Wednesday marked the long-awaited public debut of Phil Galfond’s Run It Once Poker online poker site.

The site, which will technically be in “public beta” until the company is confident that all the platform is “nearly flawless”, was announced over two years ago to an enthusiastic online poker community. Now, after a long road with plenty of hiccups along the way, Galfond’s shot at a “fair, honest, transparent poker site” will see the light of day. Aimed at keeping the poker dream alive, Run It Once hopes to provide beatable games and a level playing field all players.

Upon launch in the allowed territories, the site will offer both No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha cash games, with tournaments and other poker variants expected to be introduced at a later time. In addition to the previously announced streamR rewards for poker streamers who showcase the platform, Galfond has shared the details of their new rakeback program for all players entitled “Splash The Pot.”

Splash The Pot

Galfond has addressed the Run It Once model for collecting rake as one of a “higher base rake and high rewards.” The system is designed to reward both casual players and high-volume players equally while leaving no rewards unclaimed.

Splash The Pot is exactly what it sounds like. At the start of randomly selected hand gold coins will “fall from the sky” into the middle of the pot, increasing what is being played for that hand. The amount is anywhere from an extra 1bb to 1000bbs.

In total, Run It Once will be providing 51% rake back to all players in the form of Splash The Pot.

Galfond does note that the rakeback program does come with some variance, however, “If you’re expecting a wild, absurd Run It Once Poker experience where you’re playing with big splashes every other hand – that’s not how the math works out. The majority of pots won’t be splashed and the majority of splashes will be small,” Galfond writes.

Looking For Critical Mass

“For a poker site, the first few days after launch are critical.”

In his latest blog post on Run It Once, Galfond reached out to those he’s hoping to service to help make the launch the best it can be.

“The risk we face is that some players show up in their first few days, but not enough to create desirable levels of liquidity. If that happens, the players who do show up see limited games, leave with a bad first impression, and may decide not to come back,” he writes.

Galfond distills what he’s asking for to just a few items. The first is to simply play one hand on Wednesday.

“I’m not asking you to move all your play to Run It Once, or even to move 5% of it there. All I’m asking is that you don’t wait. Play one hand, this Wednesday, on Run It Once Poker,” Galfond writes. “That’s it. Just one hand or more, and I’ll be grateful.”

Once you do that he simply asks that you share your thoughts and impressions.

“I would never ask you to say something you don’t mean, so all I ask is that you share your thoughts on Run It Once Poker somewhere.”

The End Is Just The Beginning

Wednesday, Feb 6 may be the launch of Run It Once Poker but for the three-time WSOP bracelet winner and company that’s where the real work begins.

“The deck may be stacked against us, but I believe that with just a little bit of help from you, we can make our poker dream a reality – we can conquer threats to online poker’s future through the innovations we launch with and the countless more still to come, we can be a driving force for positive change in the industry, and we can make Run It Once exactly what a poker site should be.”

For more information on Run It Once Poker, visit them online.