Phil Galfond, owner of the Run it Once poker coaching site and lead developer of the BetRivers Poker platform, appeared on the Poker.org podcast and talked for an hour and a half about how he evolved his game, life, and business.
Phil started talking about how he started in the poker world, having multiple mentors/role models like Sklansky and Dwan. He emphasized the importance of working in a group and having a team. Phil said that the biggest leaps in his poker career came when he studied with other poker players who were trying to learn and who generously shared knowledge.
He also mentioned how he had a chip on his shoulder when he watched MTT players on TV win big and become stars when they didn’t have skill. This motivated him to enter the MTT world as an SNG and cash game player.
Galfond also touched on the evolution of poker with solvers, where he found himself lost. He said he is more of a player who figures things out and not a good student or memorizer. This has also made him switch to PLO from NLHE since the solvers were only for no-limit hold’em poker.
Another thing that Phil thought was bad was how PokerStars was changing its business model by removing the rewards system (Supernova, Supernova Elite) and introducing new types of poker like Spin and Go and Beat the Clock. This motivated Phil to create his own poker site, Run it Once Poker, as he was afraid the rake was going to be unbeatable and the poker was going to go in the wrong direction
Phil had already created a Run it Once coaching site and had confidence in creating a business, but unfortunately, Run it Once Poker failed, and “lessons were learned,” said Phil. Some of the lessons were that you would need more money than you anticipated, prepare for more than just two outcomes, and have a stop loss.
Phil explained he had to stop investing in Run it Once Poker because it didn’t succeed as he had hoped. He decided to sell it, which is the holding company of BetRivers. You can read more about the launch and growth of BetRivers Poker.
News Source: Poker.org
