StrikeSapphire: NEW $0.50 Hourly Freerolls + 15 BTC Weekend Leaderboard is back!

[ssaCEO]

Title says it all... our 15 BTC Weekend Leaderboard returns this weekend with 9BTC, 4BTC and 2BTC prizes to the top winners over the weekend... details (and the leaderboard) are on our blog at https://strikesapphire.com

And, we've just introduced round-the-clock hourly freerolls for the month of July! $0.50 each, and only 3 players to start'em. Get started and make some free coins!

[mem]

OK sounds good, I will take a break from sealswithclubs and come play poker at strikesapphire.
My gf and i love going in a free tournament.

If time permits, will hop online tonight about 8pm (+8 GMT).

[dooglus]

My gf and i love going in a free tournament.

I hope you don't share the same IP address, or live in the same province as each other! 

[ssaCEO]

My gf and i love going in a free tournament.

I hope you don't share the same IP address, or live in the same province as each other!  

What Dooglus means is that StrikeSapphire takes some measures to prevent poker collusion, which includes preventing players who share IP addresses from sitting at the same tables. This is pretty standard stuff at poker rooms. We make an exception to this rule for any table with the word "friends" in the name. If you're on the same IP with your buddy, you can start your own "friends" table or tournament, or join our nightly $0.40 Partners and Friends tournament. The point of this is to let players know if they're joining a table where there might be a higher probability of team play (we realize we can't prevent it totally, but we want to create as transparent an environment as possible).

[SkRRJyTC]

Do you look at these instances in a case by case basis?  I just started playing some Bitcoin poker recently, and of course it is more fun to play against your friends, so I invited some of them to play as well.  How do you expect BTC poker to spread if I am now at risk of being banned for sharing BTC poker with them?

[dooglus]

What Dooglus means is that StrikeSapphire takes some measures to prevent poker collusion, which includes preventing players who share IP addresses from sitting at the same tables.

It looks like the measures against players sharing IP addresses are no longer working.  Did you relax the rule, or is it a bug?

[ssaCEO]

What Dooglus means is that StrikeSapphire takes some measures to prevent poker collusion, which includes preventing players who share IP addresses from sitting at the same tables.

It looks like the measures against players sharing IP addresses are no longer working.  Did you relax the rule, or is it a bug?

There's an exceptional reason for this, and I don't want to fill up this thread with it; it's not actually a bug but a relaxation of certain constraints. If you contact me I'll explain.

[ssaCEO]

There are about 7 hours left in our leaderboard tournament and no one's qualified to the +$25 mark yet. 100% up to 9BTC goes to the first place winner, with prizes for 2nd and third ( if anyone qualifies  ).

Check it here: https://strikesapphire.com/blog

With $0.50 hourly poker freerolls and bigger tournaments starting over the next few hours, it might be possible to do this entirely in poker; OTOH you might have to spin the wheel a few times.

[dooglus]

With $0.50 hourly poker freerolls and bigger tournaments starting over the next few hours, it might be possible to do this entirely in poker; OTOH you might have to spin the wheel a few times.

Except that to qualify you have to have bet over $100 in total, and so the freerolls don't help you pass that hurdle?

[ssaCEO]

With $0.50 hourly poker freerolls and bigger tournaments starting over the next few hours, it might be possible to do this entirely in poker; OTOH you might have to spin the wheel a few times.

Except that to qualify you have to have bet over $100 in total, and so the freerolls don't help you pass that hurdle?

Start a poker table...those bets count.

[ssaCEO]

Our tournament is final... Petrescuerz clears it in the last few minutes with a daring combination of Roulette and blackjack, for a $55.22 bonus. Job well done

[dooglus]

Our tournament is final... Petrescuerz clears it in the last few minutes with a daring combination of Roulette and blackjack, for a $55.22 bonus. Job well done

I tried talking her out of it, telling her it wasn't worth the risk.  She doesn't have a silver star account, so can't bet more than $1 per number on roulette otherwise I would have worked out a stupidly risky martingale strategy for her. 

She insisted however, put $1 on number 17 and was determined to spin until it won.  Luckily for her it came up on the 5th spin, putting her in first place and over $25 on the leaderboard, but without having bet enough to qualify.

She switched to blackjack to rack up enough bets in the 20 minutes that were remaining, and made it with minutes to spare playing basic strategy, betting a flat $2 per hand.

