Did you know Satoshi was a poker player?

[BlackHatCoiner]

There's never a boring day in Bitcoin, you always learn something new.

According to some old findings, the original 0.1.0 Bitcoin repository contained the framework for a virtual poker game, added on April 16, 2008, months before the white paper, alongside a peer-to-peer marketplace and an IRC client for bootstrapping.

Neither the marketplace nor the poker game was ever developed after launch. The scraps persisted through roughly v0.1.3, then were stripped out. You can still see them in mirrors of the original source.

Satoshi was most definitely a poker face.

[rbynxx]

That is another "what if". To be honest, I never read this before but it's fascinating. Maybe Satoshi was really into poker, considering that year was the time online poker is also booming. Satoshi already have this kind of vision even before and reading this makes me wonder that Satoshi is really onto something more interconnected rather than just a store of value or a currency. Do you think Satoshi will innovate a lot more if still active?

[cryptoaddictchie]

Probably his life before focusing on bitcoin. Nothings wrong if he hang out on poker games before maybe thats his relaxation and enjoyment being hard core dev. I pretty much know some active devs on web3 too that still attached on gambling.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

Neither the marketplace nor the poker game was ever developed after launch. The scraps persisted through roughly v0.1.3, then were stripped out. You can still see them in mirrors of the original source.

Satoshi was most definitely a poker face.

No one knows why Satoshi used certain definitions for Bitcoin terminology and why the creator decided to give up on the P2P market and poker application.

Nobody actually knows what the others think and it's only possible to guess. I can not know what thought by Satoshi Nakamoto and no development of P2P market and Poker application, but in some emails from Satoshi to Cypherpunks, the Bitcoin founder shown that he was very careful, and did not want to take too many risks that can affect Bitcoin existence, adoption and growth with time.

With it, I guess Satoshi imagined of risk from P2P market and Poker application, and he did not develop it for Bitcoin. Only my guess.

Archived emails of Satoshi Nakamoto to some Cypherpunks.

[Zoomic]

I carefully read the article you added and from it, I understood that some of the Bitcoin's early ideas were different from what we have today.

There was even a genesis block that was discarded, there were even plans for things like a built in marketplace that never became part of Bitcoin.

That's to tell us that Bitcoin has gone through a lot of changes and uncertainty since it was launched.

About the virtual poker game, it's obvious that Satoshi had a framework for it in the early code but  couldn't bring the idea to life. So yes, I think Satoshi was  definitely a poker player to have such idea

All these I think shows that Satoshi really did so much experiments behind the scenes before giving is the Bitcoin we have today. 

[Odohu]

Does it mean that Theymos already knew this too? This is becoming to make sense now because I remember clearly when poker was added as one of the April fool or something in the forum. It was interesting to me though as that was my first time trying to play a poker. I know this is not enough to form conspiracy about the person of Satoshi but it feels good to know some of the things that he had interest in.

[Hamza2424]

That is another "what if". To be honest, I never read this before but it's fascinating. Maybe Satoshi was really into poker, considering that year was the time online poker is also booming. Satoshi already have this kind of vision even before and reading this makes me wonder that Satoshi is really onto something more interconnected rather than just a store of value or a currency. Do you think Satoshi will innovate a lot more if still active?

He had no intentions of making it a store of value. He intended it for P2P payments/txs on a decentralized network, but after reading the article, I also have the same question. Does he really want to add a poker game, P2P marketplace, and a messaging app?

He definitely had a lot of plans according to this article, but I have not checked the code as I won't be able to understand it. But if they have said it, then I will trust it haha. But still bro, it really hints Satoshi had many plans for the Bitcoin project. Like, was he really able to work on that poker game built on the BTC blockchain? The rest are good projects in my sight, but I don't admire gambling haha.

The future would have been completely different.

[Ambatman]

Neither the marketplace nor the poker game was ever developed after launch. The scraps persisted through roughly v0.1.3, then were stripped out. You can still see them in mirrors of the original source.

Satoshi was most definitely a poker face.

This just shows how much poker is common with cypherpunk.
Satoshi was playing a long game
Bitcoin was either going to go all in on global adoption or fold completely.
And in the end the former is getting closer.

Does it mean that Theymos already knew this too? This is becoming to make sense now because I remember clearly when poker was added as one of the April fool or something in the forum. It was interesting to me though as that was my first time trying to play a poker.

He might but the idea if I'm not mistaken was from Ibminer while powerglove helped with the code.

[suzanne5223]

That is another "what if". To be honest, I never read this before but it's fascinating. Maybe Satoshi was really into poker, considering that year was the time online poker is also booming.

The Findings provided by the OP happened in the year 2008, while the seeds of the boom of online poker started in 1998, but the major boom was within the period of the years 2003 and 2006.
Yes, Satoshi may be one of the people who have enthusiasm for online poker after the game boom, but 2008 was not the year the poker boom happened.

Do you think Satoshi will innovate a lot more if still active?

Satoshi is very much active (because we're all Satoshi) and has already transformed how we see currency, digital signatures, and assets.

[HajiBagi]

Probably his life before focusing on bitcoin. Nothings wrong if he hang out on poker games before maybe thats his relaxation and enjoyment being hard core dev. I pretty much know some active devs on web3 too that still attached on gambling.

This is my first time of hearing that Satoshi was a pocker player, i have heard many stories about Satoshi, but this one is different, i still don’t believe he is a pocker player or a person who is into anything like gambling, media can say whatever they want just to get attention from people, there are many media and people who will come up with different stories about Satoshi to get people attention, i don’t listen to media or any journalists who claim to do some findings about people because most of them are not saying the truth.

