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. OMGClayAiken
is the online moniker of feared poker pro Phil
Galfond,
a not-so-crazed American
Idol
fan caught up in the euphoria of having just taken down his first
WSOP gold bracelet.
For
those poker enthusiasts who've been eagerly following the
career of Phil Galfond, his take down of Event 28 at the 2008 WSOP
came as no surprise. An accomplished high-stakes online poker pro who
regularly beats the $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha game at Full Tilt
Poker, Phil Galfond has come a long way since his days at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied philosophy and
dabbled in poker.
Now a
full-fledged poker pro, Phil Galfond circles the globe with
his buddies - known as the "Ship It Holla Ballas" -
in search of pretty girls and plentiful poker games. He regularly
wins and losses hundreds of thousands of dollars online and has
defeated some of poker's biggest talents, including at the WSOP green
felt.
After
outlasting a record-breaking field in the 2008 WSOP $5,000 Pot-Limit
Omaha re-buy event, Phil faced a final table that included John
Juanda, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel
Negreanu, Johnny Chan, David
Benyamine and Kirill Gerasimov. Between
them, the pros had 28 WSOP bracelets and more WSOP cashes than
you can stomach.
Growing
up as the oldest of three children, Phil
Galfond fell comfortably
into the role of the protective overseer. A soccer
and football
player for much of his life, Phil Galfond was competitive but not
extraordinarily cutthroat. After high school, he went to the
University of Wisconsin-Madison to study philosophy. 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 Phil 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, Phil 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.
For most college kids, that's a lot of money, so Phil 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, Phil 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.
Phil
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 such as 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 Phil Galfond is clearly ahead of the
curve.
Phil
Galford has been out of
the limelight in recent months and in this interview below he talks
about how he currently feels about the state of High Stakes online
poker and about the new wave of emerging online
poker stars.
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