Phil Galfond: Biography, Career and Poker Results

October 16, 2026

Table of Contents

Phil Galfond is an American professional poker player, born in 1985 in North Potomac, Maryland, and known online as “OMGClayAiken”. He made his name in high-stakes online cash games and has won three World Series of Poker bracelets in three different games: Pot-Limit Omaha in 2008, No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball in 2015 and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo in 2018. ^[1][2] He is also the founder of the Run It Once training site and poker room, and the player behind the “Galfond Challenge” heads-up matches. ^[1]

Phil Galfond, after winning a Pot-Limit Omaha event at the 2008 World Series of Poker — “Phil Galfond” by flipchip / LasVegasVegas.com, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Phil Galfond: key facts

Full name	Philip Galfond ^[2]
Nickname	“OMGClayAiken” (online alias) ^[1]
Country	United States ^[1]
Born	1985 (age 40–41), North Potomac, Maryland ^[1]
Lives in	Las Vegas ^[1]
Known for	High-stakes online cash games, Pot-Limit Omaha, the Galfond Challenge, Run It Once
WSOP bracelets	3 (34 WSOP cashes, 11 final tables) ^[2]
Bracelet events	$5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys 2008; $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship 2015; $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship 2018 ^[3][4][5]
Live tournament earnings	$3,126,763 as of October 5, 2026 ^[1]

Early life and education

Galfond grew up in North Potomac, Maryland, where he attended Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School. He went on to study philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ^[1] When he won his first bracelet in 2008, the official WSOP final table seating listed him as a player from Madison, Wisconsin. ^[3]

Beginning in poker: OMGClayAiken

Galfond built his reputation online, playing No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha at stakes of $200/$400 and above. PokerNews describes him as one of the best players in online poker history and credits him with more than $10 million in online winnings. He chose the alias “OMGClayAiken” in the hope that opponents would be embarrassed to lose to him. ^[1] PokerNews also lists “MrSweets28” among his online names. ^[8]

He entered the live tournament circuit in 2006. His first money finish was 22nd place for $22,895 in the $10,000 Championship Event at the Jack Binion WSOP Circuit stop in Robinsonville, Mississippi, and the same year he cashed in his first two WSOP events, the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em and the $2,500 Short Handed No-Limit Hold’em, for a total of $12,000. ^[1]

In 2010 he won two FullTiltPoker.com Doubles Poker Championship $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em qualifying matches. After Black Friday hit the U.S. online poker market, he moved to Vancouver, Canada, so that he could continue playing online. ^[1]

Playing style

Galfond is above all a cash game specialist in Pot-Limit Omaha, and PokerNews writes that he is “especially feared for his Pot-Limit Omaha skills”. ^[8] His tournament titles show range beyond that game: one bracelet came in No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball and another in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, a game he said he had “basically never played” online. ^[5] WSOP.com called him “widely recognized as one of the brightest minds in the game” ^[4], and PokerNews has described him as “the famously process-oriented pro”. ^[7]

Greatest achievements

World Series of Poker results

Year	Event	Result	Prize	Source
2008	WSOP Event #28, $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys (152 players)	1st	$817,781	[3]
2013	WSOP $25,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em (175 players)	2nd	$744,841	[6]
2018	WSOP Event #60, $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship (237 players)	1st	$567,788	[5]
2015	WSOP Event #29, $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (77 players)	1st	$224,383	[4]
2019	WSOP Event #29, $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship	8th	$41,625	[1]

2008, first bracelet. Galfond took the chip lead into a final table whose other players held 28 bracelets between them, including Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and John Juanda. He eliminated Negreanu in seventh place and beat Adam Hourani heads-up to win $817,781. ^[3]

2013, runner-up in the $25,000 Six-Max. At 28 he finished second to Steve Sung in a field of 175 players with a prize pool of $4,156,210, earning $744,841, his second-largest live cash. ^[6][1]

2015, second bracelet. The No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship drew 77 players and a $723,800 prize pool. Nick Schulman, a two-time winner of the event, held a chip lead of better than 3-to-1 when heads-up play began, but Galfond doubled up early and won the title for $224,383. Erik Seidel finished fourth. ^[4]

2018, third bracelet. Galfond registered late for the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, a 237-player field, and beat Michael McKenna heads-up for $567,788. It was his first bracelet in a Hi-Lo game, won after a year in which he said he had played almost no poker while working on his new poker site. ^[5]

His WSOP.com profile lists 3 bracelets, 11 final tables, 34 cashes and $3,046,079 in WSOP earnings. ^[2] Outside the WSOP, he finished third for $150,000 in a $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Championship in August 2025. ^[1]

