State of Bitcoin poker

[Indamuck]

Is it just me, or does it really appear as though bitcoin poker activity has slowed down quite a bit? I recall in the heyday of SWC, when essentially everyone played at the same place, and bitcoin was relatively new and undervalued, that SWC always seemed reasonably busy. By reasonably busy I'm guessing around 300 players logged in, give or take. Now players are spread across multiple sites, such that they may congregate on one site for an hour or so if there is a big tourney running, but otherwise this same, fairly static community has since dispersed their play across multiple sites such that rarely does a site have +300 players like SWC used to enjoy on a daily basis?

Is Betcoin an exception? I don't really play there so I don't know for sure. Last I logged in a couple weeks ago things were surprisingly slow. Was the bitcoin poker community better served when there was only one place to play? Or am I just nostalgic?

[notserp]

it not just you it was much better before when swc had the web browser

[Joel_Jantsen]

Blame the other 300 sites that offer the same/better services.No betcoin.tm is not pulling the poker traffic ,in fact only newbies play there ,the site is a heavy scam.With the emergence of casino scripts and fancy UI's ,everyday a new dice/casino site is launched somewhere on the Internet.Bitcoins adds on to it.But that doesn't mean poker is actually dying off the scene,maybe you're not playing at the right places.I still know a couple of sites where people only come for poker and chat's are always poker talks.

[Indamuck]

... maybe you're not playing at the right places.I still know a couple of sites where people only come for poker and chat's are always poker talks.

Ok, now you are teasing me. Where do you like to play?

I play a bit at Nitrogen, Fortunejack, and look in at SWC from time to time. Beyond that I'm sort of at a loss.

[Junko]

Cash games at betcoin.ag can be thin at times and better at other times depending on the time and day. If you like tournaments, betcoin.ag players have access to the WPN tourneys which at this moment according to the tournament lobby, is showing 8286 players in 229 tournaments.

[Indamuck]

Yeah, Betcoin has a lot of shills trolling the threads. I have two problems with the place. First, I've visited about 4-5 times and I just never got a good vibe for the place. It just has a mechanical feel to it, and I can't help but sense it is full of these full-time semi-pro bots and multi-accounters. Second is that they tout a supposedly attractive rake back scheme. I'm an occasional player who doesn't like to be roped down to one place, so rake back doesn't benefit me. Thus when I sit at Betcoin I'm paying rake to my opponents, who just nit it out ad nauseum. Again, an unappealing game. You see, these rake back schemes attract some players, and repel others. For better or worse, I'm repelled. No thank you.

[philiveyjr]

Its pretty much dead. Due to several reasons.

1. A lot of poker sites targetting a small crowd. This essentially divides the players and we see lower and lower number of people on each site.

2. Shut down of Sealwithclubs's browser game. Ever since they have switched to the software based platform, their traffic has dropped a lot and their support on the forum has been pretty much non-existent in the past year.

3. Decline in poker in general. I feel this is also partly the reason.

[doublemore]

Its pretty much dead. Due to several reasons.

1. A lot of poker sites targetting a small crowd. This essentially divides the players and we see lower and lower number of people on each site.

2. Shut down of Sealwithclubs's browser game. Ever since they have switched to the software based platform, their traffic has dropped a lot and their support on the forum has been pretty much non-existent in the past year.

3. Decline in poker in general. I feel this is also partly the reason.

Defo people have to consider point 3, poker is not a growing trend anymore, everyone who could play is playing or played it for many years.  You have to consider that maybe its getting a bit boing.

Basically we also need pokerstars to directly accept bitcoin and have bitcoin games but they are such fiat shills.

[NorrisK]

Blame the other 300 sites that offer the same/better services.No betcoin.tm is not pulling the poker traffic ,in fact only newbies play there ,the site is a heavy scam.With the emergence of casino scripts and fancy UI's ,everyday a new dice/casino site is launched somewhere on the Internet.Bitcoins adds on to it.But that doesn't mean poker is actually dying off the scene,maybe you're not playing at the right places.I still know a couple of sites where people only come for poker and chat's are always poker talks.

