The Top Bitcoin Poker Sites of 2023: Crypto Poker Sites Guide
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the most well-known cryptocurrency in the world. Over the past few years, the currency has exploded in popularity, with more and more people investing in it and using it to play bitcoin poker. As a result, many online poker rooms now accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as deposit and withdrawal options. We’ve looked at various blockchain poker sites and made a list of what you need to know.
The Top Bitcoin Poker Sites
Operators are applicable only for United States and Canada users.
Why Should You Play On Online Poker Sites That Support Cryptocurrencies?
But what makes a site that accepts cryptocurrency different from any other poker site? After all, it’s all the same game; how much of an impact can a couple different deposit methods really have? Well, a number of positives come with depositing with crypto that you just don’t get from other deposit methods. So let’s take a closer look at all the positives you get from playing on an online poker site that supports crypto.
- Availability – Cryptocurrency is a purely peer-to-peer payment system; no central authority manages and authorizes transactions. This means your deposit cannot be blocked or limited, as can happen when using a bank or an e-wallet. Some banking institutions will stop payments to gambling-affiliated websites, making them useless as a deposit method. Crypto doesn’t have that problem and will always be available for you to deposit or withdraw from an online poker site.
- Anonymity – While centralized crypto exchanges require KYC, there are many ways to buy crypto anonymously. You can buy Bitcoin on peer-to-peer exchanges or at a Bitcoin ATM, and neither requires you to disclose your identity. This means that cryptocurrency is your best option if you want to protect your identity while playing.
- Lower Fees – While some payment methods require you to pay a fee of up to 3% of your total transaction, crypto fees are notoriously low, even for large transactions. You can move thousands of dollars back and forth and only pay a few cents in transaction fees each time. Nothing beats crypto on its fees if you’re looking to gamble with large amounts of money.
- Provably Fair – One of the great things about blockchain technology is that it’s immutable, meaning that once something has been written to the blockchain, no one can go back and change it. This means that when you deposit to your chosen poker room, there will be a record of that transaction, so there’s no danger of them disputing it. Also, many crypto poker sites have been using smart contracts with their games which publish the results to the blockchain. This makes these games completely transparent and provably fair, as players can check the results themselves to see if they match the stated probabilities. Don’t be surprised to see decentralized poker sites implement the same process in the future.
- Security – The aim of cryptocurrency is to provide a safe and secure payment method, and it succeeds; crypto is one of the safest and most secure payment methods you can use online. It uses 128-bit encryption technology to verify transactions, which means they’re nearly impossible to hack into. The blockchain is also an immutable ledger, which means that no one can retroactively change transactions that have occurred as a way to steal your cryptocurrency. The only way someone can steal your cryptocurrency is to hack into your wallet, so as long as you use a secure enough password, no one will be able to guess your private key.
- Transaction Speed – Another positive of using crypto is the transaction speeds they offer. Almost all deposit methods offer instant deposits, but most take days to process a withdrawal. However, with cryptocurrency, you can get your money within a couple of hours, as the processing times are much shorter for crypto transactions once the withdrawal has been approved.
What is a Bitcoin Wallet?
A bitcoin wallet is a way for people to manage and access their bitcoin. While most think of a wallet as storing the bitcoin, it actually keeps the cryptographic information needed to access the blockchain, view bitcoin addresses, and send transactions.
Some wallets are physical devices, like a hardware wallet, and some are digital, like desktop and mobile wallets. Each bitcoin wallet has a public address that people can use to send you bitcoin and a private key that is used to cryptographically sign transactions. It’s essential that you keep your private key safe, as anyone with access to it can access your bitcoin.
If you’re looking to set up a bitcoin wallet for the first time, here are the steps you need to do so:
- Navigate to a site that offers digital bitcoin wallets – for example, https://metamask.io/.
- Click “Download,” then choose the installer that corresponds with your operating system.
- Run the executable file once the file has been downloaded.
- Follow the installation wizard to install the software for the digital wallet on your machine.
- Once installed, open the software, click “Create New Wallet,” and then name your wallet file.
- Choose the kind of wallet you’d like to create (for most users creating a wallet for the first time, a Standard Wallet will be the best choice).
- As you’re creating a brand new wallet, choose “Create a New Seed.”
