To my more seasoned bitcoin enthusiasts:

What would you say is the most secure way of storing BTC's right now? I'd like to get your opinions.

The absolute most secure it to use the standard client yourself to make a wallet with a strong password and back it up in multiple places.

Blockchain.info wallet seems the safest if you don't want to do it yourself.

one way may be:

1) get PuppyLinux (operaing system that runs from a thumb drive)
2) install some bitcoin client

puppy stores userland data (your wallet) in an encrypted data store. all you need to carry around is one thumb drive. plug it into a machine that can boot from the drive and is not compromised. for extra security use a read only CD for the OS and a thumb drive for the data store.

I keep the bulk of my coins in my Bitcoin-Qt wallet. This is the wallet downloadable from bitcoin.org and it sits on my PC. As both a bitcoin and PC expert, this is the safest version for me.

Some players on SWC use Mt.Gox as a wallet. They frequently withdraw their entire SWC balance and sell it for USD when they are not playing. This is silly to me, who believes bitcoin to be deflationary. A drawback is the sometimes hour long Mt.Gox processing times when you want to play poker now.

Coinbase is more of an exchange than a wallet. It is very new to the market but seems to have quickly gained a good reputation.

Blockchain.info wallet is exploding in user numbers. It is simple & easy and just seems to work great, both the web & the mobile version.

Some bitcoin users with very little intent to play poker have come to trust SWC and use it as a wallet. They leave small balances on to transfer micro-amounts to each other for free instead of paying the .0005 btc fee to send.

Great suggestions everyone.

I have been using the standard wallet for about 4 or 5 months now. Works well if you open it at least once a week and let it sync up with the network. One thing that scares me is stories of people waking up to empty wallets.

I have read that emailing yourself bitcoin may be the simplest way to secure your funds. Gmail, Yahoo, etc are very reliable and the consensus is that they have been safe for quite some time. Is this a method anyone has used? If so, please share your experience.

BTC for sale via eBay for newbies or anyone who does not want to go through the hassle.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300815437919...84.m1555.l2649

My seller rating is 100% and I have been on eBay for nine years.

Decided to give Seals With Clubs a try and had a go at some of the hourly free rolls so I could try it out without depositing. They had roughly 30-45 people in them, won one on my third try for 50 chips. Sat down at a 1/2 table with my 50 (min buy-in is 40), went bust after 4 hands when I shoved the flop with KK and someone made a doomed hero call with Ace-Rag (Ace high) only to spike their ace on the river. Back to square one.

Site is really low traffic, never more than one 1/2 table going, there was a 5/10 & 25/50 table but neither had more than 4 or 5 out of 9 seats filled while I was on. Might pick up at night, can only speak to this afternoon.

This Sunday there were a few PLO games going, 2 full rings of PLO8, and a few NLHE tables also. Plus the 60 Gtd BTC had 42 in it, and more expected next week according to the people playing. I ran a freeroll win (50 chips) up to 2200 in an hour. Played the 60 Gtd and plan to play it again next week.

Site picks up on weekends, of course its not Pokerstars, or even Bovada, but its soft games, and basically instant cashouts. You want fast cashouts in the USA, this is it.

How many bitcoins is a chip?

wtf...$21.65/coin? Isn't that more than twice the rate it trades at now?

One bitcoin is 1000 seals chips. Bitcoins are selling for about $11 apiece right now.

You can also keep your eggs in different baskets. Have a wallet on different operating systems, computers, save to disks, whatever. And you can keep some on Seals, and spread some out to a bunch of different e-wallets based on how much you trust them, etc. (IMO keep a word document of where your coins are located.)

Will likely fool around on it a bit more, due to my schedule I often play off hours so the limited traffic hurts game selection. Intrigued by the concept of an alternative currency poker site and the ability to yank your funds off when you are done playing is great along with almost instant cashouts. Only downside is that BitCoin is kind of a niche market, need to find a way to make exchange/deposit seem easier to your average joe if they are to branch out beyond tech geeks, libertarians, and TwoPlusTwo.

Yeah seems like the donkey traffic might be slim based on the probable demographic of BTC savvy individuals but I think I'm going to give it a try anyway.

I'm enjoying poker again. It's nice to play poker and not have to stress over deposits and withdrawals. It's refreshing that I don't have to agonize over a deposit decision because I know I can get the money back in a couple of days and I won’t pay crazy fees. I hope this site takes off.

If nothing else the site can be a stepping stone for wider adoption in the larger world of online poker. Spreading Bitcoin also increases monetary freedom.

Fastest way to get btc if I am sitting in front of my computer, and cant leave?

QuickBitCoints.net reportedly allows you to buy them via credit card (I've not used it) but is down at the moment. Hopefully someone else can provide you with an acceptable form of exchange.

Giving this a bump in the hopes that someone more knowledgeable than I will provide quoted poster with an answer.

I would say to link your bank account to Coinbase and buy BTC that way. This could take a few business days though. To get it done the same day I think you need to deposit cash to one of the exchanges, but this involves leaving your home. I don't know of any exchanges that except credit cards. I'm a noob, so I can easily be wrong.

Selling bitcoins for PayPal is ****ing ******ed... 99% of the time you will get scammed and the rest of the time after you get disputed by the buyer you will have your PayPal account shut down and closed.. Dont do it.. buy? Maybe but there are better ways.

I have been playing on seals for awhile love getting my money in literally less than 5hrs everytime

For a wallet I use an encrypted bitcoin-qt wallet backed up to Dropbox and stored on a thumb drive.. I'd never use an online wallet... Ever but my btc stack is growing large.. Pre-ordered myself a ASIC mini-rig... Mining now at 3.5G/hs

Are there any online wallets you would use? What's wrong with Blockchain? You seem very knowledgable. Help us educate online poker players so they feel comfortable using them. Maybe I'm stupid but I don't know what half this crap is. Keep it simple. Easiest way to get them? Easiest way to store them with solid security?

For anyone not versed in computer security, use Blockchain.info wallet. It evens offers 2-factor and automatic backups to Dropbox, Gmail, etc. This option relies on clientside encryption/description to reduce potential of the site being able to access your wallet.

Those new to Bitcoin who would like learn more about it and how to set yourself up with it, there is a Bitcoin discussion forum filled with knowledgeable members, including the Bitcoin developers themselves, who are more than happy and willing to help Bitcoin newbies get started and answer all questions regarding anything and everything Bitcoin - including a newbie section, advice and recommendations on acquiring Bitcoins, wallets, security, getting free Bitcoins, speculation, scams to watch out for, general discussion, etc, etc

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php

Just beware there are also scammers there who look to take advantage of newbies as well. Don't trust anyone.

I use online wallets for the soul purpose of anonymous transfers.. the only time I transfer to my personal offline wallet is when i'm transfering from another online wallet. I use blockchain.info to receive my payments from my mining operation, seals with clubs, or when i sale **** for bitcoins(i do VPS hosting for bitcoins), which I then transfer to my bitcoin-qt wallet to keep it as private as possible.

Online wallets in the past have been hacked, so use them with minimal amounts, and keep the rest in a offline/paper wallet or something when you get huge stacks to prevent losing it. Use two factor authentication on blockchain. I use the SMS text message one and it works great. I just don't trust leaving a large amount of bitcoins in an online wallet, if I had to choose blockchain is the ONLY one i'd use.