Phil Galfond: Full Player History
Phil Galfond is best known for two things: elite heads-up play and a long-running commitment to teaching tough poker formats. He won three WSOP bracelets across three different games, then made his decision-making public through Run It Once, where hands get explained in full instead of being reduced to quick tips.
This Phil Galfond profile connects results to the way he thinks. The WSOP numbers show where he peaked in public; the Challenge and training work show why his name still comes up when players talk about heads-up pressure and PLO problem-solving.
Phil Galfond Profile: The Results, the Work, and What He’s Known For
Galfond’s public story has three lanes that fit together: multi-format WSOP results, a teaching platform he helped build, and a heads-up project with published match terms. Each part matters for a different reason, so this profile keeps them separate instead of blending everything into one highlight reel.
Early Years and First Exposure to Poker
Galfond came up during the online poker era, when volume and study started to matter as much as table time. He played online under the screen name “OMGClayAiken” and became closely associated with heads-up games and pot-limit Omaha, where decision quality gets tested constantly, and small mistakes scale fast.
That preference shows up throughout his public career: high leverage formats, long sessions of review, and a habit of slowing spots down into repeatable rules rather than slogans.
That background mattered because heads-up and PLO punish vague decision-making. In those formats, sizing and equity thresholds show up constantly, so improvement comes from repeating the same spots and tightening the math, not from waiting for a big tournament moment to force clarity.
Phil Galfond Profile: A Short Timeline of Public Milestones
A quick way to understand Galfond poker player’s career is to look at where the biggest public milestones landed:
- 2008: First WSOP bracelet, winning a $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event for $817,781.
- 2013: Runner-up in $25,000 6-Handed NLHE for $744,841.
- 2015: Second bracelet in $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw for $224,383.
- 2018: Third bracelet in $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $567,788.
Those wins land in three different poker formats, which is the point. It’s not a one-game résumé.
Documented Live Results: WSOP Snapshot and a Data Table
At the WSOP, Galfond’s results are easy to scan because the headline numbers match the story: three bracelets, frequent deep runs, and almost $3.0 million in series earnings.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| WSOP bracelets | 3 |
| WSOP rings | 0 |
| WSOP final tables | 11 |
| WSOP cashes | 31 |
| WSOP total earnings | $2,964,055 |
Phil Galfond’s WSOP Bracelet Wins
| Year | Event | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha | $817,781 |
| 2015 | $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw | $224,383 |
| 2018 | $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better | $567,788 |
Those three wins total $1,609,952 and span three different poker formats, a rare spread for WSOP bracelet results.
The Phil Galfond Poker Site: Run It Once
Run It Once is where many players encountered Phil Galfond poker most consistently. Instead of short tips or highlight hands, the platform leans into long-form analysis: full sessions, repeated themes, and explanations that connect ranges, sizing, and board texture.
Galfond’s teaching style is direct. Spots get broken down into what a line accomplishes, what it risks, and what it allows an opponent to do next. That approach matches the games he’s most associated with: heads-up formats and PLO, where one unclear decision can snowball into a much bigger mistake.
Run It Once also has a clear timestamp. In his own Run It Once bio, Galfond says he co-founded the site in 2012 to build a place where players learn with and from each other. That origin matches the way the content is presented: long sessions, full hands, and explanations that stay grounded in what a line risks and what it wins.
One example is his Challenge review content, where he breaks down heads-up PLO sessions street by street, turning match pressure into specific sizing and range decisions rather than general advice.
The Galfond Challenge: Why Heads-Up Became Part of the Brand
The Galfond Poker Challenge worked because it turned heads-up poker into something readers could follow like a season, not a single hand. Run It Once published the match terms up front, including stakes, match length, and side bets, which made the pressure legible.
Several matches were set at $100/$200 PLO, with durations listed at 35,000 hands (vs Chance Kornuth) and 50,000 hands or a $400,000 loss (vs Bill Perkins). The side bet line on those match cards is also public: $1,000,000 to $250,000.
The Challenge page also tracks match progress and outcomes, which helps readers understand the difference between a proposed match and a completed one. Including the listed status for each opponent keeps the story grounded in what actually got played, not only what was announced.
The Europe-listed matches on the same page show the same idea in another currency. Venividi is listed for €100/€200 PLO, 25,000 hands, with a €200,000 to €100,000 side bet. Another opponent (Actionfreak) is listed at €150/€300 PLO for 15,000 hands, with €150,000 to €150,000 on the side.
That structure explains why heads-up attached so strongly to Galfond’s name. It is a format where every decision gets tested again and again, and long match lengths turn small edges into outcomes that feel earned rather than lucky.
Tournament Winnings (Publicly Tracked)
Most “Phil Galfond net worth” talk is guessing, because private cash games, staking deals, expenses, and taxes don’t show up in public reporting. What you can point to is tournament money.
PokerDB lists Galfond with $2,900,000+ in recorded live tournament winnings, drawn from results logged across major series. Those results span over 30 documented tournament cashes, with payouts tied to specific events rather than estimates.
The same database shows his largest single live cash at $817,781, earned when he won the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WSOP. That figure represents a one-time payout, not retained income. Buy-ins, staking agreements, and tax treatment are not reflected in tournament reporting. Private cash games in real money online casinos and business revenue tied to training work are outside the scope of public tracking.
Taken together, these figures outline what can be verified: total live winnings above $2.9 million, more than 30 recorded cashes, and a top payout just over $800,000. Anything beyond that moves into estimation rather than record. Those numbers don’t claim anything about cash-game results or business income, but they do give a clean sense of the scale of his tournament peaks.
Career Picture Today
Viewed chronologically, Galfond’s career shows a clear progression. Early online play shaped his technical base. Live tournaments then produced measurable outcomes across several formats, including three WSOP bracelets spread over a decade. Later years brought fewer public appearances at the table, paired with more structured output as an instructor and platform founder.
Taken as a whole, Galfond’s career reads as a shift in output rather than a shift in skill. The bracelets show range across formats; Run It Once shows how he explains decisions when the game gets dense; the Challenge shows why heads-up stayed tied to his name for so long. For readers, the value is simple: this is a player whose biggest moments and day-to-day reasoning are both visible, which makes his career easier to understand than most.
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