Phil Galfond

Phil Galfond is another pro that comes from the new breed of online players. While he's been raking in big cash game pots online for a couple years now, the 20-something player always knew that the big cash and fame comes from winning at live tournaments.

Born and raised in Maryland, Galfond was a gifted child that received his high school education at the notable Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School. Galfond went on to attend the University of Wisconsin at Madison like any other good, middle class kid, but ultimately his conservative plans for a normal career were derailed when he discovered his true calling in the form of online poker.

Much of Galfond's early poker career was spent online at Full Tilt poker where he still frequents the $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha tables.

While Galfond admits that his early online persona was strictly macho, in the last couple years he made the change to the more ambiguous nickname of OMGClayAiken. The reasoning? Galfond smugly admits that he wanted his opponents to be ashamed to lose to him. If that's true and the name worked, then a lot of people must have been ashamed, because Galfond's been doing a lot of winning.

Galfond is notoriously irreverent toward the old live pros like Hellmuth and Chan, a fact that hasn't made him very popular among the major tournament crowd. So who does Galfond fear when he approaches a live or online table?

Players like himself.

Perhaps it's this fearlessness in the face of greatness that has given Galfond such an impressive start in the major tournament arena. In 2006, Galfond branched out and made his first live tournament appearance at a WSOP circuit event. For his trouble, he took home 18th place in the Main Event and $22,895.

His next stop? The 37th Annual World Series of Poker where he placed in the money at two separate events. Galfond repeated those results with two money finishes at the 2007 WSOP. In 2008 though, Galfond took his live playing to a whole new level when he claimed an WSOP bracelet and $817,781 in the Pot Limit Omaha event.

While Galfond has expressed a desire to play at the 2009 WSOP, he has no intention of making a career switch from online cash games to live tournaments. These days he keeps himself busy with his new site — BlueFirePoker.com — where he provides aspiring poker players with advice from real pros (like himself of course).