Interview With Phil Galfond

Chris Grove : August 20th, 2009

There are a few names that have become essentially synonymous with high stakes online play. One of that handful: Phil ‘OMGClayAiken’ Galfond, who has built a reputation as a top-flight nosebleed cash player over the last few years, notching stellar results in the highest games online. Along the way, Galfond proved he’s no tournament slouch either, winning a WSOP bracelet in 2008 in the 5k PLO with rebuys for just under 900k.

In 2009, Galfond set his sights on the increasingly popular poker training market with the launch of Bluefire Poker, a video instruction site with a heavy emphasis on cash games (including deep coverage of both no limit and pot limit omaha cash). Phil was nice enough to take time from his schedule to answer a few questions for us via email.

Read our review of Bluefire Poker here. Visit BlufeFire to learn more about their roster and available videos.

PTP: Let’s start by talking a little about BlueFirePoker. When did you first start thinking that you’d rather be running a training site instead of contributing to one?

PG: I had made a video for another website that were fairly well received. I entered into negotiations with the owners of that site to work out a deal for becoming an instructor but we couldn’t reach a deal that we could both agree on. I knew that I wanted more creative control than they were willing to relinquish and when I was approached by the BlueFire team, it seemed like the perfect fit. As the lead pro, I have quite a bit of control in the pros that are hired and the content released on the site.

PTP: What’s the development process been like? How long did the site take to come together, and how steep was the learning curve for you?

PG: From the time I was first approached by the other founding members of BlueFire to the time that the first videos were released was only about three months. I didn’t find it that hard to make videos as I had already made a few in the past for other sites and was familiar with the software. I think the quality of my videos as well as the other videos on the site has remained consistent since the beginning but we’ve tried to listen to the feedback of the members and make videos with content that they are interested in. The content of the videos is constantly changing and we really try to give the members whatever content they want to see.

PTP: What are your thoughts on the common argument against training sites – that they make the games tougher and ultimately make the games less attractive to recreational players?

PG: Training sites have become a poker arms race. Once players began to join training sites a few years ago, they became more successful in the games that they played in which forced the other players to get better or drop in stakes. Now that there are a number of sites out there, Training sites certainly make the games harder but they are an invaluable tool for players who wish to take their game to the next level. The beauty of poker is that there is always something that one can learn to improve their game.

PTP: Poker seems to be cooling off a bit in the US, post-UIGEA. Is regulation the only thing that can reignite casual interest in the game, or can you imagine some other scenario that could really jack up the interest level again?

PG: Regulation would certainly be a tremendous help in opening the game of poker up to entirely new groups of people. I often hear people say that they don’t like to play online because they are worried about collusion or some form of cheating. Governmental regulation and the establishment of an independent group tasked with maintaining the security and integrity of all the online poker sites would go a long way in quelling people’s fears of playing online.

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