SwC Poker Review

Overview

Formerly called Seals With Clubs, SwC Poker is a “No Banking, Only Bitcoin” anonymous online poker site that claims to be managed by a “small team of humans” dedicated to building a secure, fair Bitcoin poker platform with the lowest rake imaginable.

All player balances, deposits, and withdrawals, are done via Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash – no traditional currency is ever used on SwC Poker.

SwC Poker accepts players worldwide, allowing players even from the United States and Australia. Similar poker sites include Bovada, BetOnline, Tigergaming, and Blockchain.Poker. You can read our full SwC Poker review below.

Restricted Countries

SwC Poker accepts players worldwide. There are no country restrictions.

Customer Service

SwC Poker customers may contact support via their email address or through the chat feature located within the Bitcoin Poker 3.0 client. The official customer service team is available at the email address support@swcpoker.club and is available 24/7.

SwC Poker also has a dedicated thread on Bitcointalk, as well as an active Twitter account @SwCPoker. These channels are typically used to announce the site’s latest poker news, but they do offer support as well. Your response time may vary, but replies are typically received within a few hours.

SwC Poker does not have a customer service phone number that you can call.

Games Offered

SwC Poker offers numerous game types including cash games, tournaments, and Sit Go tournament variants. These games include No Limit Texas Hold Em, Fixed Limit Hold Em, Omaha, Omaha H/L,  5 Card Omaha, 5 Card Omaha H/L, Courchevel, 7 Stud, 7 Stud H/L, Razz, OFC Pineapple OFC Pineapple 2-7, OFC Pineapple Progressive, Classic Chinese, Chinese Open Face, 2-7 Triple Draw, Badugi, Badeucy, Badacey, Six Plus Hold Em, and Mixed Games including HORSE, 8 Game, 11 Game, and Lowball Mix.

All variants have buy-ins ranging from micro stakes to high stakes, with many limits including Pot Limit, No Limit, and Fixed Limit betting options available.

SwC Poker does not offer a casino, sportsbook, dice, crash gambling, or bingo.

Banking

SwC Poker is one of the first Bitcoin-only poker sites in the world. All player balances are denominated in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, and all deposits and cashouts are done via these two cryptocurrencies as well. Bitcoin is an open-source, peer-to-peer internet protocol used for processing payments by many gambling sites.

Deposits from your personal Bitcoin wallet are credited after just 1 confirmation on the Bitcoin network. The time for this is variable, but averages 10-30 minutes. Withdrawals are processed regularly,  averaging 3-6 hours, but may take longer as each transaction on SwC Poker is processed manually.

1 Chip on SwC Poker is worth 0.000001 Bitcoin or 0.000001 Bitcoin Cash depending on your preferred currency. Similarly, 1,000,000 chips is equal to 1 Bitcoin or 1 Bitcoin Cash depending on your preferred currency. These units are also known as uBTC and uBCH. Players can get a real-time, USD conversion of their account balance by inputting the following message into the poker site’s chat box: “5000 chips to USD”;  replacing “5000 chips” with any amount you wish.

The minimum deposit is the smallest unit of Bitcoin, 1 Satoshi, also expressed as 0.00000001 or 0.01 SWC Poker chips. The minimum withdrawal amount is 500 chips. The exact Bitcoin network fee is deducted from withdrawals.

SwC Poker also offers P2P transfers, or player-to-player transfers. All transfers are at your own risk, and cannot be cancelled or reversed. Please exercise caution and good judgement before performing any player-to-player transfers in an anonymous gambling site. SwC Poker management does not intervene in player disputes related to chip transfers.

Referral & Bonus Codes

SwC Poker does not offer any deposit bonuses, however there is a “Referral Code” field on the sign up page. Entering a referral code is entirely optional and can be left blank if you desire. Furthermore, entering one code over another will have no bearing on your poker account in the future and comes at no cost to you whatsoever.

If you found this review to be helpful and would like to support GamblingSiteFinder.com, you can use the code GMBLNGSTFNDR to complete your registration.

