you are right to say it's more fun when playing with familiar names from the Bitcointalk forum.
Yeah, lots of bragging, laughing, trash-talking, and what not

. Players leveling each other with insane calls and bluffs, it is super fun.
The only reason I believe people are not too frequent at these games is because the casinos sometimes put rules of a must wager before you can participate in these forum poker events.
No, there is no such rule in Bitcointalk contests, all winnings are instantly available for cashing out with just 1x wager requirement. Same goes for entry, only 1x wager is required and you can do it anytime on any game during that week.
I saw in a different topic you posted in the gambling section that you were hosting a Bitcointalk poker event. Is this second topic meant to serve to motivate/promote your Bitcointalk poker event
Who was the winner of the last event? I did not see a leaderboard or something in your main topic.