Run It Once to Abandon Global Operations As Its Owner Wishes to Focus on the U.S. Market

Run It Once is ceasing global operations starting today, January 3, 2022, to focus on the U.S. market after three years of operation. 

The online poker room was launched by the former professional high stakes poker player Phil Galfond.

Galfond announced ceasing operations and directing all the efforts towards the regulated U.S. market. However, he did not say when American poker players could start playing at the online poker room.

Players Have Until April 3 to Withdraw Their Funds

Galfond announced new plans on Thursday, December 30, giving existing players not much time at the tables. Moreover, players have until April 3 to withdraw their money.

Any money that remains unclaimed by April 3 will be donated to charity, especially for players in Great Britain. Meanwhile, the poker room is working on refunding money to players in other countries.

Players who have started the playthrough requirements on their bonuses will receive their money for the completed playthrough. With Legends rewards coming to a stop, players will get a 45 percent Rakeback in its place. 

Leaderboard competitions ended on January 2, with all prizes credited to winners’ accounts by January 4.

Using the Lessons Learnt to Build a Better Platform for U.S. Players

As Galfond was developing Run It Once, he shared the progress and philosophies on the site’s blog. He did the same when announcing the site’s closure and shared various mistakes he made about the site.

One of the things Galfond noted was the bad tech leadership. He partially blamed the tech team but also noted his failures too. He said that he had not communicated about launching a cookie-cutter poker site. This led to the firm spending more money on the tech staff instead of using the money elsewhere.

Galfond also noted how difficult it was to keep players playing on the site. He noted that he knew launching a poker room would be an uphill task but underestimated the whole process. Galfond said that even players who expressed their interest in playing on Run It Once did not play as expected.

But, Galfond sees a silver lining because he plans to use these lessons to launch Run It Once in the United States. He believes he will use the lessons to build a better product for players in the USA.

Galfond also noted that his firm did not achieve all the goals it had set. But, he said the company was far from quitting. Galfond stated that his team had given their all into the poker room, including minds, souls, and hearts.

Galfond’s Challenge Increased Traffic to the Site

There are several reasons players kept going back to Run It Once. But, the top of the list is Galfond’s Challenge that he started in 2020.

The challenge involved players playing several hands, with the leading player winning a significant amount plus a side bet from their opponent. 

Galfond participated in several of these tournaments, where he played for ultra-high stakes against other legendary players.

His first match was against VeniVidi1993, which he was about to quit for he was behind with over $1 million. Fortunately, Galfond came back to the top, winning the match. 

He has played several other challenges and won at Run It Once.

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