Promotions

Bad Beat Jackpot

SwC Poker has a Bad Beat Jackpot that is triggered when a player loses a hand while holding a full house aces full of kings (AAAKK) or better, and both players must use both of their hole cards. The breakdown for when the jackpot gets hit is as follows:

35% to the loser of the hand, 20% to the winner of the hand, 15% to all other players dealt into the hand, ​20% to reseed the next jackpot, and a 10% house fee.

The jackpot can be won at any BBJ table noted by the yellow background color and special BBJ table name. The rake taken at the BBJ tables is 25% higher than the rake taken at any other table on SwC Poker. You can see the current jackpot amount at the top of the Bitcoin Poker 3.0 client.

2- and 3- handed games at Bad Beat Jackpot tables do not qualify for the jackpot, and do not rake higher than the normal rate.

No Rake Microstakes

In an effort to expand on their freeroll offerings and to help build a healthy poker ecosystem from the bottom up, SwC Poker offers microstakes cash games with no rake.

These micro limit tables can be found in the NLH & PLO lobbies just like their other cash games tables, but have a green “Rake Free Table” icon displayed on the right hand some of the table listing in the lobby.

The Rake Free tables on SwC Poker have very low minimum buy-ins and allow players to “Run It Twice” on all-in bets. No matter what time of day, you’ll always find a game running at these stakes.

Twitch Bounties

Twitch bounties are an inactive promotion at SwC Poker where players were awarded for achieving certain milestones on the poker site while simultaneously streaming your gameplay on Twitch.

Players were allowed to collect bounties for winning tournaments including the Little BTC or Medium BTC, or by completing bankroll challenges.

Each SwC Poker Twitch bounty had qualification requirements and an award amount, which varied per bounty completed. Furthermore, each bounty could only be won once and all awarded amounts were paid in SwC Chips.

The Big BTC

The Big BTC is a no limit holdem, multi-table tournament offered on SwC Poker that boasts the largest Bitcoin prize pool on the poker site. Daily satellites and freerolls are listed in the tournament lobby, but players can also buy-in directly to the prize pool.

The buy-in for The Big BTC fluctuates depending on the price of Bitcoin, but has historically ranged between 5,000 and 10,000 chips. If you enjoy pot limit omaha, there is a comparable tournament called The Big O as well.

Rakeback Rewards Program

All SwC Poker customers are automatically enrolled in a tiered rewards program called “Krill”. Players receive Krill every time they are dealt into a raked hand. Collect Krill to earn permanent rewards, including rakeback, and access to exclusive freerolls. The more Krill you collect, the more rewards you unlock. Krill never decreases or resets.

Each player dealt into a raked hand will receive Krill based on the calculation: ‍√(rake) * X / (players dealt in), rounded down to the nearest 0.3 Krill. Each registered player in a raked tournament will receive Krill based on the calculation: ‍ √(entry fee) * X, rounded down to the nearest 0.3 Krill.

You can read more about the SwC Poker Krill Rewards Program levels below:

Freerolls

SwC Poker freerolls run every hour on the :30’s and have 30 minutes of late registration, so there is always a freeroll available for registration in the lobby. New players can test the SwC Poker Bitcoin Poker 3.0 software for free by playing these tournaments, and current players that want to play the game of poker risk-free are welcome to enter as many freerolls as they wish.

GamblingSiteFinder.com also hosts password protected freerolls at SwC Poker every Sunday. To find the latest freeroll password, follow us on Twitter.

Low Rake

What SwC Poker lacks in a deposit bonus, the poker site makes up for with very low rake. No rake is collected in flop game (no limit, pot limit, fixed limit) hands that do not make it to the flop. This also applies to draw games (no first draw, no rake) and stud games (no fourth street, no rake).

The rake is 25% higher in qualifying Bad Beat Jackpot hands with 4 or more players. This extra portion of rake is entirely contributed to the jackpot.

When you take the poker site’s rakeback system, rewards, and promotions into consideration, SwC Poker has among the lowest rake in the world.

The rake at SwC Poker’s cash tables is periodically reviewed and adjusted to remain in line with the value of Bitcoin. However, due to the volatile nature of Bitcoin’s price, at times the rake at SwC Poker can become abnormally high before SwC Poker management makes an adjustment.

