Phil Galfond’s foray into running an online poker brand hasn’t been easy. The longtime poker pro launched Run It Once Poker in 2019 after debuting the training site of the same name in 2012. The goal was to create a platform that was a “fair, honest, transparent poker site that believes in the dream that I have lived.” He hoped to build solid software that attracted both pros and part-timers alike.
Finding a niche in the market would be tough, however. The effort lasted three years before pulling the plug in January 2021 after seeing declining traffic along with development issues and mounting costs. It didn’t matter how solid the product was, Galfond’s site just couldn’t compete with the player pools of the other already-entrenched operators.
However, Rush Street Interactive (RSI), the online gaming company based in Illinois, then acquired the platform in March 2022 for $5.8 million. RSI saw that the bones of the business were good, and hoped to revive the brand as part of its BetRivers online gaming platform.
That plan officially came to fruition in November with a launch in Pennsylvania. The brand then added Michigan, West Virginia, and Delaware. With New Jersey on the horizon, BetRivers could become the first operator covering five states.
Despite selling the platform, Galfond played a major role in the relaunch. The 40-year-old has been heavily involved in everything from the rebrand to advising on software and game offerings. Seeing the product rise from the dead has been a thrill for Galfond who believes BetRivers Poker is now in the right hands for success.
“It’s been a roller coaster, certainly, but it’s really exciting,” Galfond said. “When we launched it, initially… it was always a dream to come to the U.S. market eventually. We really hoped to have success in the rest of the world market, but that was a dream scenario. I think all the way back, it’s a little bittersweet, because I wanted to get here a different way initially. We had a dream and a vision of what we wanted online poker to be, but we were too small to have the impact that we wanted… getting here in the U.S. as part of a company that’s big enough to make this thing work and to be a real player in the market, alongside PokerStars, BetMGM, and WSOP.
“At the end of the day, when you launch a company, you want to be successful. You want it to grow, and want to do well, and have it be very profitable. It was started as part of a mission, which was to shape online poker for the better. Looking back at the roller coaster journey, there are a lot of highs and a lot of lows, but it’s so cool that what we built back then and the ideas and vision we had is now finally in the U.S. market and actually making a difference with some new ideas.”
Galfond recently spoke with Card Player about his role in shaping the platform along with his own poker life and where he sees the industry going.
In The Poker Lab
When RSI purchased Run It Once, relaunching the online poker product in the U.S. would take some time – meeting regulatory hurdles, rebranding, and marketing. Like most operators, the company sought to offer a multi-channel online gaming approach, allowing players to easily navigate to sports betting, online casino gambling, and poker, which was the missing component.
RSI also purchased Poker Night in America in 2022 as well and took over the contract for online gaming with the state of Delaware in late December 2023, replacing 888 Holdings. That left the state without an online poker operator, but that changed this year with June’s launch.
“They’ve been interested in poker for a long time,” Galfond says. “People in the company care about poker, and we knew that going in in our talks with them.”
Galfond has been key in getting the BetRivers Poker platform up and running over the last few years. He says things have actually been easier from his point of view. He previously managed those in charge of the development team – solving problems in bug tests and other critical software areas. RSI’s team took over much of that process, leaving him to focus on other elements.
“I get to be involved in the fun part and what I enjoy the most, which is design and policies and features,” he said. “We [copied] a lot that we had in the rest of the world. But we’ve also added all different kinds of tournaments, with more to come out shortly. It’s fun to focus on the products.”
Beyond his advising role, Galfond also serves as an ambassador for the site. Rush Street also brought Phil Hellmuth on board in January. Both play on the site, including Hellmuth topping Galfond in a pair of promotional heads-up battles for $10,000 in March.
Chasing Away Cheaters
Galfond hopes to be at the forefront in scrubbing as much cheating out of the game as possible. Recent scandals have included major-name players being caught using RTA (real-time assistance), multi-accounting, and ghosting. In September 2023, Reuters broke the story on a major Russian bot farm that was plaguing the industry.
Does Galfond believe these types of incidents have hurt players’ attitudes toward online poker over the last few years?
“Yes and no,” he said. “The no side is that these scandals have been around forever. They have a different flavor, but I’ve been playing online poker for over 20 years now, and there were always scandals. I think there’s probably a big scandal at least every year, and probably several. So, yes, I think that’s the attitude of people toward online poker and I don’t think that’s a new thing. I think what people are scared of now, that they were less scared of before, is AI and the advancement of AI. Because AI is advancing everywhere else outside of poker, I think it gives the perception that we’re very close to computers being better than humans at everything and that GTO-level play is easily accessible.”
