Biography
Phil Galfond is an American professional poker player. In 2008 Galfond won the World Series of Poker golden bracelet by taking down the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event. On his way to the title Galfond outplayed the field of 152 players including Adam Houran in the final heads-up play. Galfond is also known as an online high-stakes cash game master.
Intro
Galfond was born in 1985 in North Potomac, Maryland. He attended Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School and studied philosophy in the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He entered the live tournament circuit in 2006 and scored his first money finish in the $10,000 Championship Event at the Jack Binion WSOP Circuit Event in Robinsonville. Galfond finished the tournament in 22nd place for $22,895. However, the live circuit is not what Galfond's primary focus is on. He is a well-known online shark playing $200/$400 stakes and above at the No-limit Texas Hold 'em and Pot-Limit Omaha tables. According to some sources, Galfond boasts $8 million in online winnings.
World Series of Poker
Galfond's first WSOP money finish came in 2006 when he cashed in two events, the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em and $2,500 Short Handed No-Limit Hold'em for a total of $12,000. Then in 2007 he collected two more cashes, one of which, the 18th place finish in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed tournament is still Galfond's second-best WSOP result. A year later he scored his best WSOP achievement to date. Galfond took down the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament at the 2008 World Series of Poker for more than $800,000 in prize money. Two years later Galfond came back to Vegas to get home with almost $60,000 in his pockets for finishing in 141st place in the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
Phil Galfond's Top 7 WSOP Results
| Year | Event | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha | 1st | $817,781 |
| 2007 | $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed | 18th | $27,031 |
| 2006 | $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Short Handed | 22nd | $8,085 |
| 2006 | $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em | 31st | $3,758 |
| 2008 | $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up World Championship | 45th | $14,438 |
| 2007 | $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em | 76th | $5,826 |
| 2010 | $10,000 Main Event | 141st | $57,102 |
World Poker Tour
In 2008 Galfond scored a World Poker Tour cash as well. He placed 70th in the $25,000 Championship Event at the Sixth Annual Five Star World Poker Classic WPT World Championship in Las Vegas and collected $39,570.
Other Achievements
Due to his reputation as a successful online high-stakes player, Galfond was invited to a number of high-stakes poker TV shows. He won two of those in 2010. He first bested the FullTiltPoker.com Doubles Poker Championship's $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em Qualifying Match 5 and a few weeks later came in first in the Qualifying Match 11.
Did you know?
- After Black Friday hit the US online poker market, Galfond moved to Vancouver, Canada so that he could continue playing poker online.
- He chose the online alias “OMGClayAiken” hoping that his opponents would be embarrassed to lose to him.
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