Online high stakes cash player Phil Galfond, better known as OMGClayAiken, talks about his first win…
POKERPLAYER: Has it sunk in yet?
PHIL GALFOND: It kind of hasn’t. I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it. I’d been playing for three days straight and sleeping for three hours a night, so I just crashed, woke up, had lunch with some friends, then played cash at the Bellagio for the rest of the day.
PP: You maintained a smooth chip lead right to the final table.
PG: It was intense. The structure was great, there was a lot of play in it, but there are so many opportunities to get all-in as a slight favourite or underdog, so you just have to do your best to not risk all your chips and hope to win when you do.
PP: Which you seemed to do throughout the tournament…
PG: I wasn’t all-in apart from at the end of Day 2 when I had top set versus Negreanu’s bottom two and straight draw. I kept doing the same thing where I slowed down when there was a raise in front of me and just called with good Aces because I didn’t want to get in a situation where I re-raise, they call with J-10-9-7 double-suited and I’m a 55% favourite and risking my tournament life.
In a cash game there’s no risk to losing your chips – if you think it’s a good spot you can just reload and get your money in good again.
PP: The heads-up was epic and after three and a half hours, Adam doubled up. You must have been thinking, ‘Please Lord, let this be over’?
PG: That’s exactly what I was thinking! It took so long and it was really hard to stay focused, but even after he doubled up I had a two to one chip lead. I had an urge to put it all-in and hope I ran good, but it was so important, and you don’t get a lot of opportunities to be at a final table so I had no choice but to stay focused.
PP: Then, after hours of skilful play, you sucked out on the final hand!
PG: I’ll take it anywhere I can get it.
PP: We read Patrik Antonius’ blog where he challenged you among others to a high stakes game online. Any interest?
PG: When considering it, one of the biggest factors I took into account was that while the people would enjoy watching me play him, it sets a bad example because ego and playing at high stakes against other excellent players is how many people go broke. I don’t see any reason to play.
