What do you look for in a mining pool?

[bandana121]

I understand that location is going to be pretty important but what other things would you consider when picking a pool?

Any of the below?

Hash Rate
Connected Miners
Block Found
Block Found Every
Total Pool Fee
Current Block Effort

Whats the best/combination that works for you?

Thanks

[Geraldo]

I add one, Payment scheme.

All that you wrote is related. I'll give some illustration.

Let's say one big pool with big Hashing power and solving much block than other pools, and they have a lot of miners. That total solved block will be shared to their miners (to a lot of their miners) depends on miners contribution to the pool.

Another pool with less  Hashing power and solving less block than the 1st pool. That total solved block will be shared to their miners (fewer miners) depends on miners contribution to the pool.

[od1n]

I add one, Payment scheme

+1

I prefor PROP instead of others.

Furtermore I check if Complete block & uncle rewards paid to miners. For me, at least one block should be found every day (50-60 MH/s).

[leowonderful]

Payment scheme's incredibly important as certain methods of payments yield less rewards than others over time (the classic PPS vs PPLNS argument). Whenever possible, I try to find pools that use PPLNS.

Their actual reputation and payout speed is also important. I'm not going to connect to a pool that is known to have issues or delays payments regularly. Total hashrate's definitely a big one, as variance will absolutely kill you if you're mining on small pools.

[bandana121]

Nice Thanks!

What he said