CEO, Founder of https://xitter.cf/t.co/eyQ5athIho. Former pro poker player and host Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown.

Seattle, WA
Joined May 2010
6 weeks, 5 charity nights hosted. @realmikefox and @MichaelJFoxOrg in SF, @preventcancer in NYC, @BGCSF boys and Girls club in SF, @TGRFound for @TigerWoods in the Bahamas and finally @BillClinton and the @ClintonFdn in LA. Almost $2m raised from 500+ players for great causes.
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1/ I decide what we're NOT going to build. An agent can build anything but I'm here to decide "this doesn't need to exist." Every line of code added is a liability. 2/ I ask "what happens when it fails?" before "does it work?" Demos show the happy path. Production is the other 90%. Retries, partial failures, duplicate events, a dependency that's slow but not down. No model asks that question unprompted. 3/ I make other engineers better. Design reviews, mocks, explaining why a design will hurt in 18 months. AI made writing code cheap. It made judgment more expensive. That's the job now. It was always the job, honestly.
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Phil Gordon retweeted
I’m teaching my kids poker early so they can benefit from all the valuable skills the game teaches. Then encouraging them to use those skills to succeed in professions outside of poker.
im never teaching my kids this game and ive won more than 99% of people who play this shit.
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A co-founder you look forward to working with every day, Your odds just go way up. A co-founder that’s even better than you, too, Double those odds again. A co-founder that also will never quit, no matter what, never, Double the odds once more.
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Okay the old tech fossils on here have officially sent me too far down the rabbit hole This is a Hayes Smartmodem 300. It connected computers to other computers OVER THE PHONE LINE at 300 baud. Please don’t tell me some of you were actually sitting around waiting for the internet at 300 baud. I refuse to believe anyone on 𝕏 is this old.
🤖 Made with AI
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Phil Gordon retweeted
$960k going to support young builders. Let's goooo
5 years ago, I started Inflection Grants to give $2000 grants to talented kids under 25. Last year, Zuck donated a gold chain and raised 38k for Inflection Grants And today, Sotheby's is auctioning off an autographed Jensen leather jacket!
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Phil Gordon retweeted
Day 10/10 (14 minutes left): Jensen Jacket Charity Auction Current bid: $200,000 🎉🚀🧨 41 bids. Here we go.
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Let’s go @GregFBT win one for the old schoolers. Nice job bud.
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Phil Gordon retweeted
The most interesting woman in the world (and one of the biggest hearts I know). One magical thing about Cyan is that she is the embodiment of authenticity. The way she is with Molly on screen, IS how she is in person when she is with you. There is no performance. Cyan is Cyan.
NEW: Cyan Banister's Legendary Track Record Her first investment ever? SpaceX. In 2007, she invested every dollar she had into SpaceX & never sold. Combined, @cyantist & Scott Banister are easily the #1 angel investors in the world. SpaceX. Anduril. Uber. PayPal. Affirm. Flexport. Postmates. Niantic. Opendoor. Carta. Together AI. Diamond Foundry. Crusoe. Flock Safety. Substrate. Brave. Depop. Calm. TrueMed. Turing. Crusoe Cyan spent 4 years at Founders Fund, now Co-Founder & General Partner, @LongJourneyVC Plus Founders Fund's Mafia, beating Phil Hellmuth in poker live, & free speech as her number one cause. We cover › The space between your values & your actions › Human beings as why machines › Why Marc Andreessen is wrong about introspection › Peter Thiel University › Nanotech & biotech 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Cyan Banister, Long Journey Ventures (01:13) Inside Long Journey HQ (02:17) The wild story behind the office mural (05:32) What Cyan's actual house looks like (07:18) The candle ritual (08:08) What the Long Journey logo actually means (10:41) Mafia's breakout stars (14:45) Cyan's strategy (16:30) What really happens off-camera at Mafia (18:58) The blooper reel nobody's seen yet (23:54) Brian Singerman x $40 /mo board game club (29:10) Confessions of an accidental poker legend (33:37) What relentless optimism reveals about people (35:42) Why so many people are scared to be weird (37:32) The daily ritual she prescribes to everyone (43:56) The "why" behind her biggest investments (50:49) Why sci-fi movies keep predicting the future (53:37) Should you even go to college right now? (59:58) Unconventional investing philosophy (1:01:57) Full list of Cyan's investments (1:04:28) All-in on SpaceX (1:08:57) Why she never sold a single SpaceX share (1:12:53) Top Bets: Becoming Bio + Substrate (1:15:52) America's reindustrialization moment is now (1:19:16) Cyan's mentors (1:22:54) Manifesting Rick Rubin (1:24:00) Real take on the Peter Thiel events
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Phil Gordon retweeted
5 years ago, I started Inflection Grants to give $2000 grants to talented kids under 25. Last year, Zuck donated a gold chain and raised 38k for Inflection Grants And today, Sotheby's is auctioning off an autographed Jensen leather jacket!