A "how much have I bet this weekend" indicator would be useful - she had little idea how much she had played already so I recommended she just play $100 worth of blackjack to be on the safe side.

Oh, and when she got the email confirming she had won she hit the roof:

(07:11:14 PM) petrescuerz: forwarded email from sapphire
(07:11:19 PM) dooglus: ooh
(07:11:21 PM) petrescuerz: didnt know tourney wins had to do the 30x
(07:11:25 PM) petrescuerz:
(07:11:33 PM) petrescuerz: that SUCKS
(07:11:38 PM) dooglus: no
(07:11:41 PM) dooglus: ignore that
(07:11:49 PM) dooglus: I've told him about it before - he says to ignore it
(07:11:51 PM) dooglus: there's no WR
(07:11:55 PM) petrescuerz: oh, oh good
(07:11:57 PM) petrescuerz: thats better then

It might be worth changing the wording in that email:

Feeling lucky? We've just added a $55.22 bonus to your account!

Our regular 30x Wagering Requirement applies to the bonus. See our
Terms of Service for details.

It can apparently be quite upsetting...

[ssaCEO]

It was a good play for low stakes (and a little luck never hurts).

There actually is an indicator now of how much you've bet, it's just not in a very obvious place; in the Player History window, where you can see your win/loss for the current or last weekend tournament, it now also shows the amount you've wagered. Bear in mind that this can lag by up to 5 minutes, just like the leaderboard.

I don't know why you guys like to wait until the last second... I didn't think anyone was going to make it. I was about to give out the 5 BTC no-one-qualified prize. We had a couple strong contenders this weekend who were high on the board at different times (notably warpman, who would have taken the 5BTC prize, and oceans1) ... but they were out of the running by the last few hours.

Re: the automatic bonus email; tell petrescuerz we're sorry for freaking her out. There's no WR on these leaderboard wins, of course. That's just the default email whenever a pit manager issues a direct bonus to a player, since no manager other than me is cleared to issue bonuses for more than a few bucks without wagering requirements. They can issue them, but I have to sign the warrant to clear the WR after the fact, which is what happened last night. We won't do that for the leaderboard wins anymore, and I'll payout and email the winners personally.

[dooglus]

There actually is an indicator now of how much you've bet, it's just not in a very obvious place; in the Player History window, where you can see your win/loss for the current or last weekend tournament, it now also shows the amount you've wagered.

That's cool.  I hadn't noticed it before.

I don't know why you guys like to wait until the last second...

She had been playing on and off all weekend, within her comfort zone.  When she saw that it looked like nobody was going to win, she decided it would be worth betting more than she was comfortable with to have a chance of winning for once.  I think partly she just wanted to win because she hadn't before and I had - she's quite competitive with me - but it wouldn't have made much sense to take the scary risk earlier if oceans was going to end up $150 up or something.

We had a couple strong contenders this weekend who were high on the board at different times (notably warpman, who would have taken the 5BTC prize, and oceans1)

Really?  I looked at the leaderboard quite a few times over the weekend and other than eddy with his Scuba Cube win I didn't see anyone overtake petrescuerz at any point.  I guess they didn't stay up there for long...

We won't do that for the leaderboard wins anymore, and I'll payout and email the winners personally.

It doesn't matter to us now that we both know to ignore the email.  I just think it's off-putting for new winners to receive - they think they've just won $50 then they get an email saying they have to bet it 30 times over before they can have it - it kind of takes the edge off...

[ssaCEO]

Since you logged in from the same IP as petrescuerz immediately after I logged her off to check her score, I'm sure you were directing the process.

Your last-minute strategy worked out well for her. But I don't think you and she were worried about Oceans. Oceans and Warp dropped off the board on Friday and Saturday, respectively. I think you were waiting to see if Eddy was coming back to top $25.  C'mon. She was already up about $165 on the house, all from freerolls & bonus play. She only ever deposited $20 once (and that was for a 200% bonus). I'm not sure why it'd be scary, even if someone else was qualified; even if she only got second or third place. Basically all of her bets are and have always been on our dime. The depth of her winnings already gave her a very good chance to win even if someone else had qualified; and this is without ever going into her own bankroll. At no point here are we talking about you or she betting your own money (heaven forbid) - we're talking about betting your free winnings, and only wanting to do so when the odds are stacked not just well in your favor, but exceptionally well in your favor.

