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Phil Galfond is best known as a high stakes cash game online poker player who plays primarily at Full Tilt Poker under the name of OMGClayAiken. He began playing in 2004 and now he is considered to be one of the top online players and has won millions of dollars online.
Also in 2008 he won a WSOP bracelet in the $5k PLO event winning over $800,000.
Recently we interviewed Phil. Questions were submitted by some of our long term members.
CC - Are you actually a fan of Clay Aiken?
Phil - Do I have two ears and a heart?
CC - What year and how did you decide to become a pro poker player?
Phil - I had been making good money as a sng player throughout college but it wasn’t until my junior year that I decided I was going to take a shot at playing poker full time. I explained to my parents that I would be taking a semester off but I was pretty sure it was going to end up being longer than a semester.
Cardschat - Why did you go from sng’s to cash games – instead of MTT’s?
Phil - I had been playing sng’s for about two years and was doing fairly well when I started talking to a friend of mine that I had met through the online forums. He told me that cash games were very soft and more profitable than sng’s. I began playing cash after that and realized that he was probably right so I dedicated my time to learning cash games.
CC - What advice can you give college students who are currently in school and not particularly interested in studying, and who play poker on the side? Does there come a time when one can consider taking a semester off, or dropping out altogether, because it is so lucrative? Shed a little light on what this moment (or perhaps several moments) were like for you, and what your thought processes were when you made the decisions.
Phil - I think it’s important to be able to evaluate your game objectively and assess your skills in comparison to the field. After playing for a couple of months, you should have a handle on what your hourly rate is at the stakes you’re playing. If you have a solid bankroll and are a proven, consistent winner, it's looking good, but there are very few people that are capable of rapidly climbing the stakes to the highest levels of poker. I think that almost all people, especially those in their last two years of school, should try to get their degree so that they have options other than poker should it not work out.
One thing I've learned, from my own experience and that of friends and family around my age is that most college kids don't understand how much life costs. If you start making $100k/year playing poker, awesome. But I don't think that is a good reason to dropout of school for most people. You have very little long term job security, no health care, no pension, etc. Costs add up, and you need more than you think. Just be careful, and don't cut off all other options if you don't have to.
CC - Are you surprised at your progression in the poker world? Did you ever feel when you were just starting out that you would be playing at this level?
Phil - When I first started playing, I didn’t even know that it was possible to make millions of dollars playing poker. I was aware that the better players win money in the long run but I wasn’t exactly sure how much. When I switched from sng’s to cash games and began climbing the stakes, I started to get a better handle on how much money the good players were making. It wasn’t until I started playing 5/10 and 10/20 that I felt confident in my game and that I was probably capable of playing the nosebleeds.
CC - Do you ever get a feeling of satisfaction with your poker game or is there always something in your game that you feel you can do better at and thus keep motivated to work at improving your game? Is it easier/better to have some area of your game that nags at you or can you get to a point where you are satisfied with your game and just be motivated to keep your game at that level?
Phil - I am definitely happy with my game and my success over the past few years but I think it’s a mistake for any player to become complacent with their skills. The game is always evolving and it’s important to try to stay ahead of the curve. On that note, I’d like to start learning some of the mixed games a little more. I’ve played them on occasion but I don’t think I’m ready for the big stakes mixed games yet.
CC - What are the effects of the current economy crisis doing to your $ level of play?
Phil - I think poker is in a unique situation that doesn’t necessarily reflect the state of the economy. It is important for poker players to stay liquid as one of the tools required of our trade is cash which means that the poker economy was probably not hit quite as hard as the actual economy. I do think that the number of new players drawn to the game might start to dwindle as people have less expendable income.
CC - Do you plan on playing poker for the rest of your days or do you have bigger plans for your future?
Phil - I’d like to get to a point in my life where I don’t need to play poker unless I want to. I’m not sure how much money I’ll need before I “retire,” but I don’t see myself playing full time for the rest of my life.
CC - Do you wish there were higher online stakes than currently available?
Phil - I don’t think that tables higher than 500/1k on FullTilt would run. The variance at the nosebleeds is already so high that I don’t think it would make sense for people to play any higher than the current highest limits. That said, I would definitely play if the games were good.
CC - What are your thoughts on the durrr challenge and why do u think durrr felt it necessary to exclude you?
Phil - Tom and I have been good friends for a few years now and we don’t play each other heads up. I think he excluded me from the challenge because he didn’t want to play me, I didn’t want to play him and he didn’t want to put me in the awkward spot of constantly explaining why I wasn’t going to take him up on his challenge.
CC - Playing at such high levels, how do you mentally prepare yourself for variance, break even stretches and downswings? Do you think that dealing with that is a personality trait that you were born with and is necessary to be a professional poker player or is it a learned skill?