- Next, you will be asked to write down a list of 12 randomly generated words called a wallet generation seed. This is your backup if you ever lose access to your bitcoin wallet and need to restore it. The order of these words is essential. Make sure you do not store them anywhere that could be compromised – anyone with access to this seed can access your bitcoin.
- Finally, you will be asked to create a password. You’ll use this password to access your wallet for day-to-day transactions.
Offline Bitcoin Wallets
While bitcoin is a digital currency, securing access to your bitcoin offline is possible. This is referred to as “cold storage” and should only be used when you are looking to hold onto your bitcoin for the long term and do not need to access it regularly. The main benefit of doing this is to reduce the risk of your bitcoin being compromised by hackers. If this is important to you, there are two options for keeping your bitcoin offline:
How to Buy Bitcoin
If you’ve never bought bitcoin before, don’t worry! It may sound like a complicated process, but it’s actually very straightforward. We’ll lay out a couple of ways to buy bitcoin for you now:
Buying from an Exchange
The most common way to buy bitcoin is from a crypto exchange. You first need to create an account on a crypto exchange, such as Coinbase. Once you have an account, you can deposit fiat currency using a bank transfer or debit/credit card to fund your account. When your account has been funded, you can exchange your fiat currency for the cryptocurrency of your choice. Once you’ve bought your bitcoin, you’ll need to transfer it off the exchange to your private wallet to ensure it’s secure.
Buying from a bitcoin ATM
You can use a bitcoin ATM if you’d prefer to use cash to buy your bitcoin rather than a debit card/bank transfer. However, if you’d like to do this, you’ll need a digital wallet to send your bitcoin to. To start, select your price range – for example if you’d like to buy $100 worth of bitcoin, choose $0-$500. Next, scan the QR code of your digital wallet so the ATM knows where to send the bitcoin once the transfer has been completed. Next, insert your cash into the ATM, then click on “confirm purchase.” Once the transaction has been confirmed, click “Done” to complete the transaction and print a receipt. On average, it should take between 3-5 for the bitcoin to reach your wallet.
Pros and Cons of Bitcoin Poker
While playing on a bitcoin poker site has many advantages, it’s not all sunshine and roses. There are some drawbacks to consider when deciding whether or not to play in a bitcoin poker room.
Pros
- Instant Transactions – Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are one of the fastest ways to move real money between your account and an online poker room. With most deposits and withdrawals being completed in less than half an hour, these sites are perfect for people who need to move their money around quickly.
- Anonymity – One of the major advantages of bitcoin over fiat currency is the ability to stay completely anonymous when using it. If you’re in a jurisdiction for which online gambling is illegal or if you don’t want to be associated with the moral implications of gambling, you can use bitcoin to hide your identity, as it’s not managed by any central authority.
- Global Availability – Sites that offer bitcoin poker are available to you no matter where you are in the world. This includes jurisdictions where operating a poker site is illegal, such as the United States.
Cons
- Bitcoin Volatility – While we may one day live in a world where bitcoin is the standard currency, at present, it is still a volatile investment, with huge swings occurring daily. Imagine the scenario where you’ve won bitcoin in your poker session but have lost money because the price of bitcoin relative to your native currency has dropped so much. Not fun!
- Security – Bitcoin is a decentralized platform, meaning that no central authority has the power to refund any money that has been sent in error or has been stolen. As a result, you need to be extremely careful when depositing money to ensure that you’re sending it to the correct bitcoin address and that the site can be trusted to return your bitcoin when you withdraw it.
Bitcoin Deposit and Withdrawal Limits
Different online poker sites have different crypto options available to their players. For example, some offer over 60 cryptocurrencies as a payment method, while others only provide Bitcoin. As well as different crypto poker options, sites will have different deposit limits. Below is a breakdown of each bitcoin poker room and their deposit/withdrawal limits (*Paid in increments of $9500*):
| Poker Room | Crypto Options | Min/Max $ Deposit | Min/Max $ Withdrawal |
| Ignition | BTC, BCH, BSV, LTC ETH | $10/$5000 $50/$5000 | $10/$9500 $50/$9500 |
| Bovada | BTC, BCH, BSV, LTC ETH | $10/$5000 $50/$5000 | $10/No Limit* $50/No Limit* |
| BetOnline | BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, XRP | $20/$100,000 | $20/$100,000 |
| EveryGame | BTC, BCH, BSV, LTC | $25/$2500 | $100/$2500 |
| ACR | BTC, 60+ Alt Coins | $10/$25,000 | $50/$10,000 |
| Bodog | BTC, BCH, BSV, LTC ETH | $10/$5000 $60/$5000 | $10/No Limit* $50/No Limit* |
| Black Chip Poker | BTC, 60+ Alt Coins | $10/$25,000 | $50/$10,000 |
How to Cashout from a Poker Site with Bitcoin
Once you’ve taken down your opposition and raked in some massive pots, you’ll want to withdraw your money. Playing on a bitcoin poker site, this may seem daunting to some people. However, the steps for withdrawing bitcoin from a poker site and having the money in your bank account are simpler than you might think.