Honestly, not being willing to risk freeroll winnings until you're guaranteed to be the only person competing for a prize? You have found, literally, every way to grind our system for bonuses, tournaments, freerolls, points and prizes; you've made a science out of it. You don't gamble. You sit on our site 24 hours a day and clip fucking coupons.

Anyway, I'm tired of the two of you hoovering up all our free stuff, whether you're the same person or not. That stuff is prizes for people who gamble. That stuff is what takes our house average 96% RTP and turns it into 98%. You've won the contest 7 or 8 times out of 11, right? Shit, you're basically the reason I stopped running it every week. I'm tired of giving you free shit. I want to give free shit to real players. And I'd like other people to win for a change.

You know, I was just going to be quiet about all this, but you had to have the last word in the forum, right? To celebrate your victory. Me stupid casino owner, falls for your multi-account, endless grinding bullshit, me smile and bow and thank you for winning by being so clever. You know what? I saw you take over Bitzino's thread, too. Leave my fuckin thread alone. Go over there and see how much he can take of your endless bullshit. Lucky for him he isn't giving away bonuses, so you probably won't be interested.

From now on, I'd prefer that you (plural) don't play. And if petrescuerz cashes out and you guys take your business elsewhere, that would be better for everybody. I don't want you or your friends around anymore.

[dooglus]

Since you logged in from the same IP as petrescuerz immediately after I logged her off to check her score, I'm sure you were directing the process.

Yes.  I was saying "don't bet on single roulette numbers, it's dumb; you'll probably lose more than $36 before your number comes up".  And she was ignoring me.

But I don't think you and she were worried about Oceans. Oceans and Warp dropped off the board on Friday and Saturday, respectively. I think you were waiting to see if Eddy was coming back to top $25.

To be honest I had already given up on the tournament.  I lost what little balance I had left and was happy to leave it like that.  She came to me at around 11:30pm and asked me to recommend a martingale strategy to get up to $25.  I recommended she just forget about it, since she couldn't bet very big and she ignored me.  I don't know what her reasoning was for timing it like that and she's not currently online to ask.  If I had wanted to win I would have made a deposit on my account where I can bet much bigger.  This was all her.

C'mon. She was already up about $165 on the house, all from freerolls & bonus play.

True.  Maybe it wasn't scary for her, I'm probably projecting.  I really don't like losing, whether it's money I've won or money I've earned.  It just feels bad.  I asked her before she started the $1 roulette spins "how much are you prepared to lose at this?" and she said "[$89] - it's not my money anyway".  So I guess she sees it the same way as you do.

You know, I was just going to be quiet about all this, but you had to have the last word in the forum, right? To celebrate your victory. Me stupid casino owner, falls for your multi-account, endless grinding bullshit, me smile and bow and thank you for winning by being so clever. You know what? I saw you take over Bitzino's thread, too. Leave my fuckin thread alone. Go over there and see how much he can take of your endless bullshit. Lucky for him he isn't giving away bonuses, so you probably won't be interested.

petrescuerz got lucky with a roulette spin.  That's all.  Nothing clever about it.  I guess I was just excited for her and said too much here as a result.  I keep forgetting about how you sometimes react and it always catches me by surprise.  If you look at what happened on the Bitzino thread, libertaad was very receptive to my suggestions, and thanked me for them.  I also "took over" the MyriadCoins thread, and again my suggestions were appreciated and acted upon.  In both cases the site owners were polite; neither one called me an asshole or banned me from their site at any point!

From now on, I'd prefer that you (plural) don't play. And if petrescuerz cashes out and you guys take your business elsewhere, that would be better for everybody. I don't want you or your friends around anymore.

If you're serious, I can avoid playing at Sapphire.  I don't know if petrescuerz has seen any of this yet, so she may play until I tell her about it.  I expect she'll be upset by it, but probably not too surprised either.

[ssaCEO]

Okay. Clever, not clever - personally I think you're the cleverest guy in the casino, if that's what you want to hear. Either that or you just have more time on your hands than anybody else. You've found every bonus we ever advertised, on any website, and found ways to use each one twice, sometimes more, while collecting referral fees for your friends and raking in all the prizes and freerolls we have. I'm just tired of the aggravation. Tired of your little network. Would I let you stick around and build up another $600 worth of freeroll and bonus wins? Probably, if you didn't keep prodding me in the forums, like you've done in this thread. Go prod someone else. The other casinos haven't been in business that long. They don't know you like I do. They don't pay your rent yet. It's a free market, just go down the street.

