https://swcpoker.eu/swc-poker-deals-1m-hands/

1)  kind of happy it was stud
2)  there was no announced prize but I'm inclined to make one up
3)  this is how it went down:

Hand #1000000: Limit Seven Card Stud - 0.25/0.50
2015-04-08 23:34:46

Table 'Wave'

Seat 1: Zapmeister (24.07 in chips)

Seat 3: liam22 (24.76 in chips)

Total Chips on Table: 48.83

Dealt to Zapmeister: [Kc 6s Jh]

Dealt to liam22: [X X 5c]

liam22 brings in for 0.12

Zapmeister bets 0.25

liam22 calls 0.25

*** 3RD STREET ***

Dealt to Zapmeister: [9s]

Dealt to liam22: [Kd]

liam22 checks

Zapmeister checks

*** 4TH STREET ***

Dealt to Zapmeister: [8c]

Dealt to liam22: [2c]

liam22 checks

Zapmeister bets 0.50

liam22 calls 0.50

*** 5TH STREET ***

Dealt to Zapmeister: [Qc]

Dealt to liam22: [Th]

liam22 checks

Zapmeister checks

*** 6TH STREET ***

Dealt to Zapmeister: [Tc]

Dealt to liam22: [X]

liam22 checks

Zapmeister bets 0.50

liam22 folds

Zapmeister wins pot (1.58)

*** SUMMARY ***

Seat 1: Zapmeister (24.84) +0.77

Seat 3: liam22 (23.95) -0.81

Rake 0.04

Total Chips (Start / End) 48.83 / 48.83

proud of the SwC Twitch army!

embarrassed for mixing up tspacepilot & dave23 

Have a few higher-limit cash tables that popped off recently if anyone is looking to gamboool

I hear you guys and I assure you were are on track to build all clients within a few months.

hahaha I knew once I saw Dave23 latest reply I would get hit up for 'droid info

We're grinding hard for you and everyone else my man.

10 weeks is the earliest I could see it done, 30 weeks the latest. 

I'll have you grinding on the commute soon brother

1)  Mac & Android clients will be dev'd at the same time.  We are going to fix our connectivity issues first.  They are almost done, and yes, we all want them ASAP

2)  I read the poll results and thank each of you that voted for the important feedback.  I have heard you guys loud and clear.  We will build and HTML5 client eventually.

3) I <3 so much what "WearsMyLiberty" is doing. 

"No Banking, Only Bitcoin" is the flag I have always flown.

IMO many other gambling sites lose the message, introduce alts, fiat, or otherwise spoil the pristine bitcoin pie.  You have my word it's always going to be only bitcoin, and I won't ever muddle the message.

a professional gambler must be winning at gambling over the long set.  Year over year.

A big budget, without regards to winning or losing over the long set, is a "high roller"

an addict with a gambling problem, no matter the stakes played, is a "degenerate"



Maybe in the "real" world, but I lived in Vegas for most of a decade, and gambling is just a regular part of life there.  When bitcoins and Seals started getting popular, most of my peers were really positive about the project.  If you live in a place with very little or no gambling, or in an area where gambling is viewed as a bad thing, I could see how they might be hatin'.  I wouldn't live in such a place, personally.



Shills aren't usually to recover the freeroll money.  Shills are usually used to make a poker room more busy, or to start cash games.  I would say about 25% of poker sites and/or poker rooms still use Shills.  They are a leftover position from a previous time in poker, and personally I don't thing it's dishonest for a poker site to use them, so long as they make it very clear what they are doing.

While I don't feel they are dishonest, I doubt I will ever have a "shill" working for SwC Poker.  A "Pro" is like a shill, except that it is presented clearly to the other players and usually it's someone that the player base likes to talk to and ask questions.  A "Pro" is more of an ambassador while a "Shill" seems more like something sneaky that is supposed to look like a regular player.

IMO alts are a distraction.

Over the last few years it would have been easy to integrate alts into a poker site.

IMO that isn't the point of bitcoin - Satoshi invented Bitcoin to be a better form of money.  An Alt currency basically says "well let's just invent a better money one more time"

inventing a new form of money is hard.  To think it could be done again so quickly is foolish.

 

There was an issue with double-crediting accounts after crashes.  I want to post publicly here acknowledging the issue. 

only a small handful of players were affected and we have made adjustments to accounts.  There is a "manual debit" for a reason of "double credit" in your transactions if this happened to you.

I must apologize for not notifying players immediately after we found this issue.  It is my fault, there was no process for this type of an issue and I didn't develop one until today. 

If anyone has questions about this issue, please email me personally micon@swcpoker.eu.  I can get you a full transaction report if needed to show you exactly when and where.

unless you are cheating, they are not beatable. 

