WHAT? Bitcoin is up to $~142?!?!??!

Just 1-2 weeks ago, I was selling bitcoins I earned at the virtual felt for $75!  Don't I feel like an idiot when I check out the latest going rate for BTC was $142 - nearly double what I sold it for 2 weeks ago!?!??!

I continue to keep grinding away at Seals With Clubs, but I'm beginning to wonder what will happen as the price of BTC continues to rise - or stays at its current levels.  The lowest current offering is a 1/1 NLHE game.  Each chip is worth 1/1000 of a BTC.  I'm no math genius, but my spidey skills say that each chip is worth $0.14 meaning that a full buy in at 1/1 is playing bigger stakes than 10NL - $14.00.  I'd imagine that for a lot of people, the buy in has become too big and they're becoming dissuaded from playing on the site.

I fear that the prior "easy money" games at the lower stakes will dry up with the rise in the price.  I'm worried that a lot of the players have "BTC inventory" if you will, having bought the BTC prior to its recent run-up.  I have to become used to getting paid off on most every hand - flopping sets on an A high board and stacking a mouthbreather thinking his A2o is good - not only stacking off, but calling off an all in shove raise. 

On the other hand, I'm seriously wondering whether I should be cashing in or holding my extra BTC.  As I continue to grind, I'm adding an increasing amount of coins, selling as I get them.  Should I be holding my "investment" for greater returns later?  I've heard reports talking about how bitcoin is expected to rise to $1,000 - wouldn't that be a huge coup?  Over the past month or so, the going rate for the coin has risen around 6% PER DAY!  WTF?!?!?!?

As with real life investing, I've always taken the approach of dollar cost averaging - to date, I've tried to take the same approach with bitcoin; as I get the BTC, I've sold them periodically at the different price points.  I'm thinking I'm going to stray from that prior course of action and see how many coins I can accumulate and hold.

Finally, I'm rarely posting hand histories, so I wanted to share a hand where I didn't get paid [a rarity].  I was hoping the villian hit a straight on the turn, or had any hand - he called my flop bet.  I wasn't able to extract much of anything for the royal flush, and the high hand promotion has gone away.  I checked the Cardschat odds for hitting a royal flush and it seems to be 649,739:1.  According to Wikipedia, those are pretty crazy odds.  It's highly unlikely.  The weirdest part is I've played around 1.2 million hands, yet hit 3-4 royals lifetime.  I guess I run good at my royal flush per hand played ratio...

Perhaps you have alternate opinions as to how I could have played this hand a bit better.  It obviously plays pretty easy once I hit the royal - my second or third [online] lifetime royal.  Certainly, this counts as my first royal since I won the $800 for hitting the live royal flush at Charles Town a few months back.  Check it out:

Game: NL Hold'em (40 - 200) - Blinds 1/2
Site: Seals With Clubs
Table: NLHE 9max 1/2 #6
Seat 1: WXXXXe (177)
Seat 2: mXXXXc (201)
Seat 3: lXXXXXe (94)
Seat 4: fXXXXXr (312)
Seat 6: mXXXXa (259)
Seat 7: DXXXXw (172)
Seat 8: kXXXXXe (182)
Seat 9: KXXpFloppin (772)
mXXXa has the dealer button
DXXXXw posts small blind 1
kXXXXe posts big blind 2
** Hole Cards **
Dealt to KXXpFloppin [Tc Kc]
KXXpFloppin calls 2
WXXXXXe folds
mXXXXc calls 2
lXXXXe folds
fXXXXr folds
mXXXXa folds
DXXXXw calls 1
kXXXXe checks
** Flop ** [Qc Th Ac]
DXXXXw checks
kXXXXe checks
KXXpFloppin bets 8
mXXXXc calls 8
DXXXXw folds
kXXXXe folds
** Turn ** [Jc]
KXXpFloppin checks
mXXXXc checks
** River ** [4d]
KXXpFloppin bets 100
mXXXXc folds
KXXpFloppin refunded 100
KXXpFloppin wins Pot (24)
Rake (0)
KXXpFloppin shows [Tc Kc]

Cashing in / out with Seals With Clubs

As you may or may not know, I've been back online, playing Seals With Clubs (SWC), as the only online poker offering currently available to me.  I've been playing on there since mid-January; I got involved via DonkDown radio.  For those who are unaware, SWC works with bitcoins (BTC), an internet currency.  The value of the BTC fluctuates daily; it is a floating currency that is not based on any other currency.  Recently, the value of the BTC has risen to above $70, so I feel that it is time to try the process of selling chips out.  So far, it seems pretty easy:

• I signed up for an account on coinbase.com, which asked me to verify my email address and required  a bank account / routing number for buying / selling chips.  Once I have the funding source verified (which takes 2-3 days; they will make 2 small deposits of $0.01 - $0.99), I am able to transact BTC to USD.
• I note the "Bitcoin Addresses" under the "Linked Accounts" tab in the top left corner of coinbase homepage.  There is a funky-looking string of text and numbers that tells me the code for depositing BTCs onto coinbase.  It should look something similar to this:
       f5d8ee39a430901c91a5917b9f2dc
  Highlight that hash code and copy it into your memory with CTRL-C or whatever standard your device uses to copy.  This is called my deposit "hash code."
• I go into "My Account" page on SWC and scroll down to the area labeled "Request Bitcoin Cashout."  After entering the amount of chips I would like to withdraw from SWC to coinbase (1000 chips = 1 BTC, which is precisely my trial size), it asks for my "Bitcoin Address."  I enter in the deposit hash code above (via CTRL-V, or whatever standard your device uses to paste) in order to tell SWC that I'd like to transfer 1 BTC to the entered address.  After completing the transaction with my SWC password, the chips transfer from SWC to coinbase, and into my personal account.
• I click "Sell Bitcoins" and enter in the amount of bitcoins I'd like to sell.  From there, I've converted my bitcoins into cash and move them into my bank account.  It was very simple.

I believe buying bitcoins works exactly in reverse:

• Sign up and register your bank account on coinbase.com, as detailed above.
• Note your SWC "Current Cash in Address" hash code and copy it into memory.
• Go into coinbase.com and purchase the required amount of BTCs.
• Transfer the newly purchased bitcoins to the SWC with the transfer to the hash code in memory.

For those who I know personally, I would be happy to trade BTC -> USD if you are wary about using the third party coinbase transfer.  Let me know!