Phil Galfond to Launch His Own Real Money Poker Site
Poker players being involved with the launch of an online poker site is nothing new, but it's bound to be big news when one of the original and still one of the best online poker phenoms (and by anyone's measure one of the most respected and well liked names in the industry) announces that they have decided to start their own site - as one Phil "OMGClayAiken/MrSweets28" Galfond did last night via twitter.
Galfond, one of the biggest ever online winners, two time WSOP bracelet winner (not bad for someone who has regularly opined that they don't really enjoy tournaments), and founder of arguably the world's most respected online poker training site, "Run It Once".
The tweet directs readers to a post by Galfond on Run It Once:
The over-arching message in Galfond's message is that the a poker site should value all of its clientele (recreational, semi-pro's and pro's) and strive to be honest, fair, transparent, innovative, to stop predatory behaviour, and to create a level playing field.
He wraps up the post by saying: "I want a fair, honest, transparent poker site that believes in the dream that I have lived.I'm going to give it my best shot."
As expected, the response from the poker community thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. Someone like Galfond has earned the respect of his peers who will no doubt be hoping he can do for real money sites what he has done for the online training industry. Of course not everyone was as keen to celebrate the idea, and you can always count on the ever-confrontational Jason Mo to offer a counter-point:
While Mo's response has a point insofar as Galfond doesn't exactly explain HOW he intends to do what he is promising, it's not exactly the most helpful response from the antagonistic NLHE beast considering this first post from Galfond is nothing more than a mission statement and as such is bound to be short on detail and big on ambition.
Galfond has already said that the launch will still be "several months away", and that he will be requesting feedback from the community over the next few months. Inevitably more details will follow as the weeks and months tick by and we promise to keep you all posted...