Ok, a corner case for everything:

Bingo has been a staple of Las Vegas for decades.  Some "bingo halls" (they are just big rooms within the mega-casinos) have progressive jackpots.  The game of bingo is horribly -EV, usually a ~15-20% hold.  This is 15x-20x greater of a hold than Primedice.  Imagine playing a game 20 times worse than dice... anyway, the progressive jackpot isn't usually high enough to swing the game from that negative to +EV.  But sometimes... I think it happened once during my time in Vegas, the usually ~10k progressive bingo jackpot swelled to over $100k.  I don't have the math handy for bingo, but a handful of advantage players said they were playing bingo that week.  So yes, even bingo can be +EV sometimes, but it's so damn rare it's likely best practice to tell everyone that bingo isn't beatable.

It's a good question.  The emotional highs and lows of gambling often affect the gambler's actions.  If a guy is losing big, he may bet more or move up in stakes to try and win it back quickly.  The term of "chasing" is often used to describe this.  If a guy is winning big he may start betting less to conserve the profit, or he may get manic and feel invincible, upping the stakes.  He also may "heat check" or make a bet that he wouldn't usually make if he was around even or losing, but now with the new found money he may take a flop in hold'em for more money than his good sense tells him to, just to "see if he's on a streak"

All of this is rubbish, but we are all human.  The goal is to not get too high on the highs, and not get too low on the lows.  For poker, riding a good or bad streak also affects how the other humans perceive you - your poker opponents are not computers, they are humans just like you, with all of the possible biases and the often misunderstanding of independent probability - so if you have won a few hands in a row, the guy in the big blind may be more "scared of you" than he should be.  Keeping a level head is the goal, again much easier said than done.

A quick story somewhat off topic, but along the lines of "what motivates your opponents at the poker table" - I was in one of my first poker tournaments, a small event held in Mirage poker room c. 2004, at a time where that room was still relevant - on a break, I was talking, like a fish, to another fish.  This man had just beaten me in a huge pot making a crazy call with AK on a board of 5-7-J-J - I had pocket 10's and shoved like 2x pot on the turn.  He called with nothing but A-K high, and hit an Ace on the river, just like in the movies .  On break I asked him "why did you call me with only AK?"  (this was a time in poker when many would talk openly about the hand right after it happened, now it would be considered taboo to even ask) And this older Asian man replied to me, and I totally believe him:  "I call you with Ace and King because it was heart and diamond, so I think love and money and I just go with it."

that's the kind of shit you are up against - some incomprehensible, ill-conceived logic.  The way I would counter such logic at a poker table would be to valuebet this particular player heavy, go 1.3 pot if I want to, he is more likely to find some crazy reason to call than your average donk.


yes.  I consider most things to be gambling.  Insurance is gambling.  A forced, -EV gamble in most jurisdictions.  Makes me think why we are even taking a rake on things like medical insurance...

But anyway, alt coins can be beaten by pros, as I have spoke to some beating the game.  It's a filthy game IMO.  The pump-and-dump nature of all the scrypt hashing power pointing to the alt-du-jour, mixed with the same graph I've seen over and over again... the initial pop followed by the downward decay.  To beat this game you need to be in on the pre-mines, you need to be one of the hype-men advertising the next newest, greatest alt, these guys are gifted big amounts of the new alts, and as much as they tell you they are holding for the long term, they are dumping right at the start.

The same logic applies for the (thankfully sub-categorized) HYIP scams - totally beatable - if you are the guy running it or one of the initial few guys connected to the real information.  I've seen smart men game these systems successfully, treating it much like poker - sure you will lose a few pots, but you'll win far greater value than you will lose.   I would never participate in an HYIP even if I thought I could beat them, as they are extremely dishonest and intentionally mismanage "investor" expectations.  I only participate in gambling games where all sides agree and stick to the rules.  there should be no surprises when I win or lose.

very simple yes-or-no bets made between 2 entities.  Think of them like statement betting.  

"The price of bitcoin according to X exchange will be >= Y price on Z date & time"

[using more english]

"The price of Bitcoin according to Bitstamp will be >=$300 USD on 5/5/2015 at 5:55 UTC"

A binary option must only have 2 possible outcomes.  The sites that run binary options usually charge a fee to the winner.  Binary options have been around the financial and equity markets for a while.  The site that runs them charges a fee, and from a player perspective to beat that fee you need to have proper information before the rest of the market.  This system is like poker, in that it will create many losers and a few winners.  I don't dabble in them, although some of my earlier BFL-facing bets (that are public here in this forum) are very similar to a binary option.


