Robin Linus Realizes Satoshi's Unfinished Poker Vision: Bitcoin Poker Requires Over 56,000 Transaction Tree Nodes

Odaily News: Researcher Robin Linus has released the Bitcoin Poker protocol, expanding the unfinished poker interface that Satoshi Nakamoto left in Bitcoin's early code in 2008 into a runnable solution. The protocol supports two players in Texas Hold'em without a dealer, using Bitcoin's existing rules to handle gameplay and fund settlement.Bitcoin Poker generates card faces through secret information jointly provided by both parties, generating only the 9 cards needed per hand, and uses cryptographic commitments and zero-knowledge proofs to maintain fair dealing. The protocol can check for duplicate cards, and the probability of a randomly generated hand passing the check is approximately 48%, requiring an average of 2.08 attempts.The protocol pre-builds a transaction tree for possible game outcomes, with a reference configuration containing 56,132 logical nodes and approximately 8.4 MB of preparation data. Normal gameplay occurs off-chain, with transactions used only to handle disputes when cooperation breaks down.If one party refuses to continue, a timeout mechanism can settle the committed pot after a specified delay and return the departing party's unused balance, but cannot force players to reveal their cards. The design requires no modifications to Bitcoin's consensus rules, supports only two participants, and still requires independent security review. (Bitcoin.com News)