PokerNews Podcast: Phil Galfond
Sarah Herring and [Removed:139] are reunited to start this episode of the PokerNews Podcast. They preview the US Poker Open and dive into the other top stories in the poker world.?
PokerStars Players Championship Winner Ramon Colillas signs a deal with PokerStars, Justin Bonomo wins a big tournament on PokerStars, and Jeff and Sarah discuss Jeff Gross and Jaime Staples leaving PokerStars. So, basically, an entire segment devoted to...PokerStars!??
All the online poker talk is a perfect transition to bringing Phil Galfond on the show. The poker superstar tells us about the first week of public beta for his site, Run It Once, and expands on what his goals are for the future.?
This week's sponsor: Natural8!
Show Time Stamps
| 0:20 | Intro: Sarah back from London, Phil Galfond coming up on the show! |
| 1:20 | The US Poker Open is underway! |
| 3:20 | Jeff Gross and Jaime Staples Part Ways With PokerStars |
| 7:30 | PSPC Winner Ramon Colillas is the Newest Face of Team PokerStars |
| 14:40 | Sponsor: Natural8 |
| 15:30 | Giving away a seat to the upcoming CSOP event in Las Vegas |
| 17:20 | Jeff wins a nightly tournament at Red Rock, how cool is this guy?! |
| 18:40 | Justin Bonomo Wins $192K on PokerStars |
| 21:00 | Phil Galfond joins the show! |
| 23:30 | The public beta launch of Run It Once: "The response has been about as good as I could hope for so I'm very pleased with how it's been going." |
| 25:20 | Plans on when to move Run It Once past the public beta stage |
| 27:20 | Galfond goes over the features that differentiate Run It Once from other sites: splash the pot, random aliases, dynamic avatars, and more! |
| 37:40 | How much public input has weighed into the creative process: "There are a couple things we're revisiting because of public opinion....there are definitely not just ideas that came from us, just internally." |
| 40:00 | Motivation behind creating Run It Once: "The idea for the poker site was born out of fear really, for where the online poker world and industry is heading. And obviously, it's very exciting running a poker site. It wasn't just a purely noble pursuit." |
| 43:00 | The top threats to the online poker community: "The biggest threat is botting, just in the past few years bots have become that much better and able to beat humans." |
| 46:20 | Challenges he faced in creating the site: "The biggest struggle was definitely development." |
| 49:40 | Being the face behind Run It Once: "I'm not too stressed about it...I'm very involved, and the people that are there, keeping an eye on things, I trust very much, I trust completely. It doesn't really scare me, I'm happy to put my face on it." |
| 52:00 | Could he see a Run It Once presence in the United States in the future? "I would love to, and I really don't think it's unreasonable...the quickest way it would happen, we get our software post-beta, we add tournaments...and partner with a land-based casino in the U.S." |
| 53:40 | Does he look at this as helping to create his legacy? "I definitely think it will be my biggest achievement in poker." |
| 54:30 | Looking ahead: "What I've noticed is the players who are playing are really enjoying it...I think players are going to keep coming back and keep playing. So what we need to focus on, what we are focusing on, is just growing and getting the word out to more people." |
| 58:20 | Upcoming plans for the podcast |
Tell us who you want to hear from. Let us know what you think of the show - tweet about the podcast using #PNPod, and be sure to follow Sarah and Jeff on Twitter.
You can subscribe to the PokerNews Podcast on iTunes here!
