Hi guys,
Not too involved with current controversy but a big fan of bitcoin poker, and SwC is a bit too inactive for my liking.
This might not be the appropriate place to post this, but does anyone use any similar bitcoin poker sites showing more life?
All bitcoin poker rooms are going to be inactive or outright scams (like Betcoin). The fact of the matter is, poker doesn't make the site a ton of money unless the site is huge, like Stars is. So people spend a bunch of time making a site and then when they see low numbers day after day they kind of abandon it and stop promoting it after seeing the low turnout. It happens with fiat rooms, too.
I think comparing Betcoin to SWC is a bit unrealistic. The thing about sites like Nitrogen and Betcoin is that they are sportsbooks with poker, SWC on the other hand is only poker. So yeah, generally speaking, compared to the sports side, poker generates a significantly smaller portion of a site's income. The same is true for brick and mortar casinos as well, where the poker room is more of a draw to get people in the door, in hopes that they will spend money in the pit or on slots.
Also, using Stars as an example to compare bitcoin poker sites to is a bit unfair, as Stars was well-established, long before Amaya took over. It was well known among the online poker community that Stars had some of the best value and one of the best VIP systems pre-Black Friday.
SWC had the opportunity to become the leader in the Bitcoin poker industry. The problem is they squandered it by terrible management, both of their site and of their initial capital. They purchased a half-ass client and went live well before it was realistic to do so, without any expectation of being able to properly update their software, or release timely updates.
tl:dr - It's possible to make a profitable poker site, but the onus, like any business, comes down to how you manage it. As it stands now, there's a glaring gap in the Bitcoin poker industry, waiting for someone to come along and capitalize on it.
-BttB