Maybe they had something to do and forgot to unregister yet ended up getting in the money because it was such a long tournament and no one had patience? I don't think that's abuse, that's just fate. Abuse is collusion, which is very easy over the internet and impossible to prevent.
People were registered up to 12 tournaments ahead and not playing. There were 2 active players. Maybe not meant as abuse, but it was kinda unfair
By the way I think you're wasting Bitcoins on the hourly freeroll. 1 BTC per day at least, and you're getting nothing from it. Anyone who sits at the cash tables is going to get bored because no one will play with them. I had someone hit and run for .01 btc. What a joke.
We actually had some cash games going on today. People are starting to catch on. We consider the bitcoins for this promotion pure as a marketing investment.
The success of your site has majority to do with your client I think. Go look at successful free poker sites, like geaxgame.com -- notice how their site runs quick. People play poker for fun. That website makes money selling FAKE CHIPS and people buy them just because they're stupid. I know they do because there's no other way they can have as many chips as they have, because if they were actually that good at poker, they would be playing for real money.
Our advantage is the client, but it is also a disadvantage. Bitcoiners seem to not trust an .exe installer. That is why we will launch a html5 client on the site. This client will have limited features compared to the client, but offers the same game and runs quickly. Within a month we will use the html5 version only for mobile/tablets and we will have a complete flash client done.
A properly set up Bitcoin poker site should be able to beat cash sites and lead online poker. Right now is prime time to take advantage because US online poker is illegal. Someone seriously needs to jump and this and do it right. In my opinion, Seals has failed. It's a disgrace. Don't be like them.
I agree that a well ran site can take over online poker, and we will be moving into channels where no poker has been offered before. We need about a month preparation for this move, but it will be epic. In a way Seals is a succes as they are the market leader in bitcoin poker, but I believe they don't have a proper strategy or the right software to grow further. We will absolutely not become another Seals, we aim to become the 2nd online pokerroom within the next 2 to 3 months and we have the strategy ready to do this.
Thanks for your feedback!