What pool is best for non-jumpers? strategy for higher payout?

[no141]

Years ago it seemed like p2pool was the best for btc, then electricity costs outweighed earnings without ever buying specialized equipment. So, I got an S3 to finally be able to cash out at one site Then I heard from someone that BitcoinAffiliatenetwork was the highest payout. So after running four complete 12 hour(or so) periods on one site and earning nothing since no block was found, I switched to BAN. And while mining there, the other has paid me about twice as much as I've earned on BAN in the same or longer time, not even mining there anymore. So how can people believe it is the best? Is it just jumpers that think that?

Is there a strategy to optimize payouts by putting in time at one pool then switching pools?

[BeginToMine]

BTCguild is a very good and reputable pool, try it.

[torusJKL]

I like to mine on Eligius.
You ROI is steady and you can calculate it with great certainty based on you shares.

[ChuckBuck]

Both BTCGuild and Eligius are good options.  I first started out on Slush's pool last year, when I was noob miner.

Oh Slush's pool with that crappy stratum proxy batch file you had to run for block erupters....memories.   

[Sonny]

Since your payment depends on the pool's luck which is random, it is normal to have your short-term mining revenue fluctuating.
If you want to get a higher expected mining payment, you should just mine at a pool with a lower fee.

[BitCoinDream]

Both BTCGuild and Eligius are good options.  I first started out on Slush's pool last year, when I was noob miner.

Oh Slush's pool with that crappy stratum proxy batch file you had to run for block erupters....memories.   

How about GHash ? Is not it doing good lately ?

[ChuckBuck]

Both BTCGuild and Eligius are good options.  I first started out on Slush's pool last year, when I was noob miner.

Oh Slush's pool with that crappy stratum proxy batch file you had to run for block erupters....memories.   

How about GHash ? Is not it doing good lately ?

Usually try to stay away from the larger pools.  Though unlikely, you never want to contribute to the possibility of a 51% attack.

[BitCoinDream]

Both BTCGuild and Eligius are good options.  I first started out on Slush's pool last year, when I was noob miner.

Oh Slush's pool with that crappy stratum proxy batch file you had to run for block erupters....memories.   

How about GHash ? Is not it doing good lately ?

Usually try to stay away from the larger pools.  Though unlikely, you never want to contribute to the possibility of a 51% attack.

Is it the fact that large pools pay less to its miners ? Apart from 51% is there any other reason not to mine at a large pool ?

[Sonny]

Is it the fact that large pools pay less to its miners ? Apart from 51% is there any other reason not to mine at a large pool ?

Nope Ghash.io is charging 0% fee. I can't think of any reason other than that.
BTW, mining at a large pool should theoretically lower your variance of mining revenue.

[ChuckBuck]

Both BTCGuild and Eligius are good options.  I first started out on Slush's pool last year, when I was noob miner.

Oh Slush's pool with that crappy stratum proxy batch file you had to run for block erupters....memories.   

How about GHash ? Is not it doing good lately ?

Usually try to stay away from the larger pools.  Though unlikely, you never want to contribute to the possibility of a 51% attack.

Is it the fact that large pools pay less to its miners ? Apart from 51% is there any other reason not to mine at a large pool ?

It's like doing your part in this thing.

One of the concepts of Bitcoin is it's decentralized.  Decentralized currency, technology, protocol, servers, nodes, teams working on it, etc...

As long as you're contributing your hash rate to one of the larger pools, you're making Bitcoin more centralized.  I just mine at the smaller pools as a matter of principal.  Principals aside, whether you mine at the smaller or larger pools, it evens out in the end due to variance.

[antonioserrano72]

Is it the fact that large pools pay less to its miners ? Apart from 51% is there any other reason not to mine at a large pool ?

Nope Ghash.io is charging 0% fee. I can't think of any reason other than that.
BTW, mining at a large pool should theoretically lower your variance of mining revenue.

They also pay for all the merged mining coins. Namecoin, Ixcoin etc. It's a little extra earnings on top of the original.

[DrHaribo]

Is there a strategy to optimize payouts by putting in time at one pool then switching pools?

Yes. This is called pool hopping. Pool hopping gives you more profit and the 24/7 miners in the pools less profit.

http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/5072/what-is-pool-hopping

It only works if the pool's reward method is vulnerable to pool hopping. It works with the proportional method and Slush's score-based method.

Note that pool hopping is by most considered an abuse of these reward systems and very bad form. Deepbit used to ban users for pool hopping. They never switched away from the proportional method like most pools did in 2011.

[no141]

@DrHaribo, thank you for that info.

Now, why is there no love for P2Pool here?