Phil Galfond and BlueFire Poker part ways amid controversy

In a bit of a shocker Monday, Phil Galfond posted a blog on the online poker training site that has become synonymous with his name, BlueFire Poker.com. After the blog post was deleted (later reappearing in the forum) a complete firestorm of drama and speculation hit the site.

First let’s take a look at what Galfond had to say regarding his decision to leave BlueFire Poker:

Hey Guys,

Where do I start? I guess there actually aren’t that many options… I’ll start with the point of this post, and go from there:

As of today, Bluefirepoker.com and I are parting ways. It’s very hard to walk away from something I helped build from the ground up, but the most difficult aspect of this is the fact that I’ll miss the community… the members and my fellow coaches. Please know that it was a very difficult decision that I struggled with for a long, long time. I’m sorry that I can’t elaborate further.

Thank you to the coaches who joined our team, especially the small group who started the journey with me: Jason, Giggy, Niman, and Don. I’m extremely proud of the videos we’ve put out as a team over the last three years.

For the members who tuned in every week for my videos, thank you. I hope that I was able to improve your game as much as I tried to over the course of your membership. I’ve really enjoyed sharing my ideas with you, and I always have tried very hard to make sure you get something out of it.

I believe that the best way to teach and learn is through ideas, the thought process, and constantly questioning yourself… not through absolute statements. I made it a goal to fully share the way I think about the game, which includes uncertainty, but initially, I was scared about how that would be received:

“I thought Phil was supposed to be teaching us. Why is he unsure of the best play half the time?”

I started off trying to seem less uncertain, but my constant questioning of myself still leaked through. Once I saw how well you responded to it, I felt very safe to teach the way that I felt was best: Openly sharing my ideas, my thought process, my mistakes.

I guess my (long-winded) point is, the members here have helped me become a better coach, and as a result, a better player. So, thank you. Thank you for all of the comments, critiques, and questions on my videos and blog posts. I genuinely enjoy teaching poker, and the feedback from members makes it so much more rewarding for me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate those of you who gave feedback regularly.

As you guys know, I’ve always tried to teach ways to think about the game, rather than just tips or tricks. If I succeeded, I hope you’ll be able to take those tools and continue progressing. You’ll just need to find someone else to continually repeat how he doesn’t understand his HUD and tell you to “take care” every week.

For the members, I’ll be making four more videos, and then saying my final goodbye. I’d like to try and customize these last four as much as possible for you guys, so please tell me exactly what you’d like to see or hear me talk about.

I’ll be discontinuing my blog here after this post. I don’t know if I’ll continue blogging somewhere, but for now you can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/philgalfond I’ll work a little harder to keep it updated.

I guess then, this is goodbye.

Good luck, and take care, guys.

-Phil

Later Galfond’s account password was changed (which he made public via his Twitter account) leading many to assume the split was not as conciliatory as his initial blog post made it out to be. Further muddying the waters was an outlandish allegation by former BlueFire Poker coach Don Nguyen, who made a strange off-topic allegation against current BlueFire Poker coach Niman Kenkre. Kenkre was defended by other coaches at the site, as well as himself, basically painting Nguyen as a disgruntled former employee who bears an “odd” grudge against Kenkre (you can read the forum thread to see why Kenkre is far more reputable than Nguyen).

***Author’s note: Having had many discussions with Niman I would count him as one of the straightest shooters I have ever come across in the poker world.***

Lost in the drama bomb was the reason Phil decided to leave the site. BlueFire Poker has promised an explanation in the near future, saying the entire incident has been overblown -which is most likely the case.

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