Robin Linus Releases Bitcoin Poker Protocol with 56,000 Transaction Tree Nodes

Researcher Robin Linus has released the Bitcoin Poker protocol, extending the unfinished poker interface left in the early Bitcoin code by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The protocol supports two players playing Texas Hold'em without a dealer, using existing Bitcoin rules to handle the game and fund settlement. Bitcoin Poker generates the hand by both parties providing secret information, creating only the 9 required cards per round, and maintains fairness in dealing through cryptographic commitments and zero-knowledge proofs. The protocol checks for duplicate cards, with a random generation probability of about 48%, requiring an average of 2.08 attempts. The protocol pre-builds a transaction tree for possible game outcomes, with the reference configuration containing 56,132 logical nodes and preparing data of approximately 8.4 MB. Regular games are conducted off-chain, with transactions used only to resolve disputes when cooperation is interrupted. If one party refuses to continue, a timeout mechanism can settle the committed pot after a specified delay and return the unused balance to the exiting party, but it cannot force players to reveal their cards. This design does not require modifications to Bitcoin's consensus rules, supports only two participants, and still requires independent security audits.

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