Read about that yesterday! Think it can be a really good thing. The branch leader has lost a lot of popularity lately and there is an opening for someone to claim the number one spot. Dont feel like the established networks are doing it right or have a chance to fill that gap.

Yeah I totally agree just think it will take a hell of a lot of initial capital to get to a point to challenge the big guys!

Yeh seen a few things on this and damn I am going to start hating again......can Phil really market this and get so many recreational players on board? If it is a new software, site, platform and needs to reach out to players he will need to spend some SERIOUS money. A lot of people have said it will just be regs which might be true and as we know this then leads to there being zero action and nothing changes.

I love the idea of someone doing this and I think he will get the rake and rewards perfect.....it just comes down to the question of can he pick up bad players?

Ronaldo, Aaron Paul, Neymar, Ronaldo Sr, PS team pros, $100m a year on marketing etc etc isn't exactly crushing it for PS....hard to think RIO can ever match that.

Jon-PokerVIP is right!!! How do f.ck they think to get a new players, like ohhh this is Phil Galfonds new site he is one of the best online player of all time, hey man from Romania how do u dont recognize him???

hey guys lets be fair, every single person from this thread would be be better as a marketing person for PokerStars. Like they aquire Ronaldo and Neymar to play poker and they think they will get bunch of new players that is f.kin absurd nad sterile!! Give the people big promos like big jackpots from small BI, promos, promos, promos for new players, make some avg man a milonaire and make some bad asses from this online players who are big ballers, make them smh like online Phil Iveys and get them to tv asap.

Jon's right.

I guess it depends on how much cashflow they have and who is in charge. Must be getting VC funding to run and manage such a site either way, competition is always good for the marketplace.

I just don't know where the fish are going to come from and to make any sort of impact he's going to have to accept American traffic too, which obviously comes with risk.

As far as I see it, he is kind of using his one time on something like this. Once you start one site, if it doesn't go so well, it's really hard to give it a second attempt.

It seems he's in a tricky spot -

* If he wants his own rake structure etc then he cannot go on a network
* If he cannot go on a network then where will he get liquidity from?
* If he goes on a network then why does anyone need to sign to his poker site? Why not another room on the network?

Ivey is a far bigger name than Galfond in global poker and we've learned that the name alone will not have a big enough of an impact. In fact, the same goes for any business - putting a name or celebraties to something is just not going to cut it.

Of course then we are hoping that Galfond has a better strategy regarding how to run a poker site - cheaper rake, better promotions and so forth, but it really seems difficult.

How can you compete with $1m jackpot SNGs or the Sunday Million for mainstream marketing value?

I can only think of one way out, but it's to accept US traffic and get into the grey side of the business but I am not sure this will be desirable for Phil.

Interesting stuff. Ill be there on opening day to show my support

It is such a hard spot for him and maybe 10 years too late to the party. It is just sooo fucking hard to think this ever pops off but I hope it does.

Would starting a poker room using Bitcoin work? Using cryptocurrency would allow him to target us players and lower transaction fees. Not sure the regulation in China or India but they both have a huge middle-class and if they could pipe into that, who knows.

I don't know much about Bitcoin or running a poker room, but would seem that would be the best low overhead approach? Obviously comes with a few cons such as not everyone using it etc, but may be one way to keep rake low?

There's other Bitcoin sites with very few players, but with Phil's name and other pros backing his site, maybe they could generate enough numbers?

Pretty far-fetched idea but just putting it out there.

How many recreational players have bitcoin or would want to bother with doing that?

Very few...but what if Phill makes a Bitcoin site where people can trade currency for bitcoin effortlessly. So you deposit $500 and you get xxx bitcoins.

Okay now this is really far-fetched.



But yes I totally agree that nobody will use it, but I can't see any other way he could start a poker star that hits everything he said in that blog post.

Very few...but what if Phill makes a Bitcoin site where people can trade currency for bitcoin effortlessly. So you deposit $500 and you get xxx bitcoins.

Okay now this is really far-fetched.


But yes I totally agree very very few people will even bother, but I can't see any other way he could start a poker star that hits everything he said in that blog post?

Yeh I feel you and I think this is the underlining point: He cannot.

I imagine there are so many laws, bank accounts, fund holding, regulations etc etc he will have to jump through to even set up a cashier.

I guess the smart way is he gets a US facing skin under a current software company and they let him do whatever he wants.....some may even tho he will essentially undercut them but again I doubt it.

I want to start my own card room, I have some great ideas!

Anyone want to spot me half a billion?


OT- I wish Phil good luck, but I think he's a little late to the party (unless he had my ideas!)

The real question is, will they allow running it twice??

On the serious side, it's a huge project, many famous pro's went down that road, some made it, some not, so it's hard to predict anything. The one issue could be so many regs being fans, and potentially wanting to play there. I'm super interested to see the rake structure or a room "by the players, for the players"...

I wish him all the luck in the world and hope that ALL (not regs only) poker players will value a better site.

The "old" me would have had many questions and doubts, but i realize people can say that about anything. Every entrepreneur knows that building something new is a big piece of work.

So encouraging is what's the right thing to do and screw the doubters! Gl Phil.