Using the PokerBros App
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Many Clubs to Choose From
The PokerBros app provides a consistent experience across both Android and iOS, which are the only operating systems supported. PokerBros is always in vertical orientation, and will never adapt to the rotation of your device. There are workarounds for everything, even playing on desktop, but these are more advanced topics for discussion in other articles. This guide is to answer a lot of the confusing questions newcomers have with the PokerBros poker app which is quite innovative, but also quirky in many regards. Even the official PokerBros site skirts details of some of the less used functions.
It is nice that PokerBros updates usually don’t change the user interface or user experience which bucks the trend in the historical nature of online poker sites that love design by committee. PokerBros has an aesthetic and they stick to it. Once you figure it out, then you won’t forget it. It’s mostly intuitive, but some functionality related to chip transfers and agents is definitely not intuitive if you’ve never pokered in a pandemic era app game. A lot of the new functionality revolves around the decentralized processes that arose from that period where people were restricted from doing most things the normal way.
Games have continued to thrive because of these features, not in spite of them, so it is important to understand how everything works in this new paradigm.
Creating an Account
The first thing you need to play PokerBros is an account. We recommend not using the Apple or Facebook signup methods. While the Apple created accounts are secure, you will need to change to an email account after anyway to make sure you can login to your account if Apple blocks your ID temporarily at the worst time. With an email login you can switch between devices as you please.
Avoid ‘Sign in with Apple’ and ‘Login with Facebook’, as well as the guest login, to make your account the most secure.
Player ID
Once you signup you get your numerical immutable Player ID. This is your ID for referrals if you become an agent. Agents you work with can see both your chosen player name and ID, but since you can change your player name frequently, it’s best to just use the ID so things don’t get mixed up. You’re not the only one who thought to be TeddyKGB with a random assortment of numbers after!
While it’s free usually to change once, future changes will set you back 200 diamonds.
This is a great way to subvert the HUDs.
Club/Union Registration
It might be a little confusing when joining a club or union what you need to do to get in. That’s because the Referrer ID is as important as the Club ID. Unions in PokerBros are made of clubs. You don’t join a union directly, you join a club in that union. Clubs are made up of individual agents. You don’t join a club directly, you join under an agent. Everything in the admin of clubs is decentralized and distributed to agents. Therefore without the Referral ID (which is the agent), there’s nobody with authorization to approve you as a member of the club. It works just like a country club or fraternity. It’s a group of people, some with the rights to allow you in as a member.
You usually need to fill out both fields in order to gain membership in a club.
There are very rare exceptions to this in very tiny private clubs with no union affiliation where one person alone manages the whole club, but then you would be asked specifically to leave the Referral ID blank. In the realm of unions though, this is never the case.
Registration With A Deep Link
Usually an agent will provide you with a Club ID and Referral ID to join a club, but if the agent knows that you are an established player with a PokerBros account already they may give you what is called a Deep Link. This allows you to click a link that opens PokerBros and automatically adds you to all of the clubs in the Deep Link. If you receive a deep link, it takes you to the PokerBros app directly, so you need to follow it on your mobile device. It won’t do a lot of good on desktop.
If you are confused with a Deep Link, you can always ask your agent for the manual Club ID and Referral ID. Sometimes things bug out and this may be the solution to an agent not being able to add you.
Manual Approvals
When you join a club you are not automatically approved. Some agents have the ability to get you in a club, but the final approval rests with a ‘Super Agent’ who is more in tune with club operations in terms of integrity and ecology. PokerBros clubs are most like a country club in this way. Problem players are often rejected at this stage. One of the greatest benefits of playing on PokerBros is information sharing and coordination with the site to exclude players who violate the rules.
Cashier
When an agent gives you chips, it goes directly into your account from them. You can see this activity under the Trade Record tab in the cashier. Sometimes it might come from other agents handling your request, so don’t be alarmed if it is an ID or name you don’t recognize.
You can only send out chips to other players if you are an agent and those players are directly referred by you (under you). If you are a regular player, then this just shows your balance.