People can decide if I'm an asshole, I don't care. Let it be known StrikeSapphire bans people for annoying us to death. Did we ever fail to pay your winnings? No. Is there a law that says I have to keep giving you free shit while dealing with this trolling and 16 emails a week from you at the same time? No. So, take the money and go play somewhere else. What petrescuerz does is her business but we're ready and eager to pay her out.

[dooglus]

You've found every bonus we ever advertised, on any website, and found ways to use each one twice, sometimes more, while collecting referral fees for your friends and raking in all the prizes and freerolls we have.

I found one on casino-deposit and one in a forum thread.  Is that really all of them?  I used each of them once only.  I didn't know it was possible to use them more than once.  I only ever collected two referral fees, and as soon as I did, you upped the wagering requirements from 30x to 150x so I was unable to collect them.

People can decide if I'm an asshole, I don't care. Let it be known StrikeSapphire bans people for annoying us to death. Did we ever fail to pay your winnings? No. Is there a law that says I have to keep giving you free shit while dealing with this trolling and 16 emails a week from you at the same time? No. So, take the money and go play somewhere else. What petrescuerz does is her business but we're ready and eager to pay her out.

You've always paid out quickly and reliably.  The vast majority of my emails to you have been bug reports.  You reward bug reports with "player points" which lead me to believe you wanted them.

Like I say, I'll have no problem staying away from your casino.  Sorry it ended like this.

[dooglus]

This is copy/pasted from an email, hence the weird line-lengths.

Hey Josh, Deb here. (aka petrescuerz)
I am asking dooglus to post this for me as I can't post on the forum.
I just want to remind you that many months ago you approached me on
Seals, where I was either playing a freeroll or a small buy in
tournament that I bought into with my freeroll winnings.You invited me
to look at your casino site. I told you at the time that I'd be happy
to check it out, but that I am not a gambler, and don't deposit money
on gambling sites. I was totally up front about my intentions. I enjoy
the games, and with doogies help I learned a bunch about blackjack
strategy. I never expected to win so much on the site, but it was
pretty easy to get there, just playing smartly. I understand that your
intent isn't to fund folks like me, but our deal was that I played on
your site because you wanted more players. I held up my end of the
deal, I played on your site. Just because I found ways to make it
profitable is no reason to behave like a dick toward me. If you had
ever emailed me personally and asked that I stopped playing, or even
asked me at one of the games, I'd have happily talked to you about it,
and if it was really what you wanted I'd have stopped playing. I've
made friends on the site and enjoyed my time playing there. I have not
enjoyed your drama and accusations. I expect that you will find it
difficult to keep a site such as yours going without american players,
if you chase away the few that you have. I'm a pretty reasonable
person, and would have understood if you'd asked me not to play for
the weekend bonus. In fact, when I asked you when the next one would
be you could have told me that though you were planning one soon you'd
rather that I didn't play. That would have been much less offensive
than saying nothing and then being angry and rude when I won. I will
miss seeing my friends there, but I expect I will be able to keep in
touch with some of them apart from your site. If you prefer my friends
don't play there, I will let them know, but they are people who would
actually pay money to gamble, so it's not really in your best interest
to do so.  I never intended any harm, and I still don't. I hope that
you find a way to work out your emotional issues and make a success of
this, if that's truly what you want.

[ssaCEO]

Okay. You want to see the nuts?

Petrescuerz doesn't exist. I pretend she exists, so I can be nice and I don't have to explicitly say I think you're a liar. But I think you're a liar. And therefore I can't be a dick to her, because she is you. And I can't be a dick to you, because I'm just telling you the truth. And the truth is I think you're a liar. So now that we've let you do this routine for a long time, it's over. You can call me a dick and tell all your :friends: not to play on our site.

I told you it's not about you winning, it's about the the amount of shit you've given me, and this last BS email from your supposed girlfriend is just another example of your ridiculous dual personality shenanigans.

I'm a nice guy. But you think I'm going to humiliate myself by writing an apology letter to your imaginary friend? Piss off.