

how would you buy and cash bit coins?

there are major exchanges to do this from your home:

Bitstamp
MtGox
BTC-E
Tradehill
Coinbase

are a few trusted ones.

The real beauty of bitcoin is when applications like localbitcoins.com and "Satoshi Squares" where many humans know to meet at a certain place and a certain time 1x per week and trade btc face to face:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-18/bitcoins-open-air-trading-floor

Biggest tournament in bitcoin kicks off in 2 hours - only at SealsWithClubs - the BIG BTC is 950+50 and has a 40k guarantee (40 bitcoins!)

 

[Cokatoo56]

Maybe I have this wrong, so correct me if I am wrong.

A "bitcoin" is not currency as in the yen, dollar, pound. Yet it can be converted into/out of those.

It's value is changing, so one bitcoin might cost/be worth $5.00 now, $10 or 1 penny tomorrow?

It's value or worth has nothing to do with anything tangible, such as a gold reserve or real estate to back it up.

Rather, it has to do with stock in the coin/company that are buying and selling it and current value of that in the market? Sort of like shares in a company? Or is it merely like an online version of a token?

bitcoin is a currency. they call it digital currency, since it is just virtual, there is no coins, notes that someone representing bitcoins interests, would print out.

"It's value or worth has nothing to do with anything tangible, such as a gold reserve"
just like the USD since 1971.
so we could argue that printing a new currency like bitcoin is as legitimate as printing paper called USD. however, I bet that would be made illegal for some reason in most countries, including the US.
anyway, the way it has been designed, there is no head (such as the fed) to control the emission of bitcoin. it seems to be self regulated.
if there was a head, it would just not work; the guys who control the bitcoins would have been identified and the fed/ecb would have cut these guys' heads already.
just like any currency, its value fluctuate.
it's still quite new, and most people still trust traditional currencies like EUR, USD etc first, so it remains small, but slowly gaining momentum.
there has been a hype around bitcoins recently and its value went super high in a short time (bubble).
some ecommerce are accepting bitcoins as a currency to buy goods. recently i read that a pub somewhere in EU was now accepting bitcoins.
just like any other currency, you can trade it with goods and with another currency like the USD.
just do a google search for bitcoin, it is no more an underground geek thing.
just like any other currency, the more people will accept to use bitcoins (or any other e-currency), the more value it will gain.

 

[cAPSLOCK]

I have been playing poker for bitcoins for well over a year now.

I have a verified account at Mt Gox (easy to do) and can cash out via Dwolla superfast. I've done it several times.

When bitcoin poker was a bit newer the field was as soft as I have ever seen online. It's tougher now, but theres still lots of money to be made.

SWC is run very well. Though the site is the "digital wild west" of online poker I have seen the admin team react VERY quickly in cases where players try to scam or the like... The community is tight and the games are fair and the clients work well.

I have had some occasions where I have had a disconnect issue cause me to lose a hand, and though I do not like this, and hope the team can strengthen disconnect logic in the server/clients the amount of money I have saved on rake FAAAAR outweighs any loss I have sustained due to a glitch ehre and there.

There are clients for web browser. PC and Android. All three are solid.

As I type this 275 are playing and there are active NLHE games from the equivalent of 5NL to 100NL not to mention many cash games being spread for LHE PLO, LO and PLO8.

There are freerolls every hour, and tournaments from a penny up to a hundred bucks running regularly. The sit n' go ecosystem is kinda anemic, but the scheduled tourneys are played regularly and there are weekly guarantees as high as $4k or so as well as daily $500ish guarantee games.

If you don't try it you hate money.

 

[Cokatoo56]

I have been playing poker for bitcoins for well over a year now.

I have a verified account at Mt Gox (easy to do) and can cash out via Dwolla superfast. I've done it several times.

When bitcoin poker was a bit newer the field was as soft as I have ever seen online. It's tougher now, but theres still lots of money to be made.

SWC is run very well. Though the site is the "digital wild west" of online poker I have seen the admin team react VERY quickly in cases where players try to scam or the like... The community is tight and the games are fair and the clients work well.

I have had some occasions where I have had a disconnect issue cause me to lose a hand, and though I do not like this, and hope the team can strengthen disconnect logic in the server/clients the amount of money I have saved on rake FAAAAR outweighs any loss I have sustained due to a glitch ehre and there.

There are clients for web browser. PC and Android. All three are solid.

As I type this 275 are playing and there are active NLHE games from the equivalent of 5NL to 100NL not to mention many cash games being spread for LHE PLO, LO and PLO8.

There are freerolls every hour, and tournaments from a penny up to a hundred bucks running regularly. The sit n' go ecosystem is kinda anemic, but the scheduled tourneys are played regularly and there are weekly guarantees as high as $4k or so as well as daily $500ish guarantee games.

If you don't try it you hate money.

cAPSLOCK > does the PC client work for you ?
I get an error message when I try to run the .exe (I am on windows)
I'd rather play using the PC client instead of from the browser

 

[vinnie]

PC client works for me. What does the error message say?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Cokatoo56]

PC client works for me. What does the error message say?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

when i launch the file swc_client.exe, i get the following message : "see the logfile '[path]\swc_client.exe.log' for details.
the message box is named : "erros occured"

and that is the error message in the text file :
socket.error: [Errno 10061] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it

(it is v0.2.14 btw it that matters)

vinnie, have you got any idea what is the blocking point ?
i didn't suspect it could be the firewall at first, because the firewall would usually ask me if i want or not to allow the App to access the internet, and it didn't with swc.

 

[vinnie]

That error is from python. All the bug reports I can find regarding it end up determining it's either a firewall issue or that it's a server-side issue. Since SwC works for me (and most people), I am assuming that it's a firewall issue.

I see a connection on my end made to ports 8088 and 443 on SwC. You might want to check that you're allowing connections out to these ports.

If you still have a problem, I would delete the client and reinstall it. It could be that you have a version that is somehow out of date (even if it says the same version I have) or corrupt and the server is rejecting it because it doesn't trust the client.

 

[soncheebs]

Ran across an article about bitcoins randomly, had absolutely no idea the complexity of the whole thing, and honestly after watching about 5 videos, reading a half dozen more articles, I think I'm more confused and skeptical than to begin with. None the less I thought I'd give SWC a try, so I made an account, and downloaded the PC client. Software is absolute trash, but somehow I'm still intrigued. Anyways, have any of you made any money off this site, and do you have any tips for a newbie? More specifically are the freerolls any good, I don't really understand the prizes from looking at them, and also is there a preferred seating option because I can't find one. Also do you have to deposit to withdraw?

 

[vinnie]

Pretty sure you don't need to deposit to withdraw. The freerolls are not too bad, but the payouts are small and they are basically shovefests. I started with 100 chips there and managed to get it up over 400 (~$40) without much play. The players seem pretty weak and spewy.

The biggest thing I like about it is the low rake. It isn't my main site, but I jump on from time to time when I don't feel like playing my normal limits.

If you play small stakes or higher (100nl and up), it will be hard for you to get action on Seals.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

 

[soncheebs]

Yea, I'm getting frustrated with these freerolls, finally after like 5 of them I developed a bit of a strategy, and finished 4th in the 3 prizes, then 39 in the 30 prizes, and then 6th in the 3 prizes on, all back to back....soooo irritating. But ya the software is really terrible, idk if I can bare it much longer.

 

[nanib53766]

In the current world and changes, I can say that even the most user-friendly platform, by order of certain governments, can turn into a dragon with a bunch of hectic rules and walls.