Supported Devices

The SwC Bitcoin Poker 3.0 Client can be installed on any Windows or Mac-powered computer, or Android device, while an in-browser web client is available via HTML5.

SwC Poker does allow poker software to be used alongside it’s own poker client, however, the poker site does not provide any kind of support or assistance to aid players looking to configure their software to work properly on SwC Poker.

Furthermore, there are no poker HUDs compatible with SwC Poker’s latest 3.0 software. In particular, PokerTracker4, Hold Em Manager 3, and Hold Em Indicator do not work on SwC Poker. Players have suggested that a poker software called Free Poker Database (FPDB) can be configured to work, but there is no evidence to suggest this is true.

Site History

SwC Poker (formerly Seals With Clubs Poker) is an online poker site established in 2011 that spawned in the wake of the United States Government’s “Black Friday” shakedown on online poker sites that catered to United States residents; most notably PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker.

Seals With Clubs Poker was one of the first Bitcoin poker sites before it announced that it would be ceasing all operations in January 2015 due to “operational security” threats that sent the poker site into a “perpetual state of jeopardy.” After a few weeks some team members would quickly revive the project under the new SwC Poker site.

SwC Poker Bitcoin Poker 2.0 software launched on February 20, 2015, ditching the old Poker Mavens software that was used on the former website. Players were instructed to withdraw all funds from the now defunct Seals With Clubs and test out the new SwC Poker client.

The Bitcoin Poker 2.0 software was in use until the site unveiled it’s Bitcoin Poker 3.0 software on November 13, 2018 – a giant update that gave Mac, Mobile, and Linux users the ability to play poker online at the site via the downloadable client or the HTML5 Browser Web Play client.

SwC Poker 3.0 launched in play-at-your-own-risk beta mode, but in late December 2018 the site removed this note and reports stable operation.  According to the poker site’s Bitcointalk thread:

“SwC guarantees your deposited funds and will make all players whole in case of unexpected issues. An informal bug bounty system is in place for security disclosures. Should you find a security issue, we will pay you to responsibly disclose it to us.”

To date, SwC Poker remains to be the only standalone cardroom in the poker industry that utilizes Bitcoin exclusively. SwC Poker is not a member of any poker networks, nor does the poker room share it’s playerpool or prize pools with any other poker sites.

Domain Name Change

Due to negligence, SwC Poker lost control of their .eu domain name on January 1st, 2021 after Brexit became official. SwC Poker published an apology on the new .club domain, which included the following excerpt:

EURID posted clear rules before the change and we did not pay enough attention. There is no one else to blame but ourselves, and because we recognize our error, we are running a massive package of apology freerolls in our lobby for the next 7 days. All funds are safe and any balance can be immediately withdrawn.

Security And Fairness

Collusion Policy

For obvious security reasons, SwC Poker monitors and vigilantly fights any collusion, cheating, or otherwise unfair gameplay. You may, however, email support@swcpoker.club if you observe anything you would like the poker room to investigate.

SwC Poker reserves the right to handle cheating, collusion, or otherwise unfair play at their sole discretion.

Sale or transfer of accounts between players is prohibited at SwC Poker. Accounts may not change ownership and purchasing or receiving an account from another player will result in its confiscation.

Bots Policy

Bots are prohibited on SwC Poker. Please contact support@swcpoker.club if you feel a bot is playing. Management will vigilantly defend the integrity of the games. While on that note, multiple players in the same home are welcome to play at SwC Poker, but not at the same cash game tables.

Know Your Customer (KYC) Policy

SwC Poker rejects the idea that online poker sites should require your personal information. The poker room believes that the online poker experience should be similar  to a live cardroom, whereby players can buy chips, play, and cash out anonymously.

By using Bitcoin, SwC Poker can securely and anonymously process chip transactions without requiring any further documentation – no utility bill uploads, no drivers license scans. Again, only an email address and a Bitcoin wallet are required to create and use an account.

Responsible Gambling

Do you believe that you have a gambling problem? Players are encouraged to email support@swcpoker.club if they wish to be self-excluded from the SwC Poker room.

Screenshots

SwC Poker Cash Games

SwC Poker Chinese Poker

SwC Poker MTT Lobby