Poker News Daily: What has made CardRunners so successful?
Wiggins: Our ability to listen to what our customers want and then react and provide them with it. Since the beginning, we’ve been active in our community. We take into consideration what our members want and try to give them as much as possible.
PND: Has working with CardRunners helped you personally hone your poker game?
Wiggins: Definitely. I put my game out there on videos, so people critique my play. It provides me with a lot of content. I’ve watched videos just like the members do, so that’s certainly helped me get into the minds of some of the best players in the world. It’s also allowed me to branch out and meet more poker players who I can discuss strategy and hands with. In a lot of ways, being involved with CardRunners has helped my game.
PND: How did you get started in poker?
Wiggins: I started playing in high school. We played during study hall. We started off playing other card games like Euchre and Spades. We started playing those games for money, but there’s a lot of luck involved. Eventually, we moved to poker. I got hooked immediately. I started reading books and we played after school. When I got to college, I had trouble finding live games and so started playing on the internet. That’s when I got addicted to the game, played non-stop, and did everything I could to improve.
PND: One of your favorite players is Phil Ivey. What makes his game so great?
Wiggins: His ability to gamble. He has great reads on people and is a natural in all forms of poker. He doesn’t seem to let his emotions get involved and that’s absolutely crucial to play the stakes he does.
PND: What is your greatest poker accomplishment to date?
Wiggins: Starting CardRunners and helping it grow into what it is now. We’ve provided an opportunity for a lot of people to excel at poker. If CardRunners didn’t exist, certain people wouldn’t have the types of resources they need to improve and move up in the ranks. There are specific examples of this, like Brian Hastings, who joined CardRunners playing $1/$2 No Limit and now he’s one of the best players in the world and competing at nosebleed stakes.
PND: CardRunners pros are members of Team Full Tilt. Why has that site grown to become one of the premier online poker rooms?
Wiggins: They have the best software. Just like CardRunners, they look for feedback from the people who use their site and then implement it. If you played on Full Tilt when it first came out, there was no one on the site and the software was mediocre. It easily has the best software now and spreads all different types of games. They have a ton of tournaments. On top of that, all of the pros play on it. It’s certainly fun to play against the big-name pros. I’ve had the opportunity to play with some of the guys like Phil Ivey on Full Tilt and it’s a great experience.
PND: What are some of the benefits to having a full membership to CardRunners?
Wiggins: The biggest benefit is being able to watch all of the poker content. It’s invaluable to watch videos from top players, especially because the game is changing. You’ve seen a lot of evolution in poker, so it’s essential to stay on top of new concepts and new ideas. The best way to do that is to watch regular video content from the guys who are crushing the games themselves.
PND: Given the amount of success that you’ve had, how have you been able to maintain your drive and focus after all these years?
Wiggins: I am young and have a long way to go. You always want to do more. When you start playing poker, you look forward to beating $1/$2. Once you get to $1/$2, you want to beat $2/$4. As soon as you get to a goal that you’ve set, there’s a new one.
That applies to playing poker and to CardRunners. When we started CardRunners, Taylor Caby and I thought it would be awesome to have 1,000 members. Now, we have 10,000 members and want to get to 25,000 members. I want to improve what I’ve done and continue to move up the ladder.
PND: What can members of CardRunners expect in the future?
Wiggins: We released a new version of the site where we’re putting out series content, which means that videos are specific to certain topics. A few videos are intertwined. I think that was a big improvement by us. We’re focusing on our content moving forward. We’re going to try to stick away from any type of gimmick and really focus on providing the best poker content out there.
