Bitcoin Forum

Thank you for your consideration!

Here is a listing of Bitcoin pools with the information needed for you to decide what best suits you.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=104664.msg1146108#msg1146108

My first mining pool was Slush. I won a bid on eBay and mined for 24 hrs on 2 Ths. I didn't get what I was expecting but a lot more. My payout was 0.04 BTC. My second pool was Triplemining. I bid on eBay for 1 week contract on 1 Th and won bid for $97. After the week and extra hours my payout was over .60 BTC a 150% ROI. My third pool was Eligius. I rented a 550 Ghs rig from Betarigs.com and my payout was over .10 BTC.

All the above pool payout amount were based on chance and luck! Results vary with every individual!

I have been thru most of the pools over the last few years. But you may want to try BAN pool. It is a PPS payout so you don't have the variation that you will have with other pools.  https://mining.bitcoinaffiliatenetwork.com/admin.php (https://mining.bitcoinaffiliatenetwork.com/admin.php)

Thank you all so much for your information on pools I gladly appreciate it

Your welcome.

It depends on what's important to you. Do you prefer no fees? Do you prefer merged mining with multiple coins? There's no "best" pool.

Bitminter is pure ultimate awesome. Try it today.

how long was that? You mined when the difficulty was low I believe

Everyone will say that the pool they mine at is the best *COUGH* ECLIPSEMC *COUGH*.

There is no BEST pool per-se, they are all rather similar in payout.

Most is personal preference.

Some pools however, seem to pay more or less than others.

I mine at EclipseMC because I find it has the best stats listing.

Plus you can mine either DGM or PPS.

I change pools on a regular so here is how I can break them down; so make your own conclusion.

GHash.io - Has amazing highs and deadly lows.  Attracts all newbies because of the sheer power available and amount of blocks found, avoid it.
F2Pool - Pays PPS and pays to your wallet daily, regardless.  Good pool if that is what you want precisely, I dislike daily payouts forced.
Eligius.st - Capped PPS has good and bad days, never really made profit mining here.
BTCGuild - PPL15S - Probably the best overall pool.  It's neat if you want to join groups on a scoreboard.  I rarely mine there.
BitMinter - PPL10S - A classic, lovely pool, Doc Haribo's in my opinion, the best pool operator, amazing stats.  I mine here when on occasion.
Slush - Score - It's like the oldest mining pool.  I don't find score to be a fair payout method unless you can pool hop like a boss then the pay is bitchin'
EclipseMC - PPS & DGM - This is where I mine most of the time.  I love being able to switch from DGM to PPS in a couple clicks and stats are really nice, well laid out and practical.
OzCoin - Getting more and more popular because of the additional rewards. I rarely mine there.

Payout methods is a different thing.  To keep it simple, PPS is for those who want a steady payout since no matter what happens, you're paid the same rate.  PPLNS allows miners to add more of a luck factor to the game since many miners enjoy the gambling aspect of Bitcoin mining.  You run getting payouts that are larger than PPS but then you can get payouts that would be below also.  In my experience, if you do PPS, it's as close to having a "hashing job" as it gets.  Going PPLNS is more like random luck.  Problem with PPLNS is you need things to at least level out over time and if it doesn't, you get fucked and everyone's telling you that it will equal out over time, you brush it off then realize you lost a few $100 compared to if you would have bailed out days ago.

Well, do your own math, I do and I know you can lose a lot by not bailing from a falling PPLNS pool who's luck is too negative to even recuperate.

In today's times, most new miners are better off at a PPS pool, so you're getting your power's investment's worth.  No pool I was going at would compare.   I been saying it for a long time, Bitcoin mining will go back to a mostly PPS based system.  I predicted Discus Fish Obliterating GHash last February and I'll now predict some pools switching over to this payout method in 2015.

PS: If I didn't list it, it's because the pool is either just too awful for me to even say I mined there or you cannot mine there at all.
PPS: Smaller pools usually have better overall payouts but bad luck can screw you up pretty bad to a point it becomes an actual loss.
PPS: You should expect around 0.0125 a day per TH/s (10/19/2014)

Welcome to the industry!

Caution about EclipseMC:  Currently Butterfly Labs (owner of EclipseMC) is in receivership with the FTC due to alleged fraud. I'd recommend not keeping any coins there. Manual payouts as quickly as allowed.