Phil Galfond turned $100 into millions, as least that's how the story goes on The Ringer's latest podcast Gamblers, which specializes in epic stories about gamblers. The pod tells the origin story about Galfond from an up-and-coming online poker player in college to a bona fide pro. He retired from the game, then came back to play in a heads-up challenge
OMGClayAiken gets some love. Phil Galfond is the PLO GOAT, but of course we all know that. But now the squares out there will finally know about Galfond and his crazy exploits from a college drop out to a multi-millionaire and eventually the guy who made one of the sickest comebacks of all time.
Galfond dropped out of Wisconsin, where he studied philosophy, and built of his bankroll until he made a splash at the 2007 WSOP.
"It was a mutual disrespect for each of each others games between the old guard and the young guns. They thought we were playing badly and we thought they were playing badly. The young generation was jealous of the old school players who were getting so much recognition that we felt we deserved. We were wild and reckless."
Galfond cut his teeth playing $300/$600 against Phil Ivey, because it was the highest action he could find. He dropped $60K within three hands and he moved down in stakes after taking his shot.
That's when Galfond picoted to PLO after Tom Dwan brought him up to speed. That's where Galfond found his niche. He wasn't good at PLO, he was spectacular. In a short time, the guy struggling to make it at NL Texas Hold'em became the top young PLO player in the world. The rest is history. Galfond made so much money he could afford a penthouse in NYC with a rooftop slide. Yes, a slide.
Listen to the Phil Galfond episode of Gamblers here.
If you don't know, Bill Simmons made bank when he sold his media empire at The Ringer to Spotify. Of course, the streaming giant wanted Simmons to help create a series of new podcasts on top of his vast podcasting empire that included his own Bill Simmons show.
Simmons had lots of pop culture pods including one of my favorites The Rewatchables, in which he and his staff rewatch a classic or fun movie and discuss why you will always stop what you're doing to watch said movie whenever you see it flipping through channels. Along the way, they dedicated podcasts to The Wire and Game of Thrones, as well as podcasts about the NBA and NFL. Earlier in the year, The Ringer launched Boom/Bust: HQ Trivia, which was a great oral history on the rise and fall of HQ Trivia app game that sorta blew up overnight and then fizzled out.
Most recently, The Ringer added existing podcasts to their network including one from former NY Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia. Simmons and The Ringer also launched new podcasts including "60 Songs That Explain the 90s" and "Gamblers".
Gamblers focused on gambling stories in a 6-part anthology series. The Fist episode focused on Gina Fire, who was a single mom that crushed casinos. Episode 2 focused on the last American pool hustler. I know Stuey Ugnar was once regarded as the world's top gin rummy player, but in episode three of Gamblers, they focused on Michael Sall, the top gin cash game player in the world.
In episode four, Gamblers focused on Emily Gullikson aka the punk-rock horseplayer, which offered great insight into a dying past time.
And of course, in the most recent episode of Gamblers, Phil Galfond gets some love about his wild story and even wilder run earlier in 2020 when he stormed back to win the Galfond Challenge against VeniVidi after being stuck big-time.
