A little over a decade after its birth, bitcoin became the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and a widely accepted form of payment for a wide variety of goods and services.
If earlier the idea of using cryptocurrency, in particular Bitcoin, to play online poker was just a fantasy, in 2022 it has become a reality. The digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin makes a lot of things convenient for players and poker rooms alike, allowing fast transactions with relative anonymity and low fees.
What’s more, since a lot of poker and sports gambling sites now accept cryptocurrency payments as a deposit, you might be wondering what game you can play with bitcoin online. How do online poker games work, deposit online poker bitcoin how to and whether it is possible to participate in online poker games using BTC – these questions are of interest to many users of online gambling platforms around the world.
If you are also a gambler and would like to learn how to use bitcoin to play online poker, we offer you an easy and detailed step-by-step guide. With its help, it will be possible to carry out financial transactions in the online casino service in digital currency even for beginners who have never encountered such actions before. You only need to know a few important details that will help you in the future.
Choose exchange
If you haven’t started bitcoin gambling yet, we’ll show you how to use bitcoin for online poker. Check out our detailed bitcoin guide to learn how to buy coins, send them to wallets, and make deposits at online poker rooms, casinos, and other stores that use this payment method.
Sites and users will not switch to bitcoin en masse for no reason, so it logically follows that transactions in this new environment have undeniable advantages. Among the advantages of BTC:
- being able to successfully avoid annoying government bureaucrats and dodgy bankers;
- relatively fast transactions;
- reasonable fees (although some newer crypto coins have outperformed BTC in this area);
- individual control of own funds;
- the ability to apply in various games in the field of online gambling.
Cryptocurrencies give players the ability to both deposit and withdraw funds without the involvement of banks and provide much greater anonymity. In addition, there are some online gaming sites that not only allow Bitcoin transactions but give special bonuses for doing so that are superior to their standard non-BTC deposit offerings.
If you are already convinced that the use of cryptocurrency in gambling is convenient and profitable, you should figure out depositing online poker bitcoin how and use it in the future during the necessary financial transactions.
So, the first step in the plan of how to use bitcoin to play online poker is choosing the right way to exchange fiat money for a cryptocurrency (in particular, bitcoin). Choosing an exchange is one of the hardest parts of bitcoin trading. You never know which exchange will be legal in the country you live in, so it’s worth doing some research.
One of the most popular exchanges today is Coinbase, which also doubles as a wallet, helping to streamline the process. It has several advantages, so it is chosen by a large number of users from different parts of the globe. Also one of the widely demanded and reliable exchanges is Uphold, which you can use to buy bitcoins. In addition, several available resources offer their services. But before how to use bitcoin for online poker, it is worth familiarizing yourself in detail with the features, rules, as well as the advantages, and disadvantages of each of these platforms.
Sign Up
Having selected the exchange that suits all parameters, the user needs to register in the selected service. Only if the user has a personal account, it will be possible to perform all financial transactions, in particular, the purchase of the desired digital currency. To do this, you will need to perform the following steps:
- click on the “Register” button on the official website of the exchange;
- fill out a questionnaire in a pop-up window, indicating personal data (as a rule, this is an e-mail, password, an indication of an individual or legal entity, country of residence);
- confirmation of entered data;
- sometimes confirmation is required by clicking on the link from the letter that is sent to your e-mail.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are a bit different (it’s an emerging industry), but almost all of them will require some form of verification. Here are a few ways to verify your account (you won’t need to use them all):
- Submit a photo or scanned copy of proof of identification, such as a driver’s license or passport.
- Choose one of the security questions and answer it.
- Verify your phone number.
Please be aware that when you try to verify your account, you may encounter certain errors or you may need to try again. The time it takes can be from one to two minutes, up to a couple of weeks if necessary.
Purchase Cryptocurrency
The next stage of preparation for a user who plans to use bitcoin to make a payment is, of course, receiving cryptocurrency. Before you can how to use bitcoin for online poker, you must purchase it by exchanging it for another type of currency you use.
The first step is to receive fiat currency (for example, US dollars or euros) to your exchange account so that you can then exchange it for cryptocurrency. Most exchanges offer several ways to fund your account, including
- credit cards;
- debit cards;
- remittance;
- deposit directly from a bank account.
This procedure can be quite fast in the case of debit and credit cards, or a little longer if the player deposits directly from the bank.
As soon as your account is funded with fiat money, you can purchase cryptocurrency. This part is relatively easy and won’t take long. You must keep in mind that once you have bitcoin, you will be subject to cryptocurrency fluctuations. If you’re just looking to fund your online poker account, you’ll probably want to quickly jump from this point to the next.
It is also worth noting that sometimes the bank may flag cryptocurrency exchanges as a scam. Confirmation of the transaction in this case is performed by calling the bank’s specialists or by using services such as Verified by Visa and Mastercard SecureCode.
Cryptocurrency Wallet
The next user action in the instructions on how to use bitcoin to play online poker is to create a cryptocurrency wallet. You do not have the opportunity to replenish the deposit directly from the exchange, so you will have to get yourself a cryptocurrency wallet. Some exchanges offer their wallets, which are good for small amounts of cryptocurrency, but users who have large balances like to use their wallets (there have been cases of exchange closures and non-reimbursement of funds to users).
Wallets are what bitcoin holders use to keep their cryptocurrency secure. There are many wallets including
- online;
- mobile;
- desktop versions;
- hardware;
- paper.
The most popular method is online, but online wallets are considered the most vulnerable to hacking because they are connected to the Internet. Mobile is another popular method that is considered safer and better for personal transactions. Desktop apps are safer than online ones, but problems can arise if your computer breaks or you lose it (in the case of a laptop).
Hardware wallets are USB drives that interact with your computer to access an online account. They are stored offline, so they are considered the safest, but also the most expensive. There is also a risk of losing them.
A so-called paper wallet is simply a printed copy of your generated keys (public and private). This method is 100% secure but inconvenient because you will have to enter your 34 digit key every time you want to make a transaction. In addition, there is a risk of losing such an important paper.
Transfer to wallet
After you have purchased a cryptocurrency, you will need to transfer it to your wallet. As a rule, you choose the amount you plan to replenish your wallet with, and then confirm the transaction by performing two-factor authentication.
You will need to copy the crypto wallet address into the exchange form. Nowadays, you can use a special QR code that supports a large number of exchanges and wallets. In this case, you can act by scanning the code, pointing the smartphone’s camera at it, or using a special application that reads it.
Create online poker account and send bitcoin
The last step on the way to depositing online poker bitcoin how-to is to create your user account on the online poker platform. Signing up for an online poker site is usually a simple process that involves providing some combination of your real name, mobile phone number, email address, and residential address. Some users may be somewhat intimidated by the requirement to provide their personal information, but for the operator, this is a guarantee and confirmation that only adult users will play gambling on their resource. Typically, you sign up for an online poker site, choose a password, and then send you a confirmation email.
Using bitcoins (or any other cryptocurrency for that matter) to replenish a deposit in the personal account of an online casino is one of the most convenient and understandable ways to replenish a site user’s virtual wallet. The process may vary slightly on different platforms, but in general, it involves the following steps:
-
- Go to the Cashier (or Deposit) tab in the client or website.
- Select Bitcoin.
- Enter the amount you want to deposit.
- Copy the online casino’s dynamic bitcoin address (or scan the QR code on your phone).
- Open your bitcoin wallet.
- Select “Submit” in your bitcoin wallet.
- Paste the address of a poker site into the search bar.
- Enter the amount of money to be replenished and click “Submit”.
- Wait 10-15 minutes.
- Use cryptocurrency to play poker.
