When Phil Galfond began talking about launching his own poker site years ago, players were interested.
When the respected pro began putting the wheels in motion to actually make it happen, players were excited. Not only did Galfond invite the public’s participation in many major decisions, he explained all of his choices with regard to the site, from avatar choices to table limits and from card designs to the player rewards system.
The players were a part of the process. It gave them a vested interest in Run It Once Poker. And Galfond built relationships with the poker community, becoming a trusted online poker site operator before the site even launched.
Run It Once did finally launch in early February 2019.
Galfond continued to provide updates, mostly through social media, as the site grew and matured, as changes were made, as Run It Once became a regular on Twitch streams and in players’ homes around the world.
A little more than six months after Run It Once made its official debut, Galfond returned with more updates.
Galfond Wants to Play
Throughout the process of designing, launching, and running a new online poker site, Galfond stayed on the business end. He did not compete at the tables for real money in any serious sense.
That is changing.
Galfond made the proper regulatory changes in order to be allowed to play on his own site, and he will now sit at the tables, playing under no alias for the purpose of true transparency. Other players can remain anonymous and play under aliases, as was the intention with the site, but Galfond will be himself.
https://twitter.com/PhilGalfond/status/1167191552654860288?s=20
“While I’m sure some of you will have fun playing with me,” he wrote on his latest blog post, “the main reason I’m excited to start playing is so that I can finally join our loyal StreamRs in streaming my play on Run It Once.”
Galfond Wants You to Play
In order to inspire players to compete against him, he offered some incentives during his first week of action. That started on August 30 and runs through September 4.
Any player who wins at least 100 big blinds from Galfond in a single hand will win an extra €20 as a bonus for taking his money.
Unlike the old days of playing high stakes on PokerStars and Full Tilt, Galfond will be playing all the stakes on Run It Once. He has already spent time at the micro stakes and small stakes cash game tables, so everyone will have the chance to compete against him.
Recent Site Improvements
Since the launch, Run It Once has undergone multiple changes, mostly small ones on the back end of the platform, mostly unrecognizable to the average player. These include improved tracking and analytics.
Other changes from the past six weeks were ones that Galfond wanted to explain or highlight.
The one that players seem to have been the most excited about thus far was the ability to resize tables. The new update also allows players to tile, cascade, or apply one size to all tables.
In addition, players will find these improvements or additions:
--Finalized hand history formatting--Downloadable hand histories--Hotkey updates and mouse-driven hotkeys--New table backgrounds--New visuals for Splash the Pot--Automatic updates--New card options, including a solid four-color deck--More table layout options--Discord game alerts
Galfond noted that recent changes have enabled the team to work on improved payment options and sit-n-go development.
https://twitter.com/PhilGalfond/status/1165739246189080576?s=20
All About the Players
Any online poker site depends on players – volumes of players – to survive.
Run It Once started strong but saw a decline in traffic while awaiting the May 29 release of updates, as players were frustrated with unaddressed glitches in the software.
However, Galfond noted that several things should turn things around. Not only is the summer nearing its end, which brings more players to the online tables, Galfond plans to provide more frequent updates to the public while also increasing the money available for marketing and streaming more poker action. This will include Galfond doing his own livestreaming.
And now that Galfond is playing, he is seeking high-stakes PLO players to reach out to him and work out some game times. He wants those players to feel comfortable at the site. He also wants the action. And last but not least, he wants to stream that action.
https://twitter.com/PhilGalfond/status/1167852383818268677?s=20
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