Phil Gordon is a familiar character in the world of professional poker — an accomplished tournament player, author and former commentator on Bravo’s popular “Celebrity Poker Showdown” television show.
But Gordon, a Georgia Tech computer science alum, actually got his start in the technology business. Netsys Technologies, where he was the first employee, was sold to Cisco in 1997, long before Gordon broke through as a professional poker player.
And now he’s back in the world of technology, as the CEO of Jawfish Games, a Seattle startup developing multiplayer, real-time tournament games for the web and smartphones.
We’re excited to have Gordon as our guest this week on the GeekWire radio show. We get the inside details on Jawfish’s unique tournament infrastructure for games, and how Gordon’s experience playing in tournaments helped to inspire the startup’s approach. Gordon also shares some tech-related tips for becoming a better poker player, and talks about the similarities between playing poker and running a startup.
“There’s a lot of crossover,” he said. “Generally, people that are successful in poker are both aggressive and patient. … You have to wait for a good hand, but once you get a good hand, and you think you’ve got the best of it, then you have to be willing to stick your chips in the pot. … You want to wait, wait, wait until you really have something, and then once you know you have something, you devote a lot of resources to it.”
Jawfish Games has partnered with another Seattle company, Big Fish, on a new tournament-style game called Match-Up! for iPhone and iPad.
On the subject of poker, Gordon suggests the site Card Runners for online training to improve your game. Also check out Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book for more poker insights.
The discussion with Gordon begins at the 8:00 mark in the audio player above, following our weekly news roundup. Topics this week include …
- Rumors that Microsoft will give Windows 8 users the option to boot directly to the desktop;
- The expansion of robot-powered apparel startup Hointer to new markets beyond its University District pilot store;
- And a debate over the merits of all these smartwatches apparently coming to market.
App of the Week: Drawnimal for iPhone and iPad.
Name that Tech Tune: Here’s the answer to last week’s contest.
Listen to the show above or via this MP3 file.
Updated to clarify Gordon’s role at Netsys.