The founder of the world's most valuable company donated his iconic leather jacket to fund our support of early-stage builders. Jensen Huang's signed Tom Ford piece is up at Sotheby's this week, in partnership with @LongJourneyVC. Details 👇
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Phil Gordon retweeted
Day 2/10 of the Jensen Jacket Auction Current Bid: $60,000 after 23 bids All proceeds fund grants, fellowships, & residency programs for young minds to follow their curiosity and dreams (at Edge City). We believe in the power of life inflection points.
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Phil Gordon retweeted
It’s happening.
JUST IN: Sotheby’s is auctioning Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s signature black leather jacket, estimated at $40,000 to $60,000.
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Rahmbo -> Rahmno
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Phil Gordon retweeted
The startup game is both beautiful and cruel. Hung out with a founder friend over the weekend who's worked 70-hour weeks for the last 6 years, raised tens of millions from tier one investors, hired a very strong team, and has been building in what is generally a pretty good space (b2b software). Just never really found full PMF despite pushing a boulder up a hill to millions in revenue. He seemed exhausted and somewhat defeated, and this is someone who embodies the literal opposite of these qualities. I can tell that he still knows he will do something great in the long run, because he knows he is capable of it, and wants to prove it to himself. But at this present moment he is very sapped of energy. You read a lot about the fast unicorns (and decacorns) but he is only one of tens of thousands of redoubtable founders who grind on something for a long time and don't quite make it. This is the dark matter of the startup universe (as he calls it, actually.) It’s simultaneously omnipresent and invisible. People only ever talk about and project the “we’re crushing it!” stories. But almost every successful entrepreneur has a story like this one to tell, where they spent years grinding in relative darkness. Excellence and luck: you need a lot of both for something to work. If you play the game long enough, and if you never lose hope, you probably will get both at some point, and make it to tell your own success story.
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Phil Gordon retweeted
I’ve covered the Masters since 2005. What makes it so special? Well, plenty. But here’s the best explanation I can come up with: It’s the only place you’ll ever go where everyone is exactly where they want to be. DisneyWorld? No way. Family wedding? Doubtful. But Augusta National during Masters week? You won’t find a single person who’d rather be somewhere else. Add in the device-free environment and it makes for such a unique dynamic that you literally won’t find elsewhere. Everyone is just happy to be where their feet are.
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Phil Gordon retweeted
Who is the greatest founder poker player in the world? We'll find out in just over 2 weeks at the largest founder poker tournament of all time, the $100,000 cash prize, no buy-in, Monaco Invitational. Invitations are going out now. If you think you qualify, comment below.
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Its Saturday night and I'm sitting here with Codex, Claude, and Replit all churning simultaneously building and researching for me. Brave new world. Incredible.
