| Rafe Furst | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Las Vegas, NV |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Angel Investor |
| Website | |
| http://www.rafefurst.com/ | |
Rafe Furst is an entrepreneur, angel investor, cancer awareness advocate and part time professional poker player. Furst currently works on and advises many projects that involve technology and social entrepreneurship. He regularly blogs about complex systems on EmergentFool.[1] Furst's ideas about the intersections between his different pursuits have been frequently cited on the Freakonomics blog.[2]
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Furst holds an M.S. in Computer Science and B.S. in Symbolic Systems, both from Stanford University.
Furst began his career as an artificial intelligence researcher at the Kestrel Institute.[3] Furst left academia to co-found his first company, Pick’em Sports, in 1996, which was sold to a public company in 1999.[4]
After the success of Pick'em Sports, Furst has helped launch and run several other successful ventures. Furst co-founded and served as Chief Technical Officer for Expert Insight, an educational media company.[5] Furst is both an investor in and an advisor to BugleMe, which is a service that enables celebrities to connect directly to fans with audio messages.[6] Furst is a technical advisor to iTripTV, a destination marketing company that helps travelers connect with destinations through rich media across multiple platforms.[7] Furst is also an advisor to All Day Buffet, whose mission is to change the world through creativity and business.[8]
Furst sits on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of both non-profit and for-profit companies. Furst is on the board of directors for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, which funds research that helps people understand how to prevent cancer; educates the public about how to prevent cancer; and reaches out to communities across the country through resources, events and partnerships with other organizations.[9] Furst is a member of the advisory council for the Decision Education Foundation, an organization that teaches sound decision making science to young people.[10]
In 2003, Furst and his friend Phil Gordon launched the Bad Beat on Cancer initiative that encourages poker professionals to donate 1% of their winnings to fight cancer.[11]
Since that time Furst has applied his academic and entrepreneurial background to encourage research to find a cure. In 2007, Furst received the “Excellence in Cancer Awareness” award from the Congressional Families Action for Cancer Awareness program.[12] In March 2010, Furst received the “Cancer Champion Award” from the Prevent Cancer Foundation.[13]
In addition to his other activities, Furst is also a part time professional poker player.
In 2005, Furst finished first in the $1,500 no limit Texas hold 'em Ultimate Poker Challenge.[14] Furst picked up his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2006 when he won a $1,500 pot limit hold'em preliminary event.[15]
Furst is also an exclusive professional poker player at Full Tilt Poker, an online poker website that opened in July 2004.[16]
On September 20th, 2011, Furst was named as a defendant in a complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice against Tiltware, LLC, the parent company of Full Tilt Poker. The complaint alleged money laundering offenses by Full Tilt Poker, and that Full Tilt is a "global Ponzi scheme." This was the first time that Furst was named in a public complaint as a part owner of the company, and his ownership stake was listed at 2.6%. The amended complaint opens the possibility that along with the other owners of Tiltware, Furst's assets could be seized.[17]