Ep. 205: Restoring the winning edge for recreational poker w/ John Caldwell from i3soft

Ep. 205 features John Caldwell, Co-Founder of i3Soft, a gaming technology company building next-generation poker and casino products designed to improve player experience, increase liquidity, and bridge the gap between poker and casino gameplay.   Hear them discuss: John’s unconventional journey from the music industry (Atlantic Records, Stone Temple Pilots, Hootie & the Blowfish) into poker and eventually gambling tech Building PokerNews into the leading global poker media platform and later transitioning to PokerStars during the online poker boom The core problem with online poker today: long tournament times and a broken experience for recreational players The vision behind i3Soft, including AI-assisted tournament formats (“Skip It”) designed to shorten gameplay and restore balance between pros and casual players “Poker Casino” and the strategy of using poker-adjacent games to improve cross-sell from poker into casino products Challenges of selling a new category to operators, and why liquidity remains the biggest barrier in online poker The four-year product development journey, including a failed early build and eventual breakthrough to launch Funding i3Soft through a mix of self-funding, friends & family, and unconventional “drip” investment structures The current state of poker: strong live demand but ongoing struggles to translate that momentum online 2026 priorities for i3Soft, including operator adoption, scaling distribution, and expanding poker liquidity networks   SBC Americas First Pitch is back in Fort Lauderdale (June 9–11), bringing together some of the most exciting companies in real money gaming for a chance to win an exclusive prize package valued at $100,000. Applications are now open. Submit your application before April 17th using this link: https://sbcevents.com/sbc-summit-americas/first-pitch/   Catch the video version of this episode here.   Learn more 👇 ➡️ i3soft website ➡️ John Caldwell on Linkedin    📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/