Isn't that the best thing for professional poker playesr? Newbies that they can exploit? If it is a feeding frenzy for the sharks, they will go there.

I would much rather play on a platform filled with noobs that have no clue what they are doing, than one with a lot of regulars that follow strategy and play a according to pot odds etc.

[Indamuck]

Isn't that the best thing for professional poker playesr? Newbies that they can exploit? If it is a feeding frenzy for the sharks, they will go there.

I would much rather play on a platform filled with noobs that have no clue what they are doing, than one with a lot of regulars that follow strategy and play a according to pot odds etc.

I think the guy you were responding to was a bit confused. There is a Betcoin.ag that most of us refer to, and a Betcoin.tm that I've only heard sketchy things about. (I just visited the website for the first time and yeah, it looks like any cheap Chinese knock-off.) He specifically referenced Betcoin.tm ... hmmm.

Newbies are great opponents when you go visit your nearby live poker room. It is a whole different matter when the newbies are 13 yo kids hyped up on who-knows-what who multi-account in one game and spew their porn-based vocab throughout chat. Yes they you can beat them up over the medium/long term, but it is like kicking stray dogs. Where's the fun in it?

[Joel_Jantsen]

Isn't that the best thing for professional poker playesr? Newbies that they can exploit? If it is a feeding frenzy for the sharks, they will go there.

I would much rather play on a platform filled with noobs that have no clue what they are doing, than one with a lot of regulars that follow strategy and play a according to pot odds etc.

The thing about noobs is ,they won't give you the entertainment what you're seeking from a group of professional players.I don't think all your intentions including only playing for the money.I usually visit around the poker clubs in my area just to meet people and have good times.Money is not the primary concerns since I'm not a addicted gambler.

@OP : I'm talking about betcoin.tm ,the fishy site which rips people off bitcoins.

[LegitPoker]

alot of good points here.  How have poker sites tried to implement provably fair? seems with all the dice sites, noone will trust anything that doesnt claim to be provably fair.

[Joel_Jantsen]

alot of good points here.  How have poker sites tried to implement provably fair? seems with all the dice sites, noone will trust anything that doesnt claim to be provably fair.

That is the right point being mentioned there.I have come across a lot of good poker sites but there is no way to verify how poker is provably fair.I mean in the provably fair section you can all the games listed but poker.But they do have something called as  "Live Poker" which I believe is real shuffle stream behind the screens.I hope the future of poker is simply a site acting as middle entity for two players to play the game with some minimum house edge per game.

[Fraxinus]

For sure,I also don't see many people playing it,I guess there aren't that many well-made platforms where everything is set up in a really good manner.At least for me that's why we don't see more people playing.

[eternalgloom]

alot of good points here.  How have poker sites tried to implement provably fair? seems with all the dice sites, noone will trust anything that doesnt claim to be provably fair.

That is the right point being mentioned there.I have come across a lot of good poker sites but there is no way to verify how poker is provably fair.I mean in the provably fair section you can all the games listed but poker.But they do have something called as  "Live Poker" which I believe is real shuffle stream behind the screens.I hope the future of poker is simply a site acting as middle entity for two players to play the game with some minimum house edge per game.

Would it even be possible to set up a provably fair system for online poker? Anyway, I don't think that's the main reason for people playing at different sites.

Compare any Bitcoin poker site with a traditional poker site and you'll see that the Bitcoin ones have ugly software in comparison to the traditional ones.

[iv4n]

I don't wish to advertise anyone here, but there is couple very good sites for playing poker. Like someone said it already, depending from the time of the day there is more or less people on some site.

I think there is better poker tournaments for bitcoin then other currencies. Better prizes, and for now less people play it, so that means a bit higher chances for us players to win. I think we will see even bigger expansion of btc poker in future, for now I`m satisfied with current state of btc poker.

For sure we play against each other, and we don't even know it. Good luck to all!