0)  we have different definitions of "pretty famous"
1)  It is possible to make a living out of poker.  Also possible to make a living out of picking up everyone's trash.  It is worth restating that it's not as glamorous as it seems to do so.
2)  Freerolls have a very low "EV" or "expected value"  The purpose of them is to offer a +EV situation (albeit very small) to every player in the tournament.  The amount that I could win by playing every freeroll on the internet all day every day is likely far less than minimum wage.  
3) I like to play live.  Some only like to play behind a computer.  I have read many books on reading tells (Joe Navarro's "Read 'em and Reap" is one of the best physical tells books I have ever read.  I use it more in business & life than in poker, but damn it's really good for poker too)
4) hahahaha I love those blue sunglasses!  They are prescription, and I had the lenses re-fitted in early 2014 when my prescription changed.  I tried to match the previous color but notice the 2014 pictures have a slightly lighter blue.  I wear them everyday, they are not special for poker, just my sunglasses, and I thing I look "Like a poker player" when I wear them.  It's about how the others at the table perceive me when I'm playing big tournaments.
5) there is so much information about poker on the internet in 2015.  If you desire to learn some part of the game, even an overview for a newb, there are so many youtube videos and training sites now.  Google your exact question, you are likely to find a forum with a detailed answer.  For training sites, I like Cardrunners, Deuces Cracked, Bluefire, and Leggo poker.  Books i can only recommend the Navarro book because it's so brilliant - but almost all learnings & teachings about pokers happen on the internet now.
5)


yes, almost all online casinos reshuffle every hand of BJ in 2015.  I think Cloudbet has a "live" blackjack table that does not.  It reminds me of a funny story in early-internet gambling.  in ~1998 or so, I was in college (yup, I got old back there somewhere, if you are lucky it will happen to you too) and the first online casinos were sprouting up.  Very jank software, very lazy coding, and obviously 1998 level security and integrity. With no real aim other than to light some money on fire while drinking and smoking weed, my friends and I loaded up... I think it was "Intercasino" but maybe not... and we deposited $100 or so and started playing all of the games.  I had read an article on blackjack card counting and wanted to know more.  Because it was 1998 I had to buy a book with BlackJack basic strategy.  This online casino we were playing dealt Blackjack from 1 deck, and down to the last card, then it reshuffles and starts over.  By the end of the week, we had a deck next to the computer where one guy eliminated all the cards as they were dealt.  We knew exactly the 52nd card to come  Insurance decisions towards the end of the deck became very +EV We were not professional gamblers, we didn't "go for the kill," we also didn't want to get in trouble or generate massive USD transfers, so we won a few $K over a few weeks and received the cashouts, each time for like $700 or $950, just scared of getting that 4 digit check  We were even given some early "VIP rewards" in the form of $500 travel vouchers, which I thought were a scam at the time and just threw away when they sent them with the check.  We were even invited to Vegas for a high rollers weekend, but none of us were 21+  lol.  FYI they fixed that shit within a few weeks, went to 2 decks and dealing *almost* to the end.  Was still beatable, then a within a year they were doing the every-hand-reshuffle.



It is clear this man is telling the truth, he has been in the battle for many years and emerged with the 1000 yd stare.  I've seen some of my friends adjust when the USA government turned off Pokerstars / FTP, some moved overseas to keep playing, some turned into live grinders, and some did other things.  The ones that started doing other things seem the happiest to me now.  A buddy of mine, having won and lost $1M over the last ~8 years or so, went broke and then started a Drone business with a financial backer.  He seems much happier than the ones that stayed to continue playing.

Prolly the best explaination of card counting on the internet:  http://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/card-counting/introduction/

[I'll likely be referring to Wizardofodds many times in this thread.  It's the best site I've found to explain the gambling-math behind many popular games]

tl;dr - it's fucking hard, it's rare to find the right rules, and tough to remember all the correct decisions.  But it's possible.


I am in love with the sports-betting culture of UK / EU.  I've never been, but I've been told there is a William Hill parlour on every corner, and when I had my baby it would have been tradition for me to walk into one and bet my daughter would win gold in a future Olympics. 



1) no, i got 4th in 2009 $1500 HORSE, that's the closest I've came to winning one.  I have 1 other WSOP final table, a $2000 NL event in 2006.  I have won smaller tournaments but nothing is like that bracelet
2) definitely not - with let's say 40 players entering a freeroll, an average-skilled player would win ~1/40.  A professional would win the tournament about 1/25 times. 
3) there are some pros on SwC, but the vast majority are bitcoin enthusiasts that like to play lower-limit poker.  SwC isn't quite big enough yet to attract the attention of big-money seeking pros.



there is something human about this.  The ability to apply denial and still make a bad bet when deep-down you know it's -EV.  I've seen many gamblers trapped in this state of denial, and hence they are always broke.


here are simple poker bankroll management rules that many smart, otherwise winning poker players simply refuse to follow:

Cash games:
Only buy in 5% max of your bankroll.  Better number is 2-3% to reduce "risk of ruin"  that means if you don't have 20 buy-ins in your POKER BANKROLL (this should be separate from your LIFE BANKROLL) you shouldn't play that game.