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Phil Gordon retweeted
A statement from Coin after recent security concerns were flagged. The person who flagged them has responded to this saying our response is more than satisfactory, and everyone involved is happy with the security info! I wanna address the rake increase too, as a lot of people have voiced concerns about it. Having spoken to Mario Mosböck yesterday, there will be an update for our new rakeback system in due course, and we are very confident everyone will be happy with it, it’s not just a rake increase and that’s the end of it. So enjoy the 100% rakeback first 2 weeks, then the 100% rake given back the next 2 weeks, and everything will be in place for April. Lastly, code GAZZYB ❤️
Dear Community, First of all, thank you for the incredible support during yesterday’s launch. Within the first 60 minutes on the new software, we reached record-high traffic levels. The response has been overwhelming, and we are genuinely grateful for the trust you’ve placed in us. Yesterday, a report shared by @wolfsec0x0 raised questions about potential security risks. We immediately escalated the matter to our technical team for review. After an initial assessment, the team confirmed that there were no backend vulnerabilities and no security risks affecting player funds, accounts, or core systems. However, we did not want to rely solely on an internal review. Before addressing the community publicly, we chose to speak directly with the player who raised the concerns to ensure that every point was thoroughly examined. He kindly provided a detailed technical breakdown, which our team reviewed in depth and responded to without delay. The confirmed findings are as follows: • There has been no threat to player data, funds, or backend infrastructure at any time. • Certain highlighted items relate to frontend elements and legacy code that is no longer active or in use and are not connected to live systems. These are now being fully removed as part of an ongoing cleanup process. • We are continuing to communicate directly and are open to further independent testing beyond the original scope. For transparency: our software currently runs on a hybrid architecture using both Unity and Electron. The core and majority of the upgraded system is built in Unity, which provides performance improvements and enhanced functionality. Certain interface components remain in Electron where it is technically more suitable. The underlying fundamentals are secured and optimized within the Unity framework. Security is not a one-time checkbox. It is an ongoing process. We are committed to constant improvement and continuous review. Our objective is clear: to build and maintain the most secure and safest online poker platform in the world. We sincerely thank @wolfsec0x0 for taking the time to raise these points. Constructive and independent feedback strengthens the product and ultimately benefits the entire community. We encourage everyone to continue sharing feedback. Honest input helps us reach the standard you expect and deserve. We will also financially reward anyone who is able to highlight an security optimization points - please always reach out and keep sharing your feedback. Finally, we will also address adjustments to our rake strategy in a separate, detailed communication shortly. What we can already say: our long-term direction is to ensure the lowest effective rake paid by players. You are the heart of the pokercommunity, and we will always make sure that players have a partner-site to really trust and have beatable games - This is one of our core principles and you have our word on this. We hear your feedback clearly and will respond to it transparently. Thank you again for your trust and support. The CoinPoker Team
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Phil Gordon retweeted
Banister stable combined: SpaceX Anduril Uber Zappos PayPal Affirm Flexport Checkr Density Flock Security Brave Zen Business CTRL Labs Depop Substrate Carta Together AI Turing Postmates Niantic Cargomatic Diamond Foundry Upstart Fivetran Forge Opendoor Calm TrueMed Crusoe That's just off the top of my head!! Even if you split this list in two, you'd find us BOTH on the list. Together, we are #1. Why is this constantly ignored?
A Stanford professor analyzed 1,000's of angel investments to find out who's had the MOST unicorns. The results are fascinating. - David Morin tops the list with 23 unicorns - Peter Thiel and Lee Linden follow with 21 each - David Sacks at 20 - Marc Benioff at 19 A few things that stand out: 1) Almost every top angel was a founder or exec at a large tech company first. The clear signal here - they were mostly operators who earned their access. 2) Many co-invested together repeatedly. Thiel, Sacks, and Levchin all overlapped at PayPal and went on to back the same unicorns (Facebook, Airbnb, Palantir Technologies, SpaceX). 3) No women appear in the top 50. Sad. 4) The entry threshold to make this list is 9 unicorns (nuts!). The average unicorns across the top 50 is 13 (more nuts!). I share this for folks to have inspiration to angel invest themselves! There has NEVER been a better time - we are at a major tech inflection point. If you're thinking about angel investing and forming angel syndicates, you should check out Verivend. Automated capital calls, one-click funding for co-investors, real-time visibility into who's in. Seamless software with a great team to hold your hand through it. Try it yourself: lnkd.in/grrJxqxq Full credit to Ilya Strebulaev and his team at the Stanford for this research.
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Just got back from Mexico last night thankfully. This is one of the busiest tourist weeks of the year given kids winter break. Can't imagine how terrible this must be for families stuck there in these circumstances.
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