Top 5 Tips For Funding Poker With Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies and poker share many similarities. Few people know what they are really about, but if you master either of those subjects you can enjoy some impressive -  though admittedly somewhat unstable - earnings. Both cryptocurrencies and poker require a lot of patience and persistence, both are somewhat controversial and viewed by many as a dangerous fad. Lastly, both poker and cryptocurrencies manage to stay relevant despite those unfavorable opinions.

Given the fact that becoming a successful poker player and a successful Bitcoin investor requires a fairly similar set of skills and both fields attract fairly similar kind of people, many card players can benefit from funding poker with cryptocurrency. If you find the idea of investing some percentage of your bankroll into Bitcoin, Ethereum or some other cryptocurrency intriguing, here are a few tips that will get you started on that journey.

Invest Early

If you think that cryptocurrency ship has long sailed you might want to reconsider that stance. While it's most likely impossible to replicate the mind boggling returns on investment that initial Bitcoin adopters - who bought the currency years ago, back when it was still worth a few dollars - are now able to enjoy, there's still a lot of money to be made by investing in the cryptocurrency market.

Remember that Bitcoin, that's now worth way over $5000 per unity, was valued at around $1000 in the first half of 2017. Furthermore, people who bought the currency in September of 2017 back when the news of China's Bitcoin clampdown got the investors panicked, were able to enjoy amazing returns just one month after.

Brace for Impact

Speaking of volatility, poker players are supremely qualified to handle the extreme ups and downs of cryptocurrency investments. We live and breathe variance. A strong mindset is a necessary prerequisite for becoming a successful poker player and the same mindset can be utilized when funding poker with cryptocurrency. Whether you decide to sign up for a poker room that allows you to keep your balance in the cryptocurrency of your choice, or you decide to invest some percentage of your bankroll in cryptocurrencies while still playing in dollars and euros you'll be adding a fair bit of variance to your day to day reality.

Bitcoin users who witnessed the devaluation of the currency caused by the news from China that we've mentioned above, no doubt felt like a poker player experiencing a crazy downswing. Remember that whether you're playing poker or investing 'bankroll management' rules still apply. Tommy Angelo famously said that "bankroll management is like buying mental insurance", therefore you shouldn't invest more money in cryptocurrencies than you can mentally and financially handle.

Consider a Road Less Traveled

Ethereum and Litecoin aren't the only Bitcoin alternatives - far from it! Bitcoin success allowed a cornucopia of other cryptocurrencies to surface, and while not every cryptocurrency will be worth your time and money, some of them can eventually prove to be as much if not more attractive then their more popular counterparts. If we look at the graphs illustrating the rise in price of the most popular cryptocurrencies out there like Bitcoin and Ethereum, we can conclude that they look fairly similar to a lifetime graph of a poker player who managed to work his or her way from micro stakes to high stakes with some epic downswings and upswings along the way.

If we simplify the issue greatly, we could say that the key to cryptocurrency investments is early adoption coupled with patience and persistence (again, keep in mind that this is a giant oversimplification!). Because of that, it might be a good idea to invest in some of the less popular, but promising cryptocurrencies in hopes that their "lifetime graph" will be somewhat similar to that of a Bitcoin.

Educate Yourself

Another similarity between cryptocurrency investments and poker is the fact that it takes quite a bit of knowledge to become successful at them. Sure, you can treat it as a fun side-project and invest a small percentage of your bankroll in one of the mainstream cryptocurrencies without putting a lot of thought into it, but if you want to become a serious investor, you have to spend a lot of time researching the issue.

There's no starting hand chart for cryptocurrency investments and you can't learn the ins and outs of it from a single article. As an experienced poker player you know that a single piece of educational content can only give you so much and you no doubt consumed hundreds if not thousands of them throughout your poker career.

Remember that You're Still a Poker Player!

While supplementing your win rate by funding your poker with cryptocurrency can be a great strategy, remember that you're still a poker player. In time you might become experienced, knowledgeable and successful enough to reevaluate that stance, but in the meantime make sure that the process of education in the realm of cryptocurrency investment, doesn't infringe on your poker playing endeavors. Every hour spent on researching Bitcoin is an hour you could be spending at the tables.

Like Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”, so make sure that you decide beforehand how much time you're willing to invest in learning about cryptocurrencies and make sure you're not going to lose too much value at the tables by doing so.