Cashier Tab (Bottom) >> Trade Record
For withdrawals or chip exchanges, communication with your agent is key. This interaction underscores the personalized and secure environment PokerBros aims to provide for every player.
Chip Request and Leaderboard Record
You should handle all chip requests directly in chat through your agent unless told specifically to use the chip request function, or that you are authorized to use it. This is not a commonly used feature in most clubs, and it’s the same for the Leaderboard Record tab. If a club has a weekly or monthly leaderboard for tournaments you might see the chips you win here from those promotions.
Cashier Tab (Bottom) >> Leaderboard Record
Cashier Tab (Bottom) >> Chip Request
Claim Back, Send Ticket, Send Out
These are functions for agents to manage the chips of players under them. Since PokerBros clubs are destributed entities, every player can easily become an agent and manage their friends who are less familiar with the advanced features of the PokerBros UI.
Withdrawals
If you want to take out chips or exchange them to another clubs you should contact your agent. If you are an agent, then you would coordinate things with your super agent.
Gold, Diamonds, and Paid Features
As this is a ‘fun money’ app, the developers sell things you ordinarily would expect as free to players. Each day you can spin to win items for use in game with gold coins. The good news is gold coins are free, but you need to login each day to accumulate them, and if you miss a consecutive day, you reset back to very low amount of gold coins which gives you less spins for items. In order to get specific items directly you need to buy them with PokerBros Diamonds. With these free spins you can win diamonds, but it is quite seldom to hit, and it takes time to accumulate enough to buy anything in the shop.
We suggest just buying diamonds or VIP packages and forgoing the extra step of gold.
If you want to circumvent this charade, you can just buy PokerBros diamonds in the app store. Then you can buy time banks, rabbit hunts, emojis, and themes directly. Some players only care about time banks and just by these, but many players opt for the monthly subscription of VIP cards that combine all of the goodies into one comprehensible purchase.
Diamonds are a players best friend on PokerBros.
If you are an agent and have new players you can buy diamonds for these VIP cards and gift them to your players so they don’t have to even fuss with the app store. Sometimes a club owner will do the same for you as a player if you meet certain milestones or they feel like being nice. Club owners need to buy chips with diamonds. Everything is a bit obfuscated and at times annoying, but once you get the hang of it you will be just like all the other regs.
If you play a lot it is just smart to at least get the bronze package. For that, you will need diamonds.
We recommend having Gold VIP if you are a serious player. It it the only tier that gives you some disconnect protection (if the table allows it). Timebanks are the next most valuable feature. So if you are a cheapskate, you might slide by on just free daily items and very selective use of your tanks. Emojis are the next most useful feature. You can antagonize others with emojis. After that the rebbit hunt feature is useful for seeing the runout every hand. This can sometimes tell you information about what people didn’t have. If you see the nut ace turn up on the rabbit hunt, then you might know you just got rather liberally bluffed!
A: To switch devices seamlessly, ensure you register your account using an email. This method allows you to log in from any device, regardless of the operating system, ensuring you’re never locked out of your account, especially if one device becomes temporarily unavailable.
A: Your numerical, immutable Player ID is crucial for referrals and interactions within clubs. It remains constant even if you change your player name, ensuring consistent identification across the platform and simplifying transactions and communications with agents.
A: Joining a club or union requires a Club ID and a Referral ID from an agent. Unions consist of multiple clubs, offering a larger pool of players and games. Remember, you join a club within a union, not the union directly, and it’s your agent who facilitates this process.
A: As a player, your chip transactions are mainly handled by your designated agent. This includes receiving chips, sending them out (if you’re an agent), and withdrawals. Direct communication with your agent is essential for smooth transactions and to ensure security.
A: Gold VIP membership in PokerBros offers several benefits, including disconnect protection (subject to table rules), access to daily free items, and selective use of time banks. It’s a valuable tier for serious players, providing both fun and strategic advantages during gameplay.