Tournaments: 
1% of bankroll.  Yup, you need 100x buy-ins to play that tournament. 

The above guidelines should be understood that you are a winning player in the games you are playing.  This very important fact "am I a winning player or not" is where that denial comes in.  The most self destructive gambler is the guy that believes he is a winning player but in fact is a losing player.  Keep your records.  Graph that shit.  Be real with yourself - so much harder to do than to write.




Anything I missed, new topics, or any clarification, I enjoy talking & typing about what I know. 

We did some things today. 

We are going to do more things tomorrow.


Please close & re-open your SwC clients to get back on.  There is no client update, but you do need to close & reopen.

Bryan Micon here, decade-long professional poker player.  Don't believe me?  hit the google.  I am also the SwC Poker guy. 

I see a lot of terrible gambling advice and general misunderstanding of gambling thrown around this forum.  I think there are many young humans in the bitcoin world an they could benefit from asking a guy like me some questions and getting some straight answers.

I'll hit some highlights before we begin:

1)  Martingale is a long-term losing strategy, assuming you don't have an infinite bankroll and the betting game has limits.
2)  If a game has a "negative expected value," there is no system that can beat it.  If someone tells you they have a Dice strategy, they don't.  If they did, they would run it themselves and certainly not share this information.
3)  Most gamblers will tell you they can beat sports betting.  >99% of them are lying.
4)  Most gamblers will tell you they can beat poker.  ~85% of them are lying.
5)  Blackjack, when playing with certain rules, keeping a proper count, and knowing what to do when the count is X, can be beaten.  It is really fucking hard and very few people can do it properly.  There is also massive variance.  Most players that tell you they can count and beat blackjack are lying, but it is possible.
6)  Craps is beatable, google "The Dominator" and watch his "Breaking Vegas" episode.  Very few, I mean likely <100 humans can beat craps.  Only a handful for big money.  it's possible, but again, if someone tells you they are beating craps, ask about their controlled throw and how many months they have practiced.  If they look at you funny, they are lying.  If they have a craps table in their garage, maybe they are not lying.  But still ask to see them throw.
7)  Roulette was once beat by a team strapping a small computer to one member, timing the wheel rotations, timing the ball spinning, and zero-ing on a quadrant during the short window of time that betting is open after the wheel and ball have started spinning.  There is also such a thing as a "corrupt wheel" in roulette that favors one number or a group of numbers.  It is hard to get statistically significant data off of 1 roulette wheel as a player, but again, it can be done.  However it's highly unlikely anyone telling you about their roulette strategy is a winning roulette player.  In fact, I've found most roulette players to be the most degen.
Poker is of course beatable.  I've beaten it over a long set.  ~8/10 players lose.  ~1/10 players is break even, or close enough to break even on either side it rounds to 0.  ~1/10 players win over the long set.  Poker has gotten much harder since I started playing professionally in ~2005.  I would never suggest someone try to play poker professionally.  If you want to play a lot of poker and follow the tour, I'd suggest limiting it to no more than 5 years seriously.  And do so after you have become wealthy enough that your "pro" career won't affect your personal finances.  So often have I seen really smart kids get into poker and then do nothing but poker for such a long period of their lives.  Sure it's a lot of fun, but many of these stories don't end well.  The life of a small-winning poker player isn't very glamorous.  Only a select few are killing it to the point where it's a dream-job in terms of money and how much time you have for other interests.  Most of those beating poker for big money also have sponsorships or some other source of income.  I would never play poker as my main source of income ever again, and even when I was making very good money during the "golden years" of online poker, I still had businesses and websites and other income streams.  If someone is going to become a pro player, there is likely nothing I can do to stop that person.  If you are on the fence, don't do it.  Start a business, make something useful that other humans want or need.  So much brilliant brainpower banged up against each other over 2 cards down and 5 in the middle.  Seems like we should be trying to solve the energy crisis - you know - doing real shit, not just playing games.  That's most of my rant on poker. 

Ask me anything about gambling.

no, it works.  What's up?

later today, join me for the

down for about 8 minutes then back up.  We broke something but it's the exact part we are trying to fix.  A few more days only for major improvements

ST7 working on fixing it.  should BRB 10-30 min.

we'll beat all of these issues over time.

Thanks for sticking with me.