“A poker site should value poker players. It should value the casual player for the money he’s willing to put on the line to play a game he loves. For choosing poker over other hobbies, and for choosing their site over other sites.”
These are the words of Phil Galfond, one of the most successful online players and funder of the site Run It Once.
I want a fair, honest, transparent poker site that believes in the dream that I have lived: https://t.co/Zl1AM6rHO8
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 1, 2016
In recent months a lot of poker players around the world have expressed great frustration over the changes that online poker giants, like PokerStars & 888Poker, have made regarding the rewards and the rake system.
As a high stakes online poker player, Phil Galfond has undoubtedly felt the effects of these modifications. And as such has announced that he will be launching his own online poker site which, like he says, “…should seek to put a stop to predatory behavior and to cheating of any kind. It should strive to create as level a playing field as possible.”
He has stipulated more of what a poker site should be in his post A Poker Site Should.
His determination to provide poker players the platform, where they can live their dream, has given a lot of hope to the poker community as a whole. This is proven by the amount of positive feedback that Galfond has garnered since his post. Although Galfond has not given further details, this kind of support will definitely encourage him to give it a go.
An online site by online poker players for poker players may just be the kind of boost the community needs to revive how poker SHOULD be.
Article by Gabrielle Barredo
A Poker Site Should
A poker site should value poker players.
It should value the casual player for the money he’s willing to put on the line to play a game he loves. For choosing poker over other hobbies, and for choosing their site over other sites.
It should value the enthusiast and semi-professional for the liquidity they provide and for growing the game. For spreading the word, across different mediums, about their favorite site.
It should value the professional for embodying the dream that brings so many people to poker. For proving that poker is a game of skill. For promoting the game of poker to their fans, students, followers or subscribers.
A poker site needs to believe in the dream of poker as a career. It shouldn’t cater to professionals over other players, but it must make every policy change with the viability of the dream in mind.
A poker site needs to be a software and user experience company. Like other software companies, it should be eager to mine the trove of knowledge, experience, ideas, and feedback that is its player base. It should seek to build a fun and engaging environment that all types of players enjoy playing in.
A poker site should be transparent. It can’t respond to every little idea, thought or wish, but it should do its best to explain its actions. It can’t seek to please everyone by making changes that hurt the business, but it shouldn’t ignore the public. It should be held accountable for the decisions it makes. It should be able to explain itself in a way that reasonable customers will understand.
A poker site should believe in fairness. Not fairness for the sake of public image and profits, but fairness for fairness’s sake. It shouldn’t let honest players, professional or recreational, be taken advantage of by others exploiting unenforceable rules. It should seek to put a stop to predatory behavior and to cheating of any kind. It should strive to create as level a playing field as possible.
A poker site should be agile in this ever-changing online environment. New ideas for improvement should be acted on. New advances in technology should be responded to. New problems should be met with creative solutions.
A poker site should understand that it doesn’t have to lose for the players to win. Poker operators, professionals, and non-professionals all have their goals/wants/needs and these lists aren’t mutually exclusive. It is possible for policy changes to be a win-win-win, or a win-win-tie. The search for these changes should be never-ending.
A poker site shouldn’t obsess over where poker was five or ten years ago. It should seek to build a sustainable economy in the conditions of the present. It must continue to adapt to the climate.
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.
Phil Galfond
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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