Summers are where poker players' years can be made or broken, battling it out at the World Series of Poker and across Las Vegas at stakes high, low, and everywhere in between. A single hand or decision can swing things in a drastically different direction.
If you're looking to optimize your approach to the game or sharpen yourself before stepping headfirst into the jaws of the summer grind, Phil Galfond is offering a space where a single investment could pay off all summer — and well beyond.
Galfond's Beyond The Game 2025 World Series Summit runs May 26-28 at the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas, followed by a meet-up game at Resorts World on May 29. The summit will be centered around three days of speakers, Q&As and group sessions intended to immerse poker players of various skill and experience levels in a wide spectrum of opportunities for self-improvement.
Beyond The Game's origin story
The summit represents the culmination of several years of an evolving training approach by Galfond that started small and grew into something he never imagined it would become.
“I got the idea to do some group coaching a couple of years ago, and so I launched a program for 12 players and tweeted about it,” said Galfond. “I had a ton of people interested. And so instead of 12, I picked 24 — two groups of 12 with a 13-week program. I had a pretty good picture in my head, and it went really well. I loved it. They seemed to love it. And so I did it again and changed it a little bit.
“I was trying to figure out how to do more of them and get it [to be] more of a routine, because I was spending so much time organizing people — the same day of the week, same time. So it turned into a yearlong program, launched last August. I started to plan a live meetup for the people in Beyond The Game. I was thinking, well, if we're all going to meet up anyway, I might as well make it a bit bigger and do some of the work in person."
Creating the summit
What started out as something of a year-end finale to the course evolved into something else entirely and ultimately led to Galfond opening up the experience to a wider pool of players.
"As I was putting this together, it started turning into something bigger and bigger," said Galfond. "My ideas got more and more ambitious and I got more and more excited. It started to become, in addition to a ton of time, a six-figure expense. And I thought, okay, why don't we sell tickets and let anybody join and see if we can recoup those costs or get close to it?"
The price tag for the 2025 BTG WSOP Summit is $3,999, with a $1,000 discount for early registration. That price point might raise an eyebrow for some, but the level of study and expertise on tap for the summit is unlike almost any training environment that's ever been offered in this type of setting.
"There are a few different things that I want to make sure we fit in," said Galfond. "There's an element that is small group masterminds, so we're going to group people based on what they play, what they're looking to get out of it, and what they need to work on. And we're going to have times where they're in a big group together, taking turns addressing each other's biggest challenges."
Three days of study in expertise
Each day's session runs from 10am through 6.30pm, with an extended lunch break. Beyond directly addressing each player’s goals and concerns, the speakers and panelists represent the brightest minds in their respective spaces. When it comes to mindset, one of the central pillars of the BTG approach, Galfond turned towards his personal experiences.
“The first name I thought of is Elliot Rowe, and Samm Murphy is also fantastic. I've worked with both Elliot and Samm one-on-one for a while and they're incredible at what they do. I know Adrienne Carter is incredible too, and I'm excited to have her there. I'm going to be up there with them and we're going to take questions from everybody there."
On the poker side of things, Galfond tapped into his deep well of connections in the game and just so happened to pull up three of the very best tournament players in the world.
“The other panel is more of a fireside chat, so we're not going to take questions," said Galfond. "I just wanted to find players who crushed the WSOP, the event as a whole. I think it's preparing people to get them in a really solid state of mind going into WSOP, but it's not [just] about the WSOP. It's about poker, improving the trajectory of your career far beyond WSOP — whether you play cash games, tournaments, or heads-up sit & gos.
"Three of the first four people I reached out to said yes — Scott Seiver, Brian Rast and Jeremy Ausmus. And I may add one more name. I'll be up there with them, but I'm not really a WSOP crusher, so I'm going to let them do more of the talking. It's really a space for them to nerd out on what works for them at the WSOP and what they think players need to watch out for."
Space for ambitious players of all types
As has been the case since he launched Beyond The Game, Galfond expects players from a wide spectrum of stakes, games and experience to attend this inaugural summit. By the end of three days of study, Galfond hopes that he can instill the tremendous value that reaching beyond the Xs and Os at the table and focusing on the mental game can provide.
“A slightly higher win rate multiplied over days and weeks and years is worth a lot to you if you recognize that missing 30% of your volume because you struggle when things go poorly is costing you a lot of money,” said Galfond. “If you have jumped from game type to game type, or you don't really have people to help you choose your path or study effectively — these are all ways that even really smart, strong players fall short of their potential. And so [BTG] is really for people who are doing well.
“BTG is for people who are serious about improving and specifically improving themselves, because improving yourself pays dividends at the table and pays dividends in decades to come,” said Galfond.
Register for the Beyond The Game 2025 Summer Summit now to receive a $1,000 discount while spots last.
