Your all-new, full custom Bitcoin casino is here ;)

[foggyb]

What formats of NL Texas Holdem are available?

The stakes go from $0.25/$0.50 up to $250/$500, and the rake structure is listed here:

https://strikesapphire.com/rakes.html

Let me know if you need more info!

You have no-limit holdem tournaments, freerolls and GTD's?   NICE.

[1715320348]

1715320348

[1715320348]

1715320348

[ssaCEO]

You have no-limit holdem tournaments, freerolls and GTD's?   NICE.

Yup 
Right now, there's a guaranteed $100 tournament if 3 players join, single table, every evening at 8pm GMT... but we're going to add more as soon as we have the volume, and I'd say if you think you've got an idea for a good time to run one and want to bring some players in, we'll make it rake-free the first couple weeks and get it going. We can run tournaments up to about 20 tables right now if you got enough players to make it fun

[lemonginger]

Hi ssaCEO:

Thanks for the quick answers!

I guess I am still concerned about whether or not you will allow a trusted third party to audit your wagering history. (ie; commit to bringing in an accounting firm or similar) but I applaud the transparency!

(Honestly, the CR location doesn't bother me. Eastern Europe would. No offense to Eastern Europeans but the casinos based there have been almost uniformly scams. And Kahnawake, Alderney and others haven't exactly been super player-friendly anyway so online gaming is always "player beware" As far as I am concerned)

I get that licensing gaming software is expensive, and I applaud you for wanting to be "lean and mean" and take a risk with bitcoin, but I hope you also see why when 90% of all online casinos run on a few software types, it is worrying to see someone re-inventing the wheel. (From your perspective, I get that it was an exceptional opportunity to dust off an older project and run with the BTC angle. It surprises me that no bigger players have jumped into offering bitcoin as an option yet).

Lastly, I would urge you to seek accreditation with CasinoMeister and dedicate at least a little time to being available on their forums. Many online gamblers use them as a trusted resource.

Best of luck with your venture! Always nice to see BTC projects that are more polished than a night or two of coding....

[kookiekrak]

so you dont take BTC from US players either? =(

[ssaCEO]

Hey Lemonginger, I knew your name sounded really familiar. I'm jstrike on the CM board... I've been writing about my project there since the get-go. And yeah, of course I want to open the books to any and all kinds of checking. And you're right, Kahnawake and Alderney don't do anything to verify the casinos. But with what I've built, literally everything is open. No secrets. And to me, writing the software was the fun part, that's why I did this...it's not just an odd project, it's something I've been working on for a few years and the whole point was really to come up with lots of new games and new ideas no one had tried before. Like the Mayan Gold multiplayer progressive slot, and the rolling WR for bonuses. I'm seriously into taking everything prescribed by the CM and putting it into action. And it's not just about saving money by not leasing software, I really think that my software's got some advantages over the "big boys" stuff, at least in terms of playability and new games.
My plan is to roll out a totally new game every month or so, once I spend a month or two making sure this is up and running smoothly. My heroes are Enzo and the 3dice guys... that's exactly how I think of this project, even if Enzo doesn't think too much of me. Maybe he will later?
Bitcoin, to tell you the truth, is more the vehicle right now because my interests (like, opening this thing before I grow a 40-foot beard) and the Bitcoin community's interests coincide, and I knew that the big guys were too scared of this market to lay anything on the line with BTC. There are reps right now from MG and Playtech, and a bunch of other providers & operators, who are watching this thread and my site and waiting to see what happens, because Bitcoin is a live wire. They'll come in and dominate the market, but that's ok, because either way I got here first, and I know there's always gonna be something new for me.
BTW, I didn't announce this on CM yet because, after I did that poll where no one knew what bitcoin was, I sort of thought I should wait until we had a second deposit method before I mentioned it over there. Not saying you shouldn't, as it's definitely up to the standards I think Bryan wants to see in anything new like this, and I'm proud of it, but I'm holding off for myself 'til we get past the first few days...

edit: Also I forgot to say, I'm listed as a rep on CM but I'm also going to apply us toward a baptism as soon as we have enough players and volume to make it make sense.

[Vod]

VERY IMPORTANT: We can't accept players in the United States
...
BTC is converted to USD in your Sapphire account

I found this funny.   

[foggyb]

I knew that the big guys were too scared of this market to lay anything on the line with BTC. There are reps right now from MG and Playtech, and a bunch of other providers & operators, who are watching this thread and my site and waiting to see what happens, because Bitcoin is a live wire. They'll come in and dominate the market, but that's ok, because either way I got here first, and I know there's always gonna be something new for me.

Are the Casino Meister forum members generally aware of bitcoin? If they don't know how easy life could be with bitcoins & online casinos, then an opportunity is being missed.