Phil - Every poker player knows that downswings, bad beats and coolers are part of the game. I’ve always been able to handle anger and adversity pretty well but I attribute a lot of my ability to cope with bad times in poker to my former coach Tommy Angelo. He really helped me understand the aspects of the game that are out of my control and gave me good techniques for managing stress.
CC - A lot of low and mid-stakes players go through terrible downswings of 15+ buyins and weeks/months of frustration pointing to Below-EV graphs, Sick Coolers, and more. The question is, what would you recommend to someone to keep a sane mindset and work themselves out of such a period in their career?
Phil - There are so many aspects to poker besides the game itself. Bankroll management, game selection, attitude, outlook and especially tilt control are a few of the intangible facets of the game that players need to master in addition to gameplay and strategy. Downswings are an inevitable part of the game. I think that it is important to find a healthy way to relieve stress if you find that the game is beginning to take a toll on your mental or physical health. It may take as little as a deep breath and a five minute walk or taking a break for a week or two to clear your mind.
CC - Can you teach any idiot to play like a pro or do they need to be born with something special?
Phil - I think it’s a stretch to say that I could teach any “idiot” to play poker at a high level. Clearly, poker takes intelligence and logic amongst many other traits. There are some character traits that people are born with that aren’t necessary to becoming a great player but they certainly help.
CC - If someone doesn't learn well from reading or have good math skills do they have a chance of succeeding?
Phil - I don’t think it’s necessary to be a good reader or excel at math to be a successful poker player however there is a strong correlation between top players and their math skills. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule but for the most part, having a solid math/logic base is a good indicator that you might have more success than someone who is less proficient in those areas.
CC - Are G-bucks always better than Sklansky bucks are is it only relevant at the higher stakes?
Phil - G-Bucks are different than Sklansky bucks. They are harder, significantly harder to analyze, but they are usually much more important than Sklansky bucks in terms of how they should affect your play.
CC - Boxers or briefs?
Phil - Boxers
CC - Ever play high stakes razz? I notice you seem to gravitate toward the pot limit and no limit games.
Phil - Does that game even run? I’m trying to learn some of the limit games but I think it might be a while before you see me sitting at Ivey Pipeline.
CC - PLO or NLHE? on this note, why do you think the majority of online nosebleed action is at PLO tables nowadays?
Phil - HA (PLHE/PLO mix)...Many people have answered this question and I agree with their responses for the most part. People have gotten better at assessing their skills at NLHE and knowing where they stand on the totem pole. People simply won’t play in games where they believe that they are underdogs. I think it is harder to know exactly where you stand in PLO. It becomes even harder when playing a mix game because you have to evaluate and compare your skill to your opponents in few different games. Players may think that they are a slight underdog at NLHE but a huge favorite at PLO at a specific table.
CC - For players playing micro and low-stakes hold'em, because the edge isn't what it used to be are they better off learning Omaha and grinding up the ladder in that game for a bigger edge?
Phil - There is still a lot of money to be made at the low stakes NLH games. .50/$1 through $2/$4 still runs consistently on almost all the major sites. I would suggest diversifying your poker knowledge as much as possible as it can only help you in the long run. The more games you are proficient at, the more opportunities you will have to make money.
CC - Some internet pros think the future of online poker is pre-paid freeroll sites. Others think that the current government is months away from opening the doors for all online poker. What do you feel about the first statement and what do you think the direction of the online industry is?
Phil - I wish I knew. I don't really think I'm qualified to answer these questions, since I don't know much more about the poker legislation or poker business than the average guy. I feel like poker will definitely be legalized in the US, just because it makes sense. People should be able to do what they want with their own money, AND the presence of successful online poker rooms in the US would lead to a lot more tax $ coming into the US rather than leaving it.
CC - What would you have done if all members of Congress and Obama had taken the Bluefire challenge and open shoved 100% of hands? The ev in that if you can get all 80/20s would be -$107 million. Did you just know they wouldn't take it?
Phil - We worded the challenge in a way that allowed us to design parameters that would be favorable to the stronger player. Clearly, the point we were trying to make is that poker is indeed a game of skill. The match would have to be structured in such a way that shoving every hand would not be effective.
CC - WTF are you thinking by putting a slide in your 2 floor NYC apartment?
When I'm in NY next month for my birthday, can I go down the slide?
Phil - I'm not sure I understand the first question. Unfortunately, construction won’t be done until a month after the wsop but you’re welcome to come over then.
CC - Knowing as a Poker-Pro you expect to beat everyone anyway, Who for an entertaining but good game would you want at your last ever table?
Phil - Hac and Di Dang, Mikey Stotz, Phil Ivey, Ziigmund, Dave Benefield, Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth.
CC - Every wanna-be amatuer daydreams of winning a world series of poker bracelet. You've already achieved this dream and made millions, so what do you daydream about?
Phil - A second bracelet, and more millions.
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