As you said, there is nothing wrong with that, most of us played many games and gamble just for fun, pocker is not a bad game, but i still think the person who claim to know about this is only looking for attention, what if another person claims that Satoshi is a football player? many sources have said many things about Satoshi and i have never heard about this before.

[aoluain]

First thing I thought when this popped up was "Ah here we go, another Satoshi thread"
But this is different for sure!

According to early Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn, Satoshi had intended to integrate a peer-to-peer (P2P)
marketplace inside the protocol but the creator never finished the code and the idea was shelved.

the original Bitcoin software had an IRC client included, which aimed to create an easier way to bootstrap messaging.

also included the framework in order to create a virtual poker game which was added on April 16, 2008

So it looks to me like Saroshi may not himself* have been into poker but was thinking waay
outside the box to add "extras", those extras would be very popular, A marketplace, a messaging
service and poker, 2 of the three more so!

Did Satoshi know exactly what he* was creating in early 2008?
By ditching these other lines does that indicate that he was perfecting Bitcoin?

[retreat]

This means that in Bitcoin's early days, Satoshi actually designed Bitcoin to be more than just a digital currency, but rather as a cypherpunk tool, where people could send messages, trade, and play poker directly from a decentralized network. But perhaps because of so many considerations, whether security, reliability, and Bitcoin's main focus on becoming a decentralized digital currency, those features were abandoned. If those features had somehow survived to this day, we might be looking at Bitcoin very differently.

[BlackHatCoiner]

He had no intentions of making it a store of value.

Why do people say this? Of course and the priority was peer-to-peer cash, but why selecting a hard cap if it weren't for the store-of-value proposition? Why not add a tail emission? It would still be resistant to arbitrary inflation. But he didn't, he chose to cap it at 21 million.

If those features had somehow survived to this day, we might be looking at Bitcoin very differently.

Maybe he was just adding them in case other Bitcoin users find use case and develop those features. Or maybe he was writing his thoughts on code.

[Porfirii]

If those features had somehow survived to this day, we might be looking at Bitcoin very differently.

Maybe he was just adding them in case other Bitcoin users find use case and develop those features. Or maybe he was writing his thoughts on code.

Like in the genesis block. Although in that case I understand that it has its purpose and that is why it was engraved in the blockchain forever.

Perhaps the ones mentioned here are simply ideas that came to his head at the time and he wrote them down, not necessarily the result of brainstorming but something like a draft with the intention of revising them in the future, and which he finally discarded.

[crwth]

Isn't Poker a common thing to be tested? I remember reading a book that it's Mental Poker. Like, as a common cryptography problem.

Upon searching, this is seen here in this published article
https://publications.csail.mit.edu/lcs/pubs/pdf/MIT-LCS-TM-125.pdf

The main topic is solving this

How can mutually distrustful people perform an activity fairly without a trusted third party?

It's probably fun to think that Satoshi is a Poker player, but I think this is more common when you are dealing with cryptography.

[bitbollo]

gambling has always seen as a part important of bitcoin... likewise satoshibones that has created the first games operated in blockchain. no one would play poker with worthless coin if you have ever tried its something crazy boring
ok joking aside, early origin of bitcoin is always fascinating. initially it was lacking of legitimacy (likewise there was not a page on wikipedia...)

[Sunshine1525]

Everyone has a life outside Bitcoin so there's a possibility that what you said is for real since the 0.1.0 Bitcoin repository gave out a clue but since it's not verified by Satoshi's old acc before he left not make it look like a fact but a speculation.

On a second thought, what if he did that to attract people to the project? During the period Bitcoin was launched, poker was experiencing a huge online traffic so maybe Satoshi though of doing that to attract people since the love for online poker was on the high then in 2008 when Bitcoin was launched.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Satoshi was most definitely a poker face.

I think I have heard something similar on this matter of him being a poker player previously but can't remember exactly where I saw it but seeing it again come up then there has to be soon truth to this stories and looking at all your evidence I couldn't agree more. First thing first, Satoshi was a human being like most of us here (since we have some bots among us) and as such he would have had hobbies he enjoys like playing poker games. And if he was human then I have no doubts as someone who was this intelligent to create Bitcoin should be at least good at playing poker.  Nevertheless, it's quit nice to see we are getting to see what Satoshi could have been interested in  and having to enjoy knowing he was like one of us.

[Smartprofit]

I believe Satoshi Nakamoto originally envisioned Bitcoin as a decentralized social network with chat, gambling, a marketplace, and digital money. 🙋

However, over time, he realized all the shortcomings of this concept. P2P poker could have ruined the entire project. American regulators could have classified it as illegal gambling software. As a result, the project would have died before it even had a chance to develop.

Satoshi Nakamoto acted like a sculptor, cutting away all unnecessary elements. He focused on creating global, digital, decentralized money and created Bitcoin!

As for his poker skills, I'm not at all surprised. Poker is a very intellectual game. Every student loves playing poker with friends on long winter evenings. Moreover, poker is directly related to game theory and mathematics. 💁

[Hamza2424]

Why do people say this? Of course and the priority was peer-to-peer cash, but why selecting a hard cap if it weren't for the store-of-value proposition? Why not add a tail emission? It would still be resistant to arbitrary inflation. But he didn't, he chose to cap it at 21 million.

Actually, I never read any of his statements that say it will be used for holding purposes usually. I mostly read why and how it should be used for payments, like a currency. But bro, you definitely have a good point here. A 21 million capped supply is a good argument to say why he chose that!

I believe he wanted to fight inflation. That's why he hard capped it. But then again, you will say the same thing, that then how could Satoshi not think that it can also become a commodity like gold, used to preserve value for the long term? So bro, I agree with you and the point you made, but My point was based on what has mostly been said.