Randy Blumer
Encyclopedia
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
on October 21, 1958 is widely acknowledged as having started the multibillion dollar online poker
Online poker
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker players worldwide...
industry with the launch of Planet Poker
Planet Poker
Planet Poker was the first real-money cardroom for playing online poker, opening in 1998.-The pioneer:Without an existing model to follow, Planet Poker founder Randy Blumer was entering uncharted territory. During the initial launch and testing phases in late 1997, Planet Poker started to build a...
, the world's first real money online poker room on January 1, 1998.
Early life
Randy Blumer was the younger of two boys. In 1970, the family moved to Europe when Randy’s father, Carl, got the opportunity to work as a school counselor on a 2 year exchange in Germany. Randy started playing poker in Germany in Grade 6 while traveling on road trips with the peewee all-star hockey team frequently returning from trips with additional pocket money gained from playing poker.Randy made his first trip to Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
when he turned 21 and was exposed to a “new” form of poker (limit Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
) in both cash game and tournament format. Upon his return to Edmonton he introduced the game to his poker playing buddies. Throughout his time at university, Randy supplemented his student income by wagering in a variety of formats. Poker was his preferred pastime as it offered both an intellectual challenge and significant financial opportunity.
Randy graduated from the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering (1983) and found employment as a Marine Systems Engineer in the Canadian Navy. After graduating and finding employment, marriage became the next priority. Randy married Bev in Victoria BC on July 26, 1985.
His engineering background was used for the majority of his naval career working in Canada’s largest ever warship construction program. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander before accepting an early retirement offer with the intent to make his fortune in online poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
.
Poker career
Randy started Planet Poker in the summer of 1997. It became the first online real money cardroomCardroom
A cardroom or card room is a gaming establishment that exclusively offers card games for play by the public. The term poker room is generally synonymous, since the gambling games played in such establishments are typically, and sometimes exclusively, variations of poker such as Texas hold 'em.Such...
when it converted from a free play site to a real money site on 1 Jan 1998. Mike Caro
Mike Caro
Mike A. Caro is a professional poker player, pioneer poker theorist, author of poker books, and casino executive.-Author:...
and Roy Cooke both joined the Planet team in 1999 to provide their expertise in promoting Planet Poker. He subsequently acted as a poker consultant to several other online casino
Online casino
Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet....
s and cardrooms. His second place finish in a field of over 6000 players in 2007 in the PokerStars
PokerStars
PokerStars is the largest online poker cardroom in the world. PokerStars' satellite tournaments produced the 2003 World Series of Poker champion, Chris Moneymaker. 1983 champion Tom McEvoy, 2005 champion Joe Hachem, 2009 champion Joe Cada and 2010 champion Jonathan Duhamel and others also represent...
million was his biggest poker payday to date. Despite all of his successes in the poker arena, Randy is strictly an amateur player. He has played poker at various venues in England, Ireland, France, Canada, the US and the Caribbean.
Planet Poker has reverted to “play for fun” status in response to changes in the legal status regarding real money online poker introduced in 2006 by the United States. Randy also launched Skillride.com in 2007, the internet’s first play for fun subscription based poker site to fully comply with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
He remains married to Beverly and is the father to two boys (Matthew and Zachary).