Home / Poker News September 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – Phil Galfond’s Battle with BlueFire
The Poker Grapevine – Phil Galfond’s Battle with BlueFire
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2012-09-23 09:42
Phil Galfond was the co-founder of an
online poker training site called BlueFirePoker and he has contributed to the site’s success immensely, by posting more than 150 instructional videos and pitching in through various other means. Galfond’s relationship with the operation went sour last November, when he left it, at that time not citing any reasons for his withdrawal.
Things haven’t exactly gone well between Galfond and his once partner William F. Murphy since either. This week, the poker pro sued his former business partner, seeking damages. From the court documents, the poker world learned a couple of things about exactly what went wrong at BlueFire. According to Galfond, the operation founded in 2008 was supposed to pay him one third of its profits and a ~38% ownership interest. He however didn’t receive any sort of compensation for the work he had invested at BlueFire in 2011. Furthermore, Galfond claims that his ex-business partner never granted him access to any financial statements and accounting records in regards to the company’s activity.
Galfond also alleges that the training site has been immensely successful since all those who sign up for it pay a $100 tuition fee in addition to the $30 monthly charge that maintaining their membership requires.
In other news: as lesser online poker operators are one by one going belly-up these days,
PokerStars are expanding their in-house pro roster. Two new players have recently been added to the lineup: Caio Pessagno and Naoya Kihara. For those who may not know who the two players are: Kihara became the first Japanese player ever to win a WSOP bracelet this year, by taking down the $5k 6-handed PLO event. Kihara will first don the PokerStars patch at the Caribbean Adventure in January.
Pessagno has been a relentless online grinder at PokerStars for years. He allegedly has over $1.8 million in online winnings to his name. He will represent the brand’s interests at various Latin American poker Tour and Brazilian Poker tour events.
