Published on June 17th, 2008 6:36 pm EST
Phil Galfond, known to many as "OMGClayAiken" on Full Tilt Poker, took down his first World Series of Poker bracelet on Monday night. Galfond worked his way through a field loaded with top-notch talent to capture the $817,781 first place prize in the $5k Pot Limit Omaha w/ rebuys event.
Galfond is one of the best cash game players in the world, and has now extended his dominance to "live" tournaments by capturing his first bracelet. Galfond is an immensely talented poker player, and this will no doubt be the first of many bracelets for the young poker star.
The final table of the event was stacked with talent and World Series of Poker bracelets. Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth Jr. were all looking to add to their vast collection of bracelets, but in the end it was an "online" player who took down the coveted bracelet. David Benyamine, thought by many to be the best Pot Limit Omaha player in the world, also reached the final table of this event. No one will ever be able to accuse Galfond of lucking his way to a bracelet, as he had to beat the absolute best players in the world to take down this event
One by one, the "big" names at the final table were all eliminated. Phil Hellmuth Jr. went out in eighth place, and Daniel Negreanu quickly followed him out the door with a seventh place finish. John Juanda, Kirill Gerasimov and Johnny Chan were the next three players to be eliminated, leaving only Benyamine, Hourani and Galfond remaining in the tournament. Benyamine was eliminated in third, after his aces proved to be no match for the top set of Adam Hourani.
The final hand of the tournament came down when a short-stacked Hourani called Galfond's bet on the flop, putting himself all-in. The flop read A-Q-8, and Hourani was in great shape with his A-K-J-10, which was up against the A-7-6-5 of Galfond. Galfond caught two pair when a six came on the turn. The river couldn't improve Hourani's hand, and he was bounced in second place. He received $493,748 for finishing in second place.
Galfond's victory in this event was extremely impressive considering the overall quality of his opponents. What's even more impressive is how well Galfond maintained his composure at a final table that included David Benyamine, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth Jr. Many other players would have cracked under the pressure, but "OMGClayAiken" handled himself extremely well en route to his first bracelet.
All in all, this was an extremely entertaining event, with a tremendous amount of action and star power. Congratulations to Galfond on his impressive victory.
Photo: GreasieWheels.com
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Filed Under: The World Series of Poker
Phil Galfond, known to many as "OMGClayAiken" on Full Tilt Poker, took down his first World Series of Poker bracelet on Monday night. Galfond worked his way through a field loaded with top-notch talent to capture the $817,781 first place prize in the $5k Pot Limit Omaha w/ rebuys event.Galfond is one of the best cash game players in the world, and has now extended his dominance to "live" tournaments by capturing his first bracelet. Galfond is an immensely talented poker player, and this will no doubt be the first of many bracelets for the young poker star.
The final table of the event was stacked with talent and World Series of Poker bracelets. Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth Jr. were all looking to add to their vast collection of bracelets, but in the end it was an "online" player who took down the coveted bracelet. David Benyamine, thought by many to be the best Pot Limit Omaha player in the world, also reached the final table of this event. No one will ever be able to accuse Galfond of lucking his way to a bracelet, as he had to beat the absolute best players in the world to take down this event
One by one, the "big" names at the final table were all eliminated. Phil Hellmuth Jr. went out in eighth place, and Daniel Negreanu quickly followed him out the door with a seventh place finish. John Juanda, Kirill Gerasimov and Johnny Chan were the next three players to be eliminated, leaving only Benyamine, Hourani and Galfond remaining in the tournament. Benyamine was eliminated in third, after his aces proved to be no match for the top set of Adam Hourani.
The final hand of the tournament came down when a short-stacked Hourani called Galfond's bet on the flop, putting himself all-in. The flop read A-Q-8, and Hourani was in great shape with his A-K-J-10, which was up against the A-7-6-5 of Galfond. Galfond caught two pair when a six came on the turn. The river couldn't improve Hourani's hand, and he was bounced in second place. He received $493,748 for finishing in second place.
Galfond's victory in this event was extremely impressive considering the overall quality of his opponents. What's even more impressive is how well Galfond maintained his composure at a final table that included David Benyamine, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth Jr. Many other players would have cracked under the pressure, but "OMGClayAiken" handled himself extremely well en route to his first bracelet.
All in all, this was an extremely entertaining event, with a tremendous amount of action and star power. Congratulations to Galfond on his impressive victory.
Photo: GreasieWheels.com
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Filed Under: The World Series of Poker
