A year and a half ago, a crypto forum appeared online that stood out noticeably from the background of classic sites: there was no separate client or application (the entire game takes place in Telegram), players have access to almost complete anonymity, and deposits and withdrawals from the account are instant.
By the end of 2024, TON Poker has confidently secured a place in the list of second- and third-tier rooms: the number of games and prize money in tournaments here are noticeably inferior to mastodons like GGPoker or PokerStars, and marketing campaigns with million-dollar budgets are clearly not planned, but the game at small limits is collected regularly, and the level of opponents often pleasantly surprises. Our traffic measurements show that tables up to NL50 are found without problems, and in the evenings and on weekends the game is collected up to NL1000 (and the client has up to NL5000).
We asked a representative of TON Poker to share with GipsyTeam readers his achievements and plans for 2025.
– What are you most proud of over the past year? Can you share some statistics?
– Perhaps the most stunning achievement was the largest pot ever played: at NL5000 the winner took home a pot of over 1,000 bb, $51,322!
We are also very happy that we have managed to reach a stable plateau in the number of hands: every month we play more than 5,000,000 hands. The paying audience has exceeded 50,000 unique users, and registrations within the platform have long exceeded 5 million. All this became possible thanks to our major partners from the TON community: successful collaborations with Notcoin, TONkeeper, Сatizen, and others attracted a completely new audience to poker. This is also an achievement – we are pulling the audience not so much from gambling or other poker-related projects, but opening new horizons for the entire ecosystem.
We experiment a lot, but we don't try to blindly copy other platforms. We focus on what is interesting to users and uses the manager's features: invites for friends to the table, replenishment in TON, live leaderboards right in the mini-app. Because our goal is not to overtake someone, but to become the largest poker room in Telegram.
– What are your plans for 2025?
– We want to expand to other countries. Now we have successfully integrated into the CIS, the rest of the world accounts for about 20% of the audience. Of course, we want more.
The cryptocurrency is currently in full swing with a bull run, I think this will be a good reason for us to expand, by 2, 5 or even 10 times :) In addition to the growth of cryptocurrency, the listing of popular coins in Telegram has a positive effect on the activity of players. Such projects teach people how to use crypto, generate an influx of audience to crypto wallets and mini-applications.
We plan to implement a system of levels with personal progress for each player. Pass a level – get a special avatar, play another 100 hands – get a ticket to a freeroll, closed competitions for players of a certain level, etc. This will allow amateurs to stay longer in the room. And then through personal tasks we also plan to conduct closer communication between the room and the player, which in turn should also work towards increasing virality and retention.
– Judging by the players’ feedback, the most questions about the room concern security – many are worried about bots. What work is currently being done in this direction?
– We are very happy that we managed to cooperate with TylerRM in terms of security. Now, on his recommendation, we have a talented guy working for us who has experience in finding bots in other rooms, and we agreed to work specifically for us.
We have already carried out two waves of bans. The money that was confiscated was sent to the balances of those guys who lost the most in unfair games. Several triggers were made inside the software, where the bot is detected in the first 10 minutes of the game at the tables, according to certain parameters we can track related accounts (for example, launched on the same device).
Bots and players with prompters usually play according to certain algorithms, which an understanding person can track and notice something is wrong. We have mandatory checks on the databases every week and botnets are detected in one or two. We think that thanks to the great work of the security service in September and October, we won the last "fight" with bots, then every week we carried out cleaning and changes in the software.
You can read a detailed review of the room on GipsyTeam. And if you link your account to us, you will be able to get access to exclusive promotions and rake races.
GipsyTeam Exclusive: 5,000 Rake Race
From December 2 to 29, TON Poker will host a rake race for Hold'em and Omaha with a prize pool of 5,000. Registration for the race is not required, it is enough to have an account in the poker room created through GipsyTeam. Conditions:
- For every dollar of rake you get one point
- The top ten are awarded prizes, with the winner receiving 1,500
- The race lasts until midnight GMT on December 29
Large-scale Tournament, Missions and Cashdrops in December
December will be eventful at TON Poker: throughout the month, the poker room will host many promotions with good prizes.
Daily Cash Games Leaderboard or 2,000
From December 13 to 18, a leaderboard will start every day, divided into three groups by limits. The scoring period starts at 12:00 GMT. One point is earned for one played hand, from which the rake was taken. From 6 to 11 o'clock the number of points increases by one and a half times.
LOW NL5-25 | MID NL50-200 | HIGH NL500+ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
| 1 | 70 | 1 | 175 | 1 | 400 |
| 2 | 45 | 2 | 140 | 2 | 250 |
| 3 | 30 | 3 | 70 | 3 | 150 |
| 4 | 20 | 4 | 40 | 4 | 100 |
| 5 | 18 | 5 | 35 | 5 | 100 |
| 6 | 15 | 6 | 30 | ||
| 7 | 14 | 7 | 30 | ||
| 8 | 11 | 8 | 25 | ||
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 20 | ||
| 10-14 | 6 | 10 | 15 | ||
| 15-16 | 5 | 11-19 | 10 | ||
| 17-25 | 3 | 20-25 | 5 | ||
Large-scale tournament for 5,000
From December 18 to 29, there will be satellites to the tournament with an impressive 5,000 guarantee for the room. There will be no direct buy-in, you will only be able to qualify in daily rebuys of 5. Since the room does not have a traditional MTT grid, the vast majority of tournament participants should be amateurs.
The tournament itself will take place on December 29 at 15:00 GMT. The main tournament does not have a direct buy-in.
Christmas Cashdrop
On December 25, cash tables will randomly distribute rewards: every 100 hands, cash drops from 1 to 1,000 will appear. They also promise a bonus: a random cash drop of 1,000 for any table.
Daily tasks
From December 27 to 31, the room will issue small and simple tasks every day: collect a combination, make a deposit, play X hands, etc. When completing each task, the player "makes a cocktail", and on the first day of the new year, there will be a "hangover tournament", that is, a 1,000 freeroll for everyone who has collected a whole cocktail from all the ingredients.
