SWC Poker has unveiled its new platform with a warning the software may have bugs. Players using the site are being told they do so at their own risk.
SWC Poker´s long-awaited software upgrade eventually went live last night after weeks of extended testing. Nonetheless, visitors to the Bitcoin-exclusive online poker site are being told the software is in “play-at-your-own-risk” beta mode as it may still have bugs that could result in security issues. To iron out any bugs as quickly as possible, SwC (Seals with Clubs) is running a bug bounty reporting program.
Players who are willing to take the chance will find a much-improved HTML5 platform with downloadable software available for Windows, Mac, and Android mobile devices. There are new games, new features, new promotions, and – possibly most important of all – a change to the number of chips issued for each Bitcoin which also affects the buy-ins for cash games, Sit & Go games, and tournaments.
Now One Million Chips per Bitcoin
Although the new software is a vast improvement on SwC v2.0, the most significant change is the move from one thousand chips per Bitcoin to one million chips per Bitcoin. SwC made the change to reflect the rising price of Bitcoin which made it quite expensive to play at the site. Whereas previously one chip was worth the equivalent of $6.00 while the price of Bitcoin was hovering around $6,000, one chip will now be worth 0.6 of a cent (assuming the price of Bitcoin remains the same).
The buy-ins for cash games, Sit & Go games, and tournaments have been amended to accommodate the change, with new micro-limits introduced to make it more affordable for new Bitcoin devotees to play at the site. Existing players with Bitcoin balances – who are logging into their accounts for the first time since the upgrade – will find one thousand times more chips (uBTC) in their accounts than before, but Krill balances will be unchanged. The site has decided to retain the popular rakeback program.
New Progressive Bad Beat Jackpot
Along with the launch of the new platform, Seals with Clubs Poker is also launching a new progressive Bad Beat Jackpot promotion. The Jackpot has been seeded with 100,000 chips and will grow with each raked hand played at specially-designated Jackpot tables. The criteria for winning the Jackpot has been set remarkably low, with the losing Bad Beat hand needing to be a Full House of Aces over Tens or higher – provided both the winning and losing player have been dealt a pocket pair used in the hand.
If the qualifying criteria is met, the loser of the hand will receive 35% of the progressive prize pool, the winner of the hand will receive 20% of the prize pool, and 15% of the prize pool will be shared between the remaining players dealt into the hand. The remainder of the prize pool will be taken as a house fee and used to reseed the next Jackpot. Due to the number of players currently visiting the site while it is in beta mode, I don´t expect the Jackpot to be won in the near future, but you never know!
SwC 3.0 Worth a Look to See What You Think
While the software bugs are being ironed out, it may be better to wait before making a deposit at the site, but you can still visit SWCpoker.eu and take part in the two-hourly freeroll tournaments to experience the new software and potentially win a little money to fund your bankroll. If you decide to investigate this option, you will need to create a new account. To ensure your online security, I recommend creating a unique email address to link to your SWC account and using a unique password not associated with any other online account. Good luck at the virtual tables.
