Why don't miners always join the biggest pool?

[jimmyk1]

From my understanding, the higher hashrate a pool has the more likely it is to hit a block. Wouldn't hitting more blocks on average than other pools mean it can reward its miners more and payout more consistently?

[Macadonian]

The more popular the pool the less share you get. If you have bigger hash rate the smaller the pool you want to join because you will get more profitability. If you join the biggest pool they will get more block rewards but it will be divided among more people. If you join a small pool with a big hash rate then you will get more share when they get a block reward. A consistent payout is not always better then having a 1 off big payment it depends on your needs and situation.

Some people still mine solo and do not join pools but that is not recommended unless you are a very experienced miner with a big hash rate because the chances of finding a block even with the best mining equipment available is very low.

[tranthidung]

Two main reasons

• First one is mentioned above. Miners usually would like to join pools that are not too big but not too small. Too small pool means probability to find block is small and they will receive very little mining rewards in long term.
• Second one that is missing is: Miners don't want to make a pool too big with too dominant hashrate that is not healthy for Bitcoin network. 51% attack is one of such risk so miners would like to decentralize their rigs to different pools.

[Macadonian]

Two main reasons

• First one is mentioned above. Miners usually would like to join pools that are not too big but not too small. Too small pool means probability to find block is small and they will receive very little mining rewards in long term.
• Second one that is missing is: Miners don't want to make a pool too big with too dominant hashrate that is not healthy for Bitcoin network. 51% attack is one of such risk so miners would like to decentralize their rigs to different pools.

51% is a risk but no a realistic risk. No pool is close and people would leave the pool if it did happen and there is no incentive for any one to make a 51% attack at least from a pool. Miners care about profitability over everything and they will join the smaller pools because they get a bigger cut and that is why 51% attack from a pool will never happen because being in such a pool would not yield any profit for the miners and would only hurt the BTC network but I do not think any miners are currently factoring this into their decisions because it is not close to happening.

[tranthidung]

51% is a risk but no a realistic risk. No pool is close and people would leave the pool if it did happen and there is no incentive for any one to make a 51% attack at least from a pool. Miners care about profitability over everything and they will join the smaller pools because they get a bigger cut and that is why 51% attack from a pool will never happen because being in such a pool would not yield any profit for the miners and would only hurt the BTC network but I do not think any miners are currently factoring this into their decisions because it is not close to happening.

Miners care about profitability from mining and to have it, they must receive good shared bitcoins from mining pools as well as have ability to sell it with good price.

If dominant hashrate concentrated in one biggest pool, risk is higher and fud can appear that I am sure will have impacts on market. Miners don't want it and they can proactively do it by choosing pools wisely.

Mining pools in their turns, don't have good reasons to do attacks because when attacks happen, it will bring non happy consequence for all, not only Bitcoin mining pools and miners. Mining pool owners don't want it too.

[odolvlobo]

There are trade-offs between the features of the pool, its fee, and its variance. The biggest pools have the lowest variance, but are not necessarily the cheapest to use or have the best features.

[BitMaxz]

For me, It depends on the payment method that you want the pool to reward you there are different payment methods like PPS, PPS+, PPLNS, and solo.

The first and 2nd post above are better for PPLNS where miners with a big farm should mine at the pool with a low hashrate to get big rewards and the small farm with a low hashrate should mine at the pool with a high hashrate to earn a better reward.

But if you mine with PPS payment method you don't need to worry about this because they reward you on a fixed income.
There is also PPS+ it is more likely the same as PPS but this one includes miners fee as your extra reward this one is good for individual miners who wants a stable income with bonus reward from mining fees you can get more mining fees reward if you join the pool with high hashrate because they are faster to find and solve blocks.

Solo mining means that you mine solo without others shares once you found a block and solve then you earn the reward solo but take note this is not recommended for small mining farm if you are looking for profit unless you mine for lottery it would be much better for huge farm who can solve the block faster.

And there are more different methods that other pool offers.


You can check this "Different Bitcoin Mining Pool Payment Methods (PPS vs FPPS vs PPLNS vs PPS+)"

[Z390]

It's all about the profits, less number of miners on a pool means a better profit, and once a block is solved, the less number of people will share the block reward among themselves, imagine if they are 100 miners and a block consists of 100 coins, that's 1 coin per miner and if the number of miners on the pool is 1000, they still have a 100 pieces of coins to share.