[tokeweed]

Is it just me, or does it really appear as though bitcoin poker activity has slowed down quite a bit? I recall in the heyday of SWC, when essentially everyone played at the same place, and bitcoin was relatively new and undervalued, that SWC always seemed reasonably busy. By reasonably busy I'm guessing around 300 players logged in, give or take. Now players are spread across multiple sites, such that they may congregate on one site for an hour or so if there is a big tourney running, but otherwise this same, fairly static community has since dispersed their play across multiple sites such that rarely does a site have +300 players like SWC used to enjoy on a daily basis?

Is Betcoin an exception? I don't really play there so I don't know for sure. Last I logged in a couple weeks ago things were surprisingly slow. Was the bitcoin poker community better served when there was only one place to play? Or am I just nostalgic?

It's not just Bitcoin poker, it's all of online poker.  Traffic across the board has been going down since the poker boom years.  The Moneymaker effect is gone and less and less people are interested in playing the game.  Things are looking bleak in the poker world right now.

[The_prodigy]

I don't wish to advertise anyone here, but there is couple very good sites for playing poker. Like someone said it already, depending from the time of the day there is more or less people on some site.

I think there is better poker tournaments for bitcoin then other currencies. Better prizes, and for now less people play it, so that means a bit higher chances for us players to win. I think we will see even bigger expansion of btc poker in future, for now I`m satisfied with current state of btc poker.

For sure we play against each other, and we don't even know it. Good luck to all!

I heard there are  poker tournament we can not see the sites here and also they are using the real fiat or usd.. i just found in affilaite or cpa network.. but never tried it because i don't have usd to deposit..  they are starting many poker contest and other games.. thats why the site is popular and old according to google..
Well i hope Playtodos can start a tournament.. because we can battle there buy your own table and start a tournament.. if i have lots of extra bitcoin i can start a tournament there..

[MonsterV]

Is it just me, or does it really appear as though bitcoin poker activity has slowed down quite a bit? I recall in the heyday of SWC, when essentially everyone played at the same place, and bitcoin was relatively new and undervalued, that SWC always seemed reasonably busy. By reasonably busy I'm guessing around 300 players logged in, give or take. Now players are spread across multiple sites, such that they may congregate on one site for an hour or so if there is a big tourney running, but otherwise this same, fairly static community has since dispersed their play across multiple sites such that rarely does a site have +300 players like SWC used to enjoy on a daily basis?

Is Betcoin an exception? I don't really play there so I don't know for sure. Last I logged in a couple weeks ago things were surprisingly slow. Was the bitcoin poker community better served when there was only one place to play? Or am I just nostalgic?

It's not just Bitcoin poker, it's all of online poker.  Traffic across the board has been going down since the poker boom years.  The Moneymaker effect is gone and less and less people are interested in playing the game.  Things are looking bleak in the poker world right now.

But in my country poker gambling continues to increase every year I see some new sites always come up to offer promotions
I have email and phone active I always get offers through email and Sms I do not know where they got my email and phone number.

for bitcoin poker is indeed decreased dramatically only a few players available at the table
in my opinion poker players want the sites offer live dealer I mean not operated bot or system because it is very likely fraud

[philiveyjr]

Its pretty much dead. Due to several reasons.

1. A lot of poker sites targetting a small crowd. This essentially divides the players and we see lower and lower number of people on each site.

2. Shut down of Sealwithclubs's browser game. Ever since they have switched to the software based platform, their traffic has dropped a lot and their support on the forum has been pretty much non-existent in the past year.

3. Decline in poker in general. I feel this is also partly the reason.

Defo people have to consider point 3, poker is not a growing trend anymore, everyone who could play is playing or played it for many years.  You have to consider that maybe its getting a bit boing.

Basically we also need pokerstars to directly accept bitcoin and have bitcoin games but they are such fiat shills.

There was some news about them accepting bitcoin last year, but nothing came after it. I think Neteller started accepting bitcoin, which could indirectly be used to deposit money on PS using bitcoin, but with that withdrawal was a whole another question. Despite having that option, I doubt it would make much of a difference.