- Infiniti Poker’s real money—Bitcoin and USD—launch finally got under way on December 10.
- Over the last two years, entrepreneur and CEO Michael Hajduk struggled with technology and financial issues to get his vision of a poker site up and running.
- Choosing to use Bitcoin as the playing currency now appears prescient. Bitcoin only poker site SealsWithClubs (SWC) has seen cash game traffic reach a new peak.
Infiniti Poker’s US-facing real-money online poker room, with support for USD and Bitcoin, has finally launched for real money play.
It is a soft launch, so features such as webcam enabled Infinivision tables remain available only at play-money tables. Deposits can be made in USD and in Bitcoin, though only Bitcoin withdrawals are currently supported.
It joins Seals with Clubs and Satoshi Poker as offshore US-facing poker rooms that feature BTC as a primary currently.
Pokerfuse has followed Infiniti Poker’s development for the last two years as the project went through multiple rounds of testing and significant setbacks and delays.
CEO Michael Hajduk’s intention was to create “the new paradigm of online gaming” and a platform “more exciting than PokerStars.” The beta test two months ago showed some promise, but fell a long way short of his ambitious prediction. However, sometimes in business, timing is everything—and choosing to use Bitcoin as the playing currency now appears prescient. Bitcoin is making mainstream media headlines around the world, and Bitcoin poker leader SealsWithClubs has seen cash game traffic reach a new peak—with an average of 133 cash game seats filled.
To put that into perspective, SWC cash game traffic numbers are running neck and neck with WSOP Nevada, which has benefited from millions of dollars of big corporation advertising. The first state regulated US online poker site, Ultimate Poker Nevada, is three places below SWC in PokerScout’s global rankings.
An FAQ has been set up to promote the soft launch on Reddit. Important points coming out of the discussion involve the restriction that cash outs will only be available in Bitcoin for a few weeks, although deposits can be made in USD. Canadian players and those in some other countries are also excluded during the soft launch, but that restriction is expected to be lifted in a couple of weeks.
There is a promise of an early adopter promotion that will provide lifetime 50% rakeback, details of a Prestige VIP club that aims to reward recreational players as well as high volume grinders, and the promise of a Mac version in the near future. US players on Mac computers outside states where poker has been regulated only have access to Bovada and Merge Network poker clients.
The option of depositing and withdrawing in USD as well as Bitcoin—Bitcoin only for US players—may be the differentiator that draws a bigger crowd.
