The problem is that banks and traditional financial institutions have always been uncomfortable with the concept of online gaming. So, while payment solutions like PayPal and Apple Pay were perfected for the rest of the internet, online poker has largely been ignored. Fortunately, crypto was born and allows a greater degree of freedom on where you want to spend your money.

When it comes to online poker, the freedom that crypto offers are unmatched. There are many reasons to use crypto for online poker but today we’re looking at the top three in our estimation:

Top 3 Best Things About Crypto for Online Poker

1. Crypto Doesn’t Involve Banks, Can’t Be Blocked

I’ve been in the game long enough to know that dealing with banks or credit card companies rejecting my attempts to transfer money to an online poker site is a common headache. Some banks outright ban online poker, while others can be unpredictable, approving some transactions and canceling others without any clear explanation.

But here’s the game-changer: Crypto transactions are immune to these roadblocks, plain and simple. While there are some drawbacks to using crypto (we’ll discuss those shortly), you’ll never have to put up with a third-party dictating where you can or cannot send your money.

You can’t beat the ultimate freedom of crypto when it comes to online poker.

2. It’s Fast and Cheap

Crypto is arguably the most transferrable asset in the world. You need exactly one thing to send crypto to another person or entity: A crypto address.

A crypto address is simply a string of numbers and letters that’s generated by a wallet. It can be a personal wallet or a company.

Once you have an address you can send crypto anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes. It removes the need for banks or payment processors like PayPal or Venmo.

Generally, the transfer fees are quite low on cryptocurrency networks and far cheaper than traditional wire transfers.

It’s worth noting that crypto fees can vary depending on how busy the network is for that particular coin. However, you can wait for lower fees during quieter times. While you might expect to pay a few dollars for popular cryptos like Bitcoin or Ethereum, there are other cryptocurrencies with even lower transaction fees.

3. It’s Historically an Appreciating Asset

It’s your choice whether you want to actually hold crypto long-term but Bitcoin has arguably been the single best asset to hold over the last decade.

To put things in perspective, if you bought $1,000 worth of Bitcoin in 2014 and held it all the way to the time this article was published (2023), you’d have over $30,000. That beats gold, silver and every stock.

It’s unlikely those gains will ever be seen again but Bitcoin has always been a winner over the long-term.

Of course, that legendary volatility also has some downsides, which lead us to our next segment on the 3 worst things about crypto for online poker.

Top 3 Worst Things About Crypto for Online Poker

While crypto is incredibly useful for playing online poker there are also some negatives you should understand before charging headlong into crypto.

Here’s the three worst things about using crypto for online poker:

1. Crypto is Somewhat Difficult to Acquire

This might seem like an obvious one but if you want to use cryptocurrency for online poker, you need to have some cryptocurrency in the first place.

But here’s where it gets tricky: Getting cryptocurrency can be a bit of a hassle, especially if you live in a place where crypto exchanges aren’t easy to find. Some countries and states don’t have exchanges readily available.

To start, you’ll probably have to sign up for an account with a crypto exchange. This involves a process where you verify your identity by providing things like your address, driver’s license, or government ID. It can take a few days, and there’s a bit of a learning curve to figure out how to set up your account and send crypto.

On the other hand, if you have a friend or family member who already has cryptocurrency, they might be able to send some your way, skipping the exchange step. But there’s a catch: If you ever want to turn that cryptocurrency back into cash, you’ll still need that crypto exchange account.

2. It’s Highly Volatile

Remember how we said Bitcoin is one of the fastest-appreciating assets of the last decade? Well, it hasn’t all occurred in a straight line.

Bitcoin is one of the most volatile asset classes in the world. It’s not uncommon for BTC to gain or lose 10-20% in a single day. That means you might lose a significant chunk of your poker winnings while waiting for a crypto exchange to convert your Bitcoin to cash. Of course, you could also gain that much as well.

On the positive side, all online poker sites will convert your crypto to fiat currency like USD so that you can avoid that volatility while you’re playing online poker.

3. You Can’t Spend It Like Cash

Although there are a few places that do accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment, it’s important to recognize that this is more of a rarity than the norm.

While you can use crypto to send money to others and, in some cases, pay for specific services, it’s relatively uncommon to find retailers or businesses that readily embrace cryptocurrency as a direct method of payment.

