Phenom Poker
New Poker Site, Good Range of Games
Recently a new cryptocurrency-based real money poker site has launched that I am a little excited about. Normally I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about a new online poker website, particularly in the current climate after the news coverage of The Bot Farm Corporation - if you haven’t seen anything of that, this article by David Lappin summarises everything beautifully.
So, what is different about this new site that interests me so much? First of all, the players will own the site, each individual building their personal share in the company by playing on the site and referring new players. This was explained on a recent episode of the Winning the Game of life podcast by Matt Valeo, originator of the concept. Click here to see the episode.
Other aspects that appeal to me are:
Range of games available
Anti-bot and anti-cheating measures
Protection against Full Tilt-style loss of funds
Endorsement of respected individuals
Other stuff!
Read on for more details, and a bit of advice for those new to crypto currencies.
I have an affiliate link - and so will you when you sign up. Click here to sign up through mine.
Range of Games Available
I was first invited to the site by Zachary Elwood, and after I wrote to him enquiring about whether there would be much in the way of mixed games offerings he sent me this image with an interesting list:
Twenty-four games listed… And I have even played Archie, which does not even feature on the list!. Other games are coming soon, I am informed by Zachary Elwood.
Anti-Bot and Anti-Cheating Measures
When you sign up you will be required to have your face scanned and this will be compared to your uploaded photo ID. It will be very difficult - hopefully impossible - for someone to sign up a bot farm to populate the tables because of this feature.
Furthermore, you will also be required to agree that if you are caught cheating in any way you agree that you will be publicly outed as a cheater. No other poker website, as far as I know, has anything similar to this deterrent. The significance of this is fairly compelling in my view - cheats are far more likely to target other sites where they can get caught but face no punishment beyond being banned from the site itself and having funds confiscated. The fact that everyone in the poker industry and law enforcement will be able to see that an individual has been caught cheating has to be an effective deterrent.
Protection Against Full Tilt-Style Loss of Funds
Back in April 2011 I had been enjoying playing poker on the Full Tilt site for years, then suddenly US-based law enforcement closed the site down on what became known as Black Friday. In the aftermath it emerged that the site had failed to separate player funds from day-to-day expenses, a result of which was an inability to pay players back their account balances on the site. Players were compensated some time later after PokerStars made a deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker.
The danger of poker websites going down and taking player funds with them is still an issue to be wary of when depositing money to a poker site. Phenom Poker is different to all other sites I have come across so far in that when you cash out from the table your funds are not left in your poker account but credited back to your cryptocurrency wallet. So even if the site suddenly disappeared, the total amount any played could lose is whatever they have on the table at the time.
Endorsement of Respected Individuals
Zachary Elwood being happy to promote the site is itself a huge factor - Zachary is very careful about promoting anything, including his own work. Beyond him, there are some hugely respected prominent poker players who are listed as ambassadors for the site - Ari Engel, Brian Rast and Angela Jordison being three who particularly took my eye. The full list of ambassadors can be seen on this page.
Other Stuff
The Phenom Poker home page is here. On it you can read about the way that the site makes each player a part owner of the site, as well as find answers to any other questions you may have.
Each player on the site is given a unique referral code - click here to sign up using mine. Once signed up, you will be able to invite other friends to the site and this way build your own share in any profits the site makes.
FAO Crypto Newbies
One thing I found difficult when joining the site is getting funds on there. The cryptocurrency used is USDT (Tether), and it has to be specifically the Polygon network that holds the currency. It took quite some time for me to sort this out, and I needed help from Phenom’s support facility - which I contacted using the messaging service on Twitter / X. Support were very helpful, it has to be said.
I am assured that further options for depositing funds are to be announced in the near future. Also, the site had a YouTube page - click here - with a growing number of videos to help people get acquainted with how to use the site. Personally, I opened a Trust wallet to purchase the relevant currency and transferred from there.