

Startup creates first real money iPhone/iPad poker site - flibble
http://blog.switchpoker.com/

======
flibble
For those of you own an iPhone or iPad and play online poker, you'll know that
there is unfortunately where to play poker (for real money) using it.

I've been reading HN for over 2 years and seeing the number of great web apps
that have been created by 1 - 4 person startups here gave me the push I needed
to get a small team together and do something about it. Earlier this year we
decided to create the first real money poker site for iPhone and iPad users.

The user interface currently falls short of the standard set by some of the
HNers here, but I'm working to improve it. Please give me your feedback. The
real money tables won't be launched for another two weeks, so there's still
lots of time for improvement.

------
JimmyL
I've always been curious about the legalities of running an online real-money
poker site. I see you're based in Costa Rica, where (presumably) this service
is legal - how does the illegality of this in the US play into your business
plan?

------
krschultz
I've been joking about this with my roommate (hardcore poker player i.e. 4 or
5 hrs a day), the day poker comes out for the iPhone he is done. I'm surprised
it took this long, the big sites dropped the ball.

~~~
Psyonic
Why would a hardcore player want to play on his phone? Away from poker
tracker, multi-tabling, etc? Seems risky, but might attract enough fish to be
worthwhile.

~~~
JimmyL
Is this intended for the hardcore player? Seems like those guys would have
such a customized/assisted setup on their primary machines that they would
have no incentive or desire to play on something so restricted as an iPad.

Not my product, but I'd imagine this is aimed at more casual players - for
example, college students. People who would have no problems playing a one-
hour session sitting in a Starbucks while waiting for something else, as
opposed to the people who play multi-hour sessions on multiple tables
professionally. The poker equivalent of scratch-and-win lottery players, as
compared to players of casino games.

~~~
Psyonic
I completely agree. I was specifically asking krschultz why he thinks his
hardcore poker-playing roommate would be interested.

------
steve19
If they can get a app in the App Store, Apple's walled garden would be perfect
at keeping bots out.

~~~
fragmede
I doubt that; jailbreaking is relatively trivial and that gets you your bot
software on the phone. If I'm playing online poker with bots and approaching
this as a money making venture, step two is buy 10 iPhones off Craigslist.

The portability of the iPhone means I can sit around different coffee shops
and use their wifi for an afternoon, or better yet, pay someone else in coffee
and doughnuts to watch my backpack for the afternoon.

------
Bootvis
But what if Apple doesn't allow it? How many people would jailbreak their
phone to play poker?

~~~
flibble
The game is playable through Mobile Safari, it isn't an App Store App.

To play a user only needs to browse to the website. There is no need to
download an App.

------
earle
This is also illegal!

~~~
metachris
Why would it be illegal where you are?

