High stakes poker pro Phil Galfond has announced on his poker training site Run It Once that he will be launching a new online poker site in Q1 of 2017. While there weren’t many details regarding the announcement, Galfond himself touched on the site’s core values, mentioning that it will have “a stable poker economy”.
Phil Galfond’s Blog Post on Run It Once
In a recently published blog post on Run It Once titled “A Poker Site Should”, Galfond explains what a real money poker site should be focused on. Among a list of commitments to players, it should value casual, semi-professional and professional players. It is in this same post he makes mention of the new online poker room he will be launching, to be called Run It Once Poker.
The online poker industry has been making the shift to a “recreational poker model” as a way to level the playing field by making tables anonymous and removing the ability to use HUDs. Anyone that has been following Phil Galfond would know he doesn’t favor this online poker model, and according to Galfond himself, “A poker site needs to believe in the dream of poker as a career.” In the same blog post where he announced his new online poker site, he mentions the software needs to add to the user experience and provide enjoyment for all types of online poker players. Fairness is another key concern.
Galfond has been responding to a lot of the feedback in the comments of the announcement blog post, and admits himself “I know it’s a monumental task. I understand the risks and believe we have the right team in place to make it happen.” Since the new poker site will be by players for players, you know it should be good.
The response on the Two Plus Two poker forum has been overwhelmingly positive, and it goes without saying that serious online poker players welcome the news. Questions regarding the software have surfaced in the 2+2 poker thread. Is he developing in-house software, or will his new online poker room simply join a network and pay a fee to use their software? The specifics are being kept hidden until the launch of his real money poker site, which is still a few months away. Although given the effort needed to launch a new site, one could assume this has been in the works for a long time.
Phil Galfond started his poker career playing Sit & Go’s in 2004 and it wasn’t long before he took up poker professionally, specializing in heads-up NL Hold’em and short-handed PLO games at the nosebleeds. He has been playing poker for a living for more than a decade now, and was the lead instructor for the poker training site Blue Fire Poker, which he left in late 2011 to start his own training site.
Joey Ingram’s YouTube Video on the Announcement
Interestingly, Galfond was a guest on Joey Ingram’s Poker Life Podcast just two weeks ago, but he didn’t mention anything about his new business venture. Joey shared his thoughts about this announcement in this video: