Poker's American Idol -- Phil Galfond

In the past couple of years, the face of poker has drastically changed as baby-faced assassins have infiltrated the poker world at break-neck speed. A community that was once dominated by old-school poker legends who have spent decades perfecting their play is now crawling with eager, college-age competitors.

Of the thousands of competent young players, there are a few who have risen above the rest. They have attained not just competency, but also poker excellence, as evidenced by their multimillion-dollar bankrolls and consistency in online poker's highest-stakes cash games. Through hard work, training, complete immersion in poker study, and natural aptitude, these players have become so good that no one can deny their genius for the game. One of the most shining examples is a kid from Wisconsin who started with $50 on PartyPoker. Although his introduction to poker was somewhat typical, his story is anything but. He is 23-year-old Phil Galfond.

For those who don't rail the high-stakes cash games online, his name might not sound familiar. Some may have watched him win his first World Series of Poker bracelet last summer in the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha rebuy event, for a score of $817,000, but that's just a fraction of his total poker winnings. To most poker fans, Galfond goes unrecognized, because instead of following the tournament circuit in pursuit of an elusive million-dollar top prize, Galfond spends his time in online cash games, where a simple preflop raise is the amount of a tournament buy-in and a million dollars can be won or lost in a single session.


Background Check

Nothing about Galfond's beginnings serves as a major predictor of high-stakes gambling. He was born on Jan. 16, 1985, in Rockville, Maryland, which is just outside of Washington, DC. At the age of 5, his family moved to Gaithersburg, where he lived until he was 18. Growing up as the oldest of three children, Galfond fell comfortably into the role of the protective overseer. A soccer and football player for much of his life, Galfond was competitive but not extraordinarily cutthroat. After high school, he went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study philosophy.


Poker Intervenes

At the end of his freshman year, a friend of his won a tournament on PartyPoker for $30,000. For most college kids, that's a lot of money, so Galfond listened with ears wide open to learn how he'd done it, which eventually led to his decision to try poker out, as well. He deposited $50 on the same site and began playing $10 sit-and-gos. Having played various card games for years, poker seemed to be a natural fit for him.

After winning $30 or $40, Galfond stepped up to $20 sit-and-gos, a jump that is not highly recommended in common bankroll-management guidelines. He went broke.

He then decided to make one more deposit of $50. This time, "I ran better," he said, smiling. He continued to play poker while going to school, and built up his bankroll under the alias "Jman28." In just a little over a year, his avatar was a common and feared sight in the sit-and-gos with buy-ins ranging anywhere from $200 to $2,000.

Right after turning 21, instead of attending his first week of classes in a new semester, Galfond and a few of his poker friends took a road trip to Tunica, Mississippi, to play in the WSOP Circuit main event and the World Poker Tour event. Galfond played in both $10,000 buy-in tournaments despite being a bit under-bankrolled, having only a few of these big buy-ins to his name. He cashed in the Circuit event, finishing 18th for $22,000, and even got a little TV time on ESPN. When he went back to school, he was already behind in his classes, so he decided to take a semester off.

During his "off" semester, Galfond had time to grind. He continued to crush the single-table tournaments, and by the time the next semester rolled around, his growing bankroll made it difficult for him to pay attention in class, so he dropped out.

"I was worried about how my parents were going to react. They didn't like it at first, but my mom just trusted that I knew what I was doing, and since my dad is a super-genius with a master's degree in statistics, I could explain to him what poker is and how sure you could be of your win rate. They both were hesitantly supportive."

Soon after making the decision to focus on poker, he began playing cash games. With a solid bankroll of about $80,000, built from tournaments, Galfond started out playing $5-$10 no-limit hold'em.

"It was difficult to adjust at first, because sit-and-gos don't require as much post-flop play. I basically played early-round sit-and-go strategy, where I would not play many hands and continuation-bet. I would just call with pocket pairs and hope to flop a set, and give up if I didn't. It worked, because people would still pay off when I hit a set and fold to a lot of my c-bets. I played tight, and was just playing better hands than everybody."


Humble Reminder

Galfond logged hours upon hours on the computer, improving his game and raking in the cash. He stepped up from $5-$10 to $10-$20, and in the summer of 2006, he began taking shots at $25-$50 and $50-$100 while staying in a Vegas home with a number of poker friends, including Alan Sass, Peter Jetten, and Andrew Robl. It was during that time that he found himself in a particularly juicy heads-up match with a player against whom he had an obvious edge. Unfortunately for Galfond, his edge wasn't enough to overcome short-term variance. He still remembers one hand as if it were yesterday: He reraised his opponent's button minimum-raise to $900 with K-Q offsuit. The flop was 6-3-2 rainbow. He bet $1,400 and his opponent called. The turn was a 3, and Galfond checked. His opponent bet around $4,800, and had $4,500 behind.

"He wouldn't have called my reraise preflop with any 3 in his hand, and he was calling the flop super wide. I felt like he called the flop to bluff the turn, so I went all in. He tanked, and finally called with K-J. I was winning with K-Q high," said Galfond.

Galfond's delight was cut short by a river jack. At the end of the summer, half of his bankroll was gone, but he says that the learning experience was worth it. The couple of months that he spent talking about poker with other talented players, combined with a humbling lesson in dealing with downswings, changed his future in poker.

"I had all the skills naturally, but it took meeting the right people to bring them out. All of the guys in the house helped me a ton."

He went back down to $5-$10 and worked his way back up. Stepping down can be difficult for many players, and for some it's impossible. Galfond says it wasn't that hard. Lack of ego is just another personality trait of his that has helped along the way. The next time he took shots at $25-$50 and $50-$100, he not only remained there, but also began playing $200-$400.


Coming Full Circle

The next summer, Galfond went back to Vegas for the WSOP. He'd become good friends with another high-stakes cash-game player, Tom Dwan, and it was at the Rio that Dwan would introduce Galfond to a game that would make him millions - pot-limit Omaha (PLO).

"Tom told me that I should play the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha rebuy event, but I had absolutely no experience. I wasn't going to play, but he said he'd take half of my action. I'm pretty sure I was terrible. I just played really tight, because I didn't know what I was doing," Galfond said, laughing.

Needless to say, he didn't come close to cashing. Frustrated, he didn't have much intention of focusing on improving his PLO game until he realized that his bread-and-butter no-limit hold'em games were drying up. If he wanted to stay in high-stakes cash-game action, he'd have to learn the game.

He and Di Dang, also known as "Urindanger," began learning at the same time, bouncing hands and ideas off one another. Dwan, who had already been playing PLO cash games for a while, was willing to help.

"It was really slow at first, and very frustrating, because I went from pretty much being able to play anyone in no-limit to being really bad in a new game. I started learning at $5-$10 and $10-$20."

By this time, pot-limit Omaha was gaining momentum, and bigger-limit players were learning at the same high stakes as they were playing in no-limit hold'em. Despite having been playing for only a few months, Galfond and Dang knew they had an edge against other learning players, so they quickly stepped it up to $200-$400.

"It was a good way to learn, because we were playing for stakes that we really cared about."

Equipped with thousands of hands of PLO experience, Galfond returned to the WSOP in 2008. He played in the same $5,000 pot-limit Omaha rebuy event, but this time, he was ready. He made the final table along with a few of the most well-known players in the world, including David Benyamine, Johnny Chan, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Hellmuth, but it was Galfond who walked away with a bracelet and more than $800,000. To everyone who had railed the nosebleed PLO games online, it wasn't at all a shock that he'd won, but for everyone else, the question to Galfond was, "Were you intimidated at all by the players at the table?"

His answer? A modest, "No, not really."


Cash Games Over Tournaments

Galfond says that winning a WSOP bracelet is definitely an accomplishment that is important to him, and he plans on returning to the Series regularly. However, cash games are clearly his priority.

After spending time in each echelon of poker, Galfond recognizes that the difference between low-limit grinders and high-stakes regulars is being equipped with the necessary mental skill set. He says that the three most important areas of intelligence in regard to poker are logic, probability, and psychology.

"I don't think that I'm the best poker player in the world," Galfond said, "but I think I could possibly have the best mind in these areas combined. I think that because of this, I'll always be successful at poker, since these are things that are more naturally occurring than teachable."

Galfond has earned the respect of the best players in the world. Brilliant in both no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha, he's been crushing the $500-$1,000 mixed games (half pot-limit hold'em and half pot-limit Omaha) on Full Tilt, where he plays under the screen name "OMGClayAiken." The void created by the absence of the "Big Game" seems to have been filled by the Internet. The online setting seems to be the future of high-stakes poker, and Galfond is clearly ahead of the curve.