[ssaCEO]

VERY IMPORTANT: We can't accept players in the United States
...
BTC is converted to USD in your Sapphire account

I found this funny.   

Yeah, I felt a little odd about that myself. But just because I worked on the death star doesn't mean I support the empire...

[ssaCEO]

I knew that the big guys were too scared of this market to lay anything on the line with BTC. There are reps right now from MG and Playtech, and a bunch of other providers & operators, who are watching this thread and my site and waiting to see what happens, because Bitcoin is a live wire. They'll come in and dominate the market, but that's ok, because either way I got here first, and I know there's always gonna be something new for me.

Are the Casino Meister forum members generally aware of bitcoin? If they don't know how easy life could be with bitcoins & online casinos, then an opportunity is being missed.

Not yet, unfortunately ...
http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/payment-processing-issues/poll-393-a.html
but the way things are going I think it's inevitable. My personal Bitcoin conversion has been a hard road to travel...we could have launched this thing a month ago, but held off... and I gotta say I'm glad we didn't do it right before the mtgox collapse. We're throwing our full support behind Tradehill, and have spoken with them about making sure we don't have any tie-ups in the process, which made us a lot more comfortable about starting things up this way -- the TH guys are very sharp and responsive and understand what it requires to run something like this on our end.

Bottom line, myself and more than a few of the people I talk with have come around to believing that Bitcoin will ultimately be as mainstream and as impossible to control as torrents, and we happen to be in a position to be the first ones to get behind it and grow with it. So it's a combination of having a good product and seizing an opportunity when you see one. Or being in the right place at the right time. And the CM crowd will see it too, I think, once we start making some waves

[lemonginger]

sounds great I don't go by lemonginger on the CM forums (and haven't been there for awhile) but super happy that you are above board enough to WANT involvement from that community. That speaks volumes right there.

I assume you want to travel in the US again at some point, so your player restrictions are there, but no doubt once one of the casinos/sportsbooks (like Bodog) that have already given the DOJ a few big FUs decides to take on bitcoin, it will be huge for US players. From waiting upwards of 30+ days for cashouts back to instantaneous like the Neteller days? (Actually, a lot more instantaneous) Huge.

I'm honestly not sure what the big risk is in accepting bitcoins for a casino at this point. They are essentially counterfeit and fraud proof (in terms of chargebacks) and as long as casinos are managing currency risk by always using current conversion rates (and maybe hedging a little), I don't see what the hold-up is. The absolute worst that could happen is a flash crash that essentially values whatever their current holdings are in bitcoins, but that will only happen if the bitcoin market is tiny anyway (so they wouldn't have that much) and surely can't be more than some sites have been writing off in payment processor seizures/fees/headaches/etc

Anyway, enjoy your first mover advantage while you got it! I'd say that I look forward to advantage play on the first payout table you put out that is EV+, but I'm in the US I love seeing new and fun games that don't already have optimal strategies worked out.

[GeniuSxBoY]

You're going to be rich.

[Palmdetroit]

working good 

[rikur]

The user experience I had was top notch. Must be one of the best browser casinos made, even if it's still in alpha/beta.

I can recommend the service.

[Djao]

The user experience I had was top notch. Must be one of the best browser casinos made, even if it's still in alpha/beta.

I can recommend the service.

I second this. Deposited 1 BTC, got USD in my account exchanged at current TH rates. Then played a bit, won some coins and withdraw BTC for 16 USD, again exchanged at TH rate which gave me 1.16026106 BTC in my wallet.

Nice site, good games, seems legit.

[Valhalla1]

If you did a 100% first deposit bonus with 30x playthru that would be awesome

[foggyb]

If you did a 100% first deposit bonus with 30x playthru that would be awesome

Yes, please add a first deposit bonus as incentive to inject larger amounts of bitcoins into the site.

[Newton]

So....


Why is everyone still here and not on Sapphire?  I keep waiting for a table to play poker with and nobody is showing up!

Seriously, we should be driving everyone we know here.  It's an awesome site, and bitcoin needs a significant driver like this to drive up purchases of the coin for actual usage in the economy.

If you're into online gambling this is so much better than anything else out there.  (1) Its in a totally different league than the other bitcoin sites and (2) Its as good as the major players but... it has bitcoin which is going to be gambler catnip.

[SgtSpike]

Because I live in the US. 

[Newton]

Because I live in the US. 

Cough, cough.  Really, are you sure you're not from Canada

[LeonGeeste]

I thought we already had a Bitcoin casino, and it was called MtGox?   

Seriously, though, if you can't figure out how to take/payout bets in Bitcoin with people in restricted countries, that's an instant phail.