Bonus offers with Bitcoin Poker
One reservation that people have about using cryptocurrency as a deposit option is that they may not be eligible for bonuses and promotions. However, while this may have been true in the early days of cryptocurrency, all the top poker sites allow their players to take full advantage of the bonuses they offer, no matter how they deposit. Let’s look at some of the bonus offers available for players depositing with Bitcoin.
Matched Deposit Bonuses
Players who deposit with Bitcoin have access to the matched deposit bonuses available at the top poker sites. These bonuses will match a certain percentage of your deposit up to a certain amount. The most common matched deposit bonus you’ll see is a 100% matched deposit bonus, which means that your Bitcoin deposit will be doubled! However, players often need to unlock this bonus by paying rake, so always read the terms and conditions before playing.
Free Poker Chips/Buy-ins
Arguably the best bonus a poker player can have, these bonuses give you a chance to play Bitcoin poker for free. Most sites that offer this promotion will have a certain amount you need to deposit to unlock this reward. You’ll often need to play through the bonus several times before it becomes eligible for withdrawal, but this will be at the discretion of the poker site. Unfortunately, we’re finding it increasingly hard to find sites that offer this type of bonus, so be on the lookout for the ones that do!
Free Bets
Most online poker sites have branched out into the world of online casinos and online sportsbooks. As a result, some of the bonuses they offer will relate to those aspects of their site, whether it’s free sports bets or free casino bets. These offers allow you to try games for free, but most come with wagering requirements that you must meet before the bonus becomes eligible for withdrawal.
Crypto & Bitcoin Poker FAQs
The answer to this question will vary from site to site. There are a lot of reputable bitcoin poker sites out there that are completely safe to use, but players should be wary of sites that aren’t as well known and should always do their due diligence before depositing money.
There are a large number of online poker rooms that will allow you to use bitcoin to deposit and cash out of their site. These include Ignition, Bovada, ACR, and Black Chip Poker, just to name a few.
Bitcoin is a purely digital currency so there is no physical manifestation of the coin. Anyone who is trying to sell you a physical bitcoin is trying to scam you.
Bitcoin isn’t controlled by any central authority. Instead, bitcoin uses a decentralized system where each node on the network verifies transactions with each other. This means that once a transaction has taken place, it cannot be overwritten.
All bitcoin poker sites take roughly the same amount of time to process crypto withdrawals. The time between requesting your withdrawal to the cryptocurrency landing in your wallet takes no more than 48 hours, with most transactions being completed within an hour.
A bitcoin tumbler is a service offered by sites to obscure the identity of bitcoin ownership for the purposes of privacy. It does this by taking the bitcoin sent in by a user, sending pieces of it through various wallets and exchanges before sending the same total back to the user, making it untraceable.
There are lots of things you should consider when playing bitcoin poker for the first time. The golden rule is to size your bets properly and ensure you start small with an amount you can afford to lose.
Almost all casinos require identity verification before withdrawing any winnings, and this goes the same for bitcoin poker sites. Unless the site is completely decentralized, identity verification will be required to cash out.
Bitcoin can be anonymous depending on the method with which you buy it. A lot of exchanges require KYC, which means that a motivated party could find out the identity of the owner of bitcoin bought using this method. However, by using untraceable methods such as bitcoin ATMs, bitcoin can be used anonymously.
Bitcoin is legal, it is legal to buy and sell and it is legal to own. While some countries are trying to figure out how to classify it (is it a currency, security, etc.), it is not illegal to own.
As bitcoin is a digital currency, it can be used on mobile devices. There are bitcoin wallets for mobile devices and a lot of bitcoin poker rooms have apps for players to be able to play from their phone or tablet.