With online poker security continuing to be a hot button issue in the poker community, the race is on for poker sites to provide environments and poker games where players can rest assured no funny business is going on. Back in February, we profiled Phenom Poker, a site looking to utilize Blockchain technology in their RNG. I recently learned that another such site has emerged called Zero Trust Poker. Curious to learn more about it, I spoke to Avner Greenwald, acting CEO of Zero Trust Poker to hear what his motivations were for entering the space, what the site’s “unique selling points” (USPs) are, and why he believes that sites like Zero Trust Poker are the wave of the future for online poker.
Tell us about your professional background and your poker background.
I have been working in online marketing for over 16 years dealing with various niches and markets in the gaming and cyber security startup industries. I have always played live poker with various groups of friends. There were a couple of times in my life during which I tried online poker, but I wasn’t able to totally get into it due to time consumption, as my online marketing business and my personal life have to be prioritized. I still very much enjoy playing poker with friends on an almost weekly basis.
What was the catalyst that made you want to dive in headfirst to try and fix the problems you saw as plaguing online poker?
About a year ago, a good friend who plays online poker on various sites outlined for me some problems with the current online poker industry. He said he could solve trust issues dealing with payments and secure card dealing and basically prevent game manipulation that might occur with traditional online poker platforms. I did my own research after this conversation and found there to be a lot of complaints about the exact same problems my friend has outlined.
To what degree do you feel that the online poker ecosystem is in danger if the security issues currently plaguing legacy sites don’t get resolved?
Legacy online poker rooms have been around for many years and new ones still come into play every now and then, but other than to improve their marketing and sales, nothing has changed. Deposits and withdrawals are still slow, their whole system is still centralized, and players are still complaining about the same issues with no resolution in sight. I think its time for the next generation platforms to come into play that will actually address players’ pain points and bring solutions together with new innovations.
Why do you think that crypto and Web3 technology offer the solution?
Imagine instantly adding funds to the game and having your winnings sent back to your secure crypto wallet the moment you’re done playing. We are not the bank and do not intend to be the bank. Player funds are either in their wallets or under our smart contracts, which release their funds the moment they disconnect from the game.
Web3 also allows transparency for both transactions and the smart contract. This proves that players funds are protected.
Tell us about the unique technology that sets your site’s RNG apart from that of other sites.
Imagine online poker where trust isn’t a factor, like in the theoretical mental poker protocol. In this scenario, players rely solely on a hidden deck shuffled fairly.
At Zero Trust Poker, we ditch the need for blind trust. Our groundbreaking system builds upon the concept of randomness used in the mental poker protocol but adds a crucial layer of security of collaborative shuffling and encryption.
We basically leverage the power of RNG for shuffling, but then players themselves contribute random elements to the process. These elements are then scrambled with unbreakable encryption. This combined approach guarantees the deck is shuffled entirely randomly, and no one, including us, can predict the order of the cards.
This innovative technology goes beyond the limitations of the mental poker protocol. It builds trust and transparency for every player, allowing players to focus on the game and the thrill of competition, knowing the deck is shuffled fairly every single time.
Will players from all over the world be able to play on the site or will play be limited to regulated jurisdictions? Or is that question simply irrelevant because players will be utilizing cryptocurrency?
Zero Trust Poker has been running for the last two months with weekly cash games open solely to our community.
We’re thrilled to announce that starting August 4th, we will be launching our weekly freeroll tournaments. These tournaments will be open to our community members and will provide an excellent opportunity for everyone to come together, try out the platform, have fun, and compete for USDT prizes.
We don’t want to step on any regulation toes currently but our tournaments will be open all over the world to our community members.
How did you settle on your site’s name, Zero Trust Poker?
Both myself and the two founders all come from a cyber security background and that’s where the “Zero Trust” term is coming from. Zero Trust is a security model that emphasizes continuous verification and minimizes inherent trust within the system. The model assumes no one (user, device, application) is inherently trustworthy and requires a verification for every interaction and action.
Who else is behind the company? Tell us a little about the team you are working with.
There are currently four of us on the team, and I do have to mention up until now we have been fully self-funded. I deal with all the marketing aspects of the project. Our leading CTO is a mastermind in secure development and smart contract engineering. Together with a senior developer they built this amazing platform and co-founded Zero Trust Poker. We also have one more community moderator who is helping us out from time zones we are not available on.
Our team growth is directly related to our community growth and our plans are aligned to allow investors to come into play very soon.
What sort of offerings will set the site apart? Cash games? Tournaments? MTTs? SNGs? Low-stakes games? High-stakes games? Mixed games beyond NLHE and PLO?
At the first stage we are offering Texas Hold’em tournaments and cash games. We do have plans to widen our games range in 2025 and are open to hearing from our community in regarding to which poker variants they are mostly interested to play.
What sort of promotions will Zero Trust Poker be offering upon launch in order to entice online poker players to give it a try?
As mentioned, we’ll be launching our weekly freeroll tournament on August 4th in order to build our community.
The prize pool will be denominated in USDT. Once our community grows, we will open cash games on the website and allow our community to call on players when they want to play. We will also have a utility token launch but will dive into this at a later date, as we want to verify our token will actually be used on the platform and not be another token on exchanges.
Many well-intentioned teams have put forth great efforts in the past over the years to try and make a dent, make a name for themselves in the online poker world by offering something unique and innovative. Give us the elevator pitch about why you believe in yourself and your team, what makes your product special, and why you believe Zero Trust Poker will buck the overall trend to actually break through, attract a large audience of players, and flourish.
We leverage cutting-edge Zero Trust architecture. Imagine every hand dealt and every action verified in real-time, eliminating collusion and bot play. This creates an unprecedented level of trust and fairness, something players crave.
We’re not just another online poker room. We offer innovative technological features and a sleek, user-friendly platform built for the modern player. Think of seamless integration with crypto wallets.
Zero Trust Poker isn’t just another poker room; it’s a revolution in online poker security and player experience. We believe this combination, backed by a seasoned team and genuine passion, will break through the noise and attract a loyal player base. Join our community on X and Discord to get the latest updates.