There are a few solutions for this issue. You can use crypto to buy gift cards. You could also apply for a credit card that works with crypto. But most of the time you’re going to be taking an extra step of sending crypto to your exchange of choice, converting it back to cash and then getting it send to your bank account. That will likely take a few days at best and it’s an extra step that you just won’t experience with cash.

My Conclusion

In the world of online poker, cryptocurrency is your winning ticket, offering unparalleled freedom, speed, and potential for growth. However, it’s not without its challenges, from acquiring crypto to navigating its volatility and limited acceptance. As you step into this exciting game, remember that knowledge is your greatest asset. Embrace the advantages of crypto while keeping an eye on the risks, and you’ll play your hand wisely, enjoying all that this innovative technology brings to the table.

If you have not experienced it, you can be satisfied. When we say that poker is, in many cases, a game of mental strength, we assume that the player has everything necessary to resist and keep his mind in the game and on the path of the hot streak.

But what happens when it is not? What happens when a failure leads us to an error, and we enter a spiral of negativity and bad results that feeds itself, and from which it is very difficult to get out? That we will be experiencing what is known as “tilt”.

What is tilt in poker

In poker, “tilt” is the term used to define that unpredictable losing streak we experience when we don’t get the expected results. Very often, the tilt worsens when, upon becoming aware of the accumulated bad results, an enormous frustration appears that prevents us from correctly judging the coming games, lengthening the bad streak of bad results and aggravating the frustration. An infinite loop from which it is necessary to get out and that can be avoided, but with the appropriate guidelines.

What is it that leads a player to tilt? Mainly, two things: a streak of bad results, or a series of heavy losses that jeopardize their continuity. Often, one leads to the other, causing a small loss, due to the oversize that a demanding player can give him, ends up affecting the player’s psyche too much and bad results end up occurring without remedy.

How to avoid tilt in poker

The question is not how to avoid tilt, since we are sentient beings and we cannot avoid feeling and suffering what affects us. The key is how to face the tilt, and here the predisposition and attitude of each player, together with his mental strength, will be decisive.

The first and most important thing of all: relativize the bad results. Above all, if they have not been caused by our failures. But, in the event that we have made a mistake and that error has led us to lose a part of the stack, we should not flagellate ourselves or exaggerate the failures. We all make mistakes, and that’s it. The sooner you turn the page, the better.

Does that mean the errors are unimportant? Absolutely. A failure in poker has its relevance, but you should never give things more importance than they have. You make mistakes, you learn and you play better than before. It is the key to success, and the path to a successful career. That, together with training, study and hours of post-game analysis, will make you a more complete player.

Keep in mind that tilt affects all aspects of poker, inside and outside the tables. When a player is in a whirlwind of negativity and does not stop concatenating bad results, his training hours are not as productive, his ability to analyze and retain knowledge suffers, and he does not advance at the rate he should. That ends up taking its toll, and that is why some players need help to get out of that spiral of negativity.

When you relativize a mistake and spend quality time learning from the mistake, you get oil out of a bad play. And that’s how poker works. Give yourself time if it is your first bad streak and you had not faced this before. It is always difficult.

How to stop tilting in poker

One of the concepts that will most help you stop tilt is emotional awareness. If you don’t know how to recognize what you feel, how can you stop feeling it? It is necessary to know ourselves well and know to what extent things affect us.

Changing the focus, taking a break from the game and getting away from the tables are the next steps. Do your part and study where you have failed, improve it and you will see how you come back with renewed energy. You should always focus on the process, not the result, to avoid getting frustrated. The inner healing process that is experienced when suffering a tilt is pure oxygen that will come in handy.

Keep in mind that experience is paramount in poker, and tilt, although drastic, is an essential ingredient in that experience. Strengthening yourself as a player sometimes requires hard lessons, but you can avoid losing if you recognize the mistake, take your time to identify it and do not aggravate the situation by dwelling on your mistake and feeling sorry for yourself.

Moral of the story: learning from mistakes is part of the learning curve. It is important to know how to manage this adversity to use it in your favor and not succumb, compromising your career. Hence, it is important that, if you need it, you seek professional help to try to break the loop and use your full potential again in the next game.

Have you heard the expression “tilted player”? What does tilted mean in poker? When a player is experiencing the tilt, he is known as “tilted player” or simply “tilted”, someone who is in a bad rush and is not able to change his or her luck for the moment.