Those fears may be a bit overblown for the wrong reasons, Galfond explained.
“It’s not as big of a concern as people think, but I do believe it’s a risk for the future if it becomes easier to have AI solutions that don’t look the same. For example, there have been some GTO Wizard-using scandals. Even though it has some AI solutions, that’s not how people are cheating. They’re cheating with the pre-solved ones, and those look the same, so they already know what those look like. Those are patterns that the sites can detect. But if we get to a world where technology just improves leaps and bounds, then there is a lot of uncertainty and unknowns. I’m not going to pretend to know what a post-AI revolution world looks like for poker or for anywhere else.”
Getting Back To The Tables
Galfond has a deep history crushing high stakes, including winning millions playing as ‘OMGClayAiken’ on Full Tilt and ‘MrSweets28’ on PokerStars. He launched a series of Galfond Challenges in 2019 as well, battling it out in heads-up pot-limit Omaha on Run It Once against players like Bill Perkins, Chance Kornuth, and Dan Cates.
In 2008, Galfond grabbed his first World Series of Poker bracelet in a $5,000 PLO event for $817,781. He added a $10,000 no-limit 2-7 single draw championship title in 2015 for $224,383, and scored his third bracelet in the $10,000 PLO eight-or-better championship in 2018 for $567,788.
However, all that work behind the scenes on an online poker site left little time for Galfond to actually play himself. Despite the big wins and more than $3.1 million in live winnings, he still considers himself an online player and prefers hitting the virtual tables more than jumping in large-field events in casinos.
“I’m a cash game player, and primarily an online cash game player, and primarily a heads-up online cash game player these days,” he said. “The questions I always get asked is: ‘Why aren’t you out at this Triton event? Why aren’t you playing a bunch of WSOP events?’ It’s not the kind of poker I play. I’ve dabbled in the past in WSOP events because they can be fun and enjoyable. But the reason that I play a lot less tournaments nowadays is my schedule, not only my work schedule, but just my sleeping schedule. I go to bed at 8:30, and playing one tournament and going to bed at 3 a.m. throws me off for a whole week.”
The trend of high-stakes cash games going private has also curbed some of his play, and that has carried over online. Galfond has focused more on creating content, coaching, and running his poker training business. Online challenges and other special events interest him much more now.
“The old days of opening my computer and hopping online and having a selection of the games that I play – those days are not here anymore, or at least for now,” he said.
Husband And Wife Poker Life
Galfond’s wife Farah, a former soap opera star on Days Of Our Lives and One Life To Life, has been the live poker face of the family for the last few years, racking up $300,000 in cashes. The couple starred in a docuseries in 2024 chronicling their daily lives in the game. There are no plans for a second season, but much of their life still revolves around betting and bluffing.
“I think we both like talking poker with each other,” he said. “I think because she’s the one out there, and I’m not, it’s mostly her coming back with hands that she’s played. She could be asking my opinion, and we talk strategy, or it’s just recounting a funny or an interesting hand. I hear that it’s harder to coach a spouse than someone else, and that matches my experience. She’s curious about my take on some things, but it’s a short conversation. We don’t dive into lessons or session reviews or things like that.”
It’s rare that Galfond’s life doesn’t involve some aspect of poker, but when not working or playing, the couple spends their time raising their son. “Boring” family life is a big part of their week and they mix in some occasional travel as well. Currently, Galfond is focused on his new Beyond the Game group coaching program, which takes a lot of mental energy. He describes the overall Run It Once training business as “solid” despite increased competition.
“I don’t like to just do something,” he admitted. “I like to try to do the best that I can and improve routinely. So right now, because I don’t have poker to play, I’m trying to improve on how to be a great coach. It’s been fun just learning and growing in it in a different area. I do make content as well, but that’s not as much of a passion. I’m not done with poker playing. But right now, there’s nothing to play. I’m pursuing mastery elsewhere.”
“I spent several years working on things I was passionate about, but not doing the parts of it I was passionate about. It was a valuable lesson in the days where I was full time across Run It Once and Run It Once Poker and missing playing poker. I’ve learned some valuable lessons, some I’m still learning about sticking to the areas that that that I’m an expert in and not necessarily needing to put my hands in all the areas that other people can do just as well or better, because that lets me continue to focus on the parts that energize me.”
- Photos by PokerGO, Card Player, and Phil Galfond