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How Stacked works

Stacked is hybrid by design: a backend runs the live game, and smart contracts on Base hold the money and settle every hand. Two systems, each doing what it's good at.

Why a hybrid​

Pure on-chain poker is slow. Every action — fold, call, raise — would need to wait for the blockchain to confirm, and the gas cost would make low-stakes play unaffordable. Pure off-chain poker is fast but asks you to trust an operator with your money.

Stacked combines them. The parts that need speed live off-chain. The parts that need trust live on-chain.

Settlement report after each hand

Money · on-chain (Base contracts)

Deposits
and withdrawals

Per-hand settlement

Rake collection
and split

24-hour emergency exit

Host rake balance

Live game · off-chain (Go backend)

Card shuffling

Betting rounds
and turn order

Action timer

Chat and sit-out

Pending player
approvals

The off-chain part is a Go backend that runs the game in real time. The on-chain part is a set of smart contracts on Base (Coinbase's Ethereum-based network) — one contract per real-money table, deployed when the Host creates it.

How the two parts talk​

While you're playing, the backend tracks the state of the table: who has which cards, whose turn it is, what the pot is. None of this is on-chain. Your actions during a hand aren't signed by your wallet, and nothing is recorded to Base while the hand is in progress.

When a hand finishes, the backend sends a settlement transaction to the table's contract. The contract receives the report — who won, how much, what rake to take — and updates everyone's seat balances on-chain. The contract is the source of truth for money; the backend is the source of truth for gameplay.

If they ever disagree on a balance, the contract wins.

What this means for trust​

The backend can:

  • Run the game incorrectly (in theory) — though hand outcomes are deterministic from the cards and actions; bugs would show up immediately.
  • Submit bad settlement reports — but the contract validates them, and the 24-hour emergency exit gives you an unconditional way out if anything goes wrong.

The backend can't:

  • Move your money. Funds sit in the contract, and the backend doesn't have the keys to override the contract's rules.
  • Hold your stack against your will. Once you leave the table, the contract grants you withdrawal permission and only your signature releases the funds.

This is the trade-off: you trust Stacked to run the game fairly, but not to hold your money. The on-chain part is what makes that distinction enforceable instead of a promise.

What's on-chain that you can verify​

  • The table contract for any real-money table you play at. Read the code on Basescan.
  • Every settlement transaction. Each hand's outcome is a transaction you can pull up.
  • Your deposit and withdrawal transactions. Visible from your wallet's transaction history.

What's next​