How to Deposit & Play poker with Crypto

Crypto Poker Intro

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, LiteCoin, and Bitcoin Cash have become a popular and generally accepted payment mechanism for online gambling in general, including sports betting, online casino games, and online poker.

Crypto poker refers to poker games played with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Some poker rooms can convert your cryptocurrency to USD or another currency, while others will offer poker games where participants may wager directly in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

We have a complete article on What is Crypto Poker (and 5 Tips to Avoid Scams), so check that out if you are interested. However, as a quick recap, these are the two main benefits of playing on Crypto & Bitcoin Poker sites:

Faster and cheaper deposits and withdrawals: deposits are handled nearly instantaneously from anywhere in the world, frequently with no or low costs. That's a tremendous improvement over the normal credit card fees and delays! Withdrawals follow the same rationale, and while they are subject to the poker room's clearance, they are normally handled within 1-3 days and have no added fees.

Access: While many poker rooms are confined to only particular countries and subject to local rules, many other crypto poker rooms accept players from all over the world and allow you to skip all of this bureaucracy. Plus, on a Bitcoin poker site, you'll often discover crypto enthusiasts with a lot of money, as well as recreational poker players who just want to play poker online with their bitcoin! Many of them were featured in our list of best poker sites for beginners.

Deposit & Play poker with Bitcoins or crypto

To Deposit and play online poker games or online casino games with Bitcoin (Bitcoin poker game) and other cryptocurrencies, you will need three things:

1. Account on a Bitcoin & Crypto Exchange (or a trusted P2P trader)
2. Your own Private Crypto Wallet (or deposit and withdrawal directly on your Exchange account)
3. Account on a Crypto Poker Site

You can do all that, also learn how to buy crypto, and send it to the online poker site of your choice, following the next six simple steps. It can be done in a few hours and, once completed, you will be able to buy, sell, deposit, and withdrawal cryptocurrency 24/7 and with only a few clicks.

Open an account on a Crypto Exchange

This is where you will trade fiat currency (Dollars, Euros, etc) for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to use in crypto poker sites, and vice-versa: withdraw in Bitcoin or crypto and convert it to fiat.

There are numerous options and what is legally available to you depends on your country. The most popular crypto exchange worldwide is Binance, and Coinbase is also very popular. As you would with any online service provider, make sure to research it first to see if the company is legit and trustworthy and if there are any significant complaints from customers against it.

The process is normally very fast, being a matter of a couple of hours, if not minutes. It is also free. Most of them require some sort of user identification, such as a driver's license, for example, others allow you to remain completely anonymous or allow you to make limited withdrawals without providing identification. This is the fastest and most simple option, therefore recommended to most people. Once your e-mail, documents, etc are verified, usually within a few hours tops, you are ready to go.

Alternatively, if you have friends that already have Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, USDT, or another crypto that you want (these five are the most commonly used in online poker sites), you can negotiate and trade directly with him, sending him cash for crypto and vice-versa. This will allow you to remain anonymous and may be slightly cheaper than using an exchange. However, this option is only recommended if you really trust the person and know what you're doing.

Exchange Fiat Money for Bitcoin or other Crypto

Once you have an exchange account opened, you can send money to it via traditional methods: credit card, debit card, or bank transfers. Again, this is usually very fast, if not instantaneous.

On the Exchange, you simply search for the desired cryptocurrency and convert your money to that currency. Later, you can use this method back to convert crypto to fiat and withdraw it to your bank account.

An advantage of crypto exchanges is that different from regular exchanges, banks, or stock markets, they operate 24/7, so normally you can trade it and request a withdrawal at any time. System unavailability has occurred sometimes in big exchanges, but it's rare and usually only lasts for a few hours at most.

Something that could be positive or negative, but can also be worked around, is that there are fluctuations in Bitcoin and crypto prices, either up or down, so many crypto poker players have to deal with volatility both from the poker games and from Bitcoin prices.

To avoid this, you simply have to convert it and send it to the online poker site right after, at that point it will be converted immediately by the Bitcoin poker site and added to your bankroll. When you request a withdrawal, just do the same and convert crypto to fiat money right away.

If you do that, volatility will not be a problem for you.

In some crypto poker sites, poker games are played directly with Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash. For those cases, volatility might affect you: the same amount in crypto might be worth more, or less, than when you deposited. If you take this option, or if you don't send your Bitcoin immediately to the poker room after conversion/convert immediately after a crypto withdrawal, then you must be aware of the volatility in those cases.

Even then, you can simply use a stablecoin such as USDT to avoid it, if you wish.