Off the Felt

For Galfond, it's both important and essential to keep poker and his personal life separate, in order to have the kind of success he's had. In fact, he was so private about his job with his non-poker friends that, for a while, none of them had any idea that he was a millionaire.

"I think there's a very big difference between poker players and other people. People who are not poker players just can't fully understand what we do, even if they are very bright. I would have no problem telling a random, full-time, $1-$2 no-limit player that I lost $800,000 the other day, but I wouldn't ever tell that to a regular person, whether he knew me extremely well or not at all."

Galfond finds no need to live in Las Vegas, since nearly all of his poker is played online. He just wants to be where his friends are, so he decided to follow a few of them to Manhattan. Thomas Deming-Henes, one of Galfond's closest friends for years, was the first guy he called to be his roommate.

"I really have no idea how much money Phil has," said Deming-Henes, laughing, "He never talked about it, so I was definitely surprised at the kinds of places we were looking at in New York. They had views of the Statue of Liberty."

Once Galfond was able to convince a mortgage company that he is a 23-year-old professional poker player who can afford to buy prime New York real estate, he made a down payment on not one, but two condos, one on top of the other, in Manhattan. He plans to connect them with a two-story slide.


Endgame

Galfond has a WSOP bracelet, millions in cash-game winnings, and the utmost respect of his peers. He also recently started a new poker-training website, BluefirePoker.com. His accomplishments are many, but he has one more goal in mind.
Simply put, he wants to be considered the best … at least for some amount of time. According to Galfond, the only way to achieve that goal is to retire.

"While I'm still a pro, it's important for me to game-select and lower variance, but once I have enough money, I can play anyone," he said.

A goal of being considered the best at something can seem like an overused cliché, and arbitrarily set forth by people who never really stand a chance. For Galfond, it seems to be only a matter of time.

With more modesty than a one-piece bathing suit, enough intelligence to intimidate scholars, and natural talent brought to full potential through a work ethic rivaling that of any successful entrepreneur, Galfond has everything in place to keep him on the path to greatness.

Galfond's Top Poker Tips

In late 2008, Galfond launched BluefirePoker, a subscription-based training site where members can get access to in-depth strategy videos by in-house pros. Galfond is the lead instructor, and he contributes four to six videos a month. His personal blog is also posted on the website.

The site offers Galfond's exclusive coaching advice, and to give Card Player readers a peek at how the mind of the high-stakes pro works, here are a few poker tips for cash-game players from Galfond.


Ask yourself, why am I betting?

Any play you make should have a reason behind it. Are you trying to make better hands fold? Which ones? Trying to get called by worse hands? Are you setting up for a play later? Just protecting your hand? There are many valid reasons to bet, check, raise, or call. The most important thing is that you are going through a thought process, and that you know what you are trying to accomplish with your play.

Ask yourself, why are they betting?

Just because your opponent doesn't think the same way that you do, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a thought process of his own. Get inside his head as best you can at all times. When he bets, raises, calls, or checks, think about what hands he would likely do that with and why. Even terrible players have brains, and they make plays for a reason.

Have a poker buddy/study group/coach

Did you teach yourself algebra? Why would anyone think he should teach himself poker, or that he just magically knows how to play it? You will learn much faster with help. Get a coach. Have friends with whom you can talk about poker. Bouncing your ideas off a smart person will help you improve your game much faster. (I'd recommend joining a training site, but I'm obviously biased.)

Quit

Quitting a session is one of the hardest skills to acquire. If you're playing poker and are miserable, tired, or bored, there's a very easy solution: Stop. Unless you are permanently unhappy, there will be many other times that you can play poker. Being a favorite in the game isn't enough reason by itself to keep playing. If you chose poker as a career, you probably did so to make your life easier, so why are you voluntarily putting yourself through so much pain? "It's never wrong to not play." - Tommy Angelo

Live well, play well

I always play my best poker when I'm healthy. Work out, eat well, do things that make you happy, and make sure that you sleep well. Poor sleeping habits contribute to getting you off your game. Living a healthy lifestyle keeps you more focused and much less prone to tilt.