The Galfond Challenge

After stepping back from full-time play to build Run It Once, Galfond challenged other players to long heads-up Pot-Limit Omaha matches, usually laying odds on a side bet. The matches were streamed on the Run It Once Twitch channel. ^[8]

“Venividi1993”, 2020: a 25,000-hand match against an anonymous Dutch player ^[8] at €100/€200 on Run It Once Poker. Galfond was at one point down more than €900,000, came back to lead, and locked in the win with 75 hands to go on April 12, 2020. He also collected €100,000 from the side bet, on which he had laid 2-to-1. ^[7]
“ActionFreak”, 2020: 15,000 hands at €150/€300 against Ioannis Kontonatsios. Galfond won €114,803.51 at the tables plus a €150,000 side bet. ^[8]
Chance Kornuth, 2021: played at $100/$200 with a side bet of Galfond’s $1,000,000 against Kornuth’s $250,000. Kornuth conceded down $726,500 with just under 10,000 hands remaining. ^[8]
Bill Perkins and Brandon Adams, 2021: Galfond also won both of these matches. ^[1] The live match against Adams at Resorts World Las Vegas ended with Adams conceding down $16,500 with 236 hands left, after Isaac Haxton and Max Silver were called in as arbiters to settle how many hands remained. ^[8]

Run It Once: training and poker site

Galfond founded Run It Once Poker Training and later the online poker site Run It Once, and he released the PLO training course “Phil Galfond’s PLO Secrets”. ^[1] The poker site, founded in 2019, operated outside the United States until late 2021, when it closed to focus on the regulated U.S. market. In March 2022 PokerNews reported that Rush Street Interactive had bought it for $3.2 million in cash plus RSI stock, with Galfond staying on as a brand ambassador involved in product and policy decisions. ^[9]

Television

Galfond’s online success led to invitations to televised cash games, among them High Stakes Poker. ^[1] PokerGO has published a compilation of his biggest hands from the show ^[10] and a clip of a hand in which he faced a $150,000 bluff. ^[11] On his own YouTube channel he has described how he lost more than $400,000 on the show. ^[12]

Personal life

Galfond is married to Farah Galfond, who played Mimi Lockhart on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1999 to 2007. The couple have started a family and live in Las Vegas. ^[1]

In his own words

“I felt blessed to be here, but I didn’t feel outmatched. I wasn’t afraid. I just wanted to play my best game.” After his first bracelet, 2008. ^[3]
“I’ve played for cash game pots the size of first place. This feels a lot bigger and I think it’s because of this stage and the bracelet. It’s more meaningful than cash games.” After his second bracelet, 2015. ^[4]
“I guess there’s nothing like the first one. That stands ahead, but it still feels really good and definitely on par with the second.” After his third bracelet, 2018. ^[5]
“It’s exciting to be up for the first time. But, no celebrating.” On taking his first lead against “Venividi1993”, 2020. ^[7]

Iconic hands and moments

Phil Galfond’s biggest hands on High Stakes Poker (PokerGO)

Facing a big bluff on High Stakes Poker (PokerGO)

Galfond on his High Stakes Poker sessions (Phil Galfond)

FAQ about Phil Galfond

How old is Phil Galfond?

Phil Galfond was born in 1985, according to his PokerNews player profile. ^[1]

Where is Phil Galfond from?

He is American, from North Potomac, Maryland, and lives in Las Vegas. ^[1]

What is Phil Galfond’s net worth?

There is no reliable public figure for his net worth. What can be verified is his live tournament record: $3,126,763 in earnings as of October 5, 2026, according to PokerNews. Most of his career has been spent in online and live cash games, whose results are not fully published; PokerNews credits him with more than $10 million in online winnings. ^[1]

How many WSOP bracelets does Phil Galfond have?

Three: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys (2008), $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (2015) and $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship (2018). ^[2][3][4][5]

Why is Phil Galfond called OMGClayAiken?

It was his online screen name. He chose it hoping that opponents would be embarrassed to lose to him. ^[1]

What is the Galfond Challenge?

A series of high-stakes heads-up Pot-Limit Omaha matches in which Galfond took on challengers, usually with a side bet on the result. His opponents included “Venividi1993”, “ActionFreak”, Chance Kornuth, Bill Perkins and Brandon Adams. ^[8][1]

What happened to Run It Once Poker?

The site stopped operating outside the United States in late 2021, and in March 2022 it was sold to Rush Street Interactive, with Galfond staying on as a brand ambassador. ^[9]

Who is Phil Galfond’s wife?

He is married to Farah Galfond, an actress known for playing Mimi Lockhart on Days of Our Lives. ^[1]