Create Your Private Bitcoin or Crypto Wallet

Now you need your private Bitcoin or Crypto wallet. Once again, there are many options to choose from, including hardware wallet, and paper wallet, which is the safest and the most recommended if you wish to hold crypto for longer. If you only need it for online poker games, however, an online wallet will do. It will only take a few minutes and the software is very light.

To get started, simply install Exodus wallet, or another Bitcoin or Crypto wallet of your preference, just make sure you pick a non-custodial wallet. It is always better to download it directly from the official website instead of the App Store or Play Store since many scammers like to create fake copies of the apps and put them on the store to trick people.

After you have downloaded the mobile app, there will be an option to create a new wallet, and a recovery phrase called seed phrase. Carefully write it down, on paper, and keep it in a safe place. Whoever has it has access to your funds. If you uninstall the app from your device and lose your recovery phrase, your funds will be permanently lost.

Send your Bitcoin or Crypto to your Private Wallet

Sometimes you can skip this step if the Crypto Poker site you play accepts transfers directly from the exchange, as many of them do. Still, it is better to know how to do this, and it is very simple anyway.

Go to your wallet, click on receive and you will get a written address. Then go to the Exchange account you have created, click send, and insert your wallet address. Make sure to copy-paste it properly, because Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, like most other cryptos.

The speed depends on the cryptocurrency you are using: Bitcoin transactions take a few minutes or hours, sometimes more if the network is too congested. USDT takes up to one hour, Litecoin less than 10 minutes. You will see a notification on your wallet when a transaction is sent almost immediately and another when it receives confirmation. Bitcoin and USDT usually require six confirmations.

Create your account on a Crypto & Bitcoin Poker Site

Some of the best Crypto Poker Sites are listed below, but you can check our complete article to choose what is the best BTC poker site for you, or simply contact us and we will be glad to provide you with our assistance. If you decide to work with us, your account will be created using our referral link and you will benefit from a Top Rakeback deal.

Deposit to the online poker room

Go to the online poker site or app cashier, select the amount you want to send, and an address will be generated. Copy this address, go to your private wallet (or Exchange wallet) and click send, insert the address. Most online poker sites will credit your funds instantly and convert them to the currency adopted in the poker games (usually USD).

After that, you are ready to go and can already start playing Crypto Poker!

Convert your Bitcoin or other Crypto back to Fiat

Simply go to the cashier of the online poker room and request a withdrawal. Put the address of your Exchange or of your private wallet and click send. Online casinos and poker rooms usually don't charge any fees for that. Your transaction is normally processed and confirmed within a day or two.

If you chose to send your Bitcoin or Crypto to your private wallet, you can send it to your account on the exchange next, or use a p2p service (peer-to-peer, trade Bitcoin & Crypto for your local currency with a trusted person or friend), to convert it to fiat currency.

On the Exchange, just like you did to buy Bitcoin or other cryptos, now you will sell it for fiat currency and request a transfer from your Exchange account to your bank account. Exchanges do have fees for that, but it is usually much lower than credit cards or other fees, for example.

Best Crypto & Bitcoin Poker Sites

For more detail, please refer to our Best Crypto Poker Sites in 2022 article.

Some of the best Crypto & Bitcoin, Ethereum Poker Sites are Natural8 (and all other poker sites of the GG Network), Americas Cardroom (and other skins of the WPN network), and TigerGaming (all Chico Poker Network rooms). They accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and USDT as well as other traditional payment methods. These are some of the best Ethereum poker sites.

SwC Poker and Blockchain Poker are good options for players looking to remain completely anonymous, deal only with Bitcoin & Crypto, and play online poker directly in those currencies. Blockchain Poker is probably bot the best ETH poker site since it focuses on Bitcoin.

Natural8 is one of the oldest and most popular skins on the GG Network. It's currently the most popular online poker room in the world and also one of the top poker rooms in terms of overall quality, featuring some of the best Rakeback, promotions, and tournament series.

Americas Cardroom (ACR), along with PokerKing and Black Chip Poker, is a Winning Poker Network (WPN) skin. This is one of the few venues where we may play poker with people from the United States. The room caters to high-stakes players, and it also has one of the highest Rakeback deals in the online poker industry plus a few unique poker variants.

Tiger Gaming is a component of the Chico Poker Network, which has a large number of players from the United States. Every new Tigergaming member in 2022 will be eligible for a variety of promos, including a 100% first deposit bonus of up to $1,000, as well as a variety of jackpots, freerolls, and leaderboards.