Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008

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Galfond smokes out bluff for $327k

OMG: So much better than you and me, it's ridiculous.

By Christopher Hunt

Why is Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond one of the best poker players in the entire world?

Plenty of reasons. Ridiculously good math skills; solid bankroll management; an unmatched understanding of poker's fundamentals.

Also a likely reason: his inhuman knack for reading people's souls at the poker table.

He got a bum rap for being a nit on High Stakes Poker. And he may not have the same cachet value as some of the more renowned TV pros. But make no mistake: Galfond is as good as they come.

He more than proved it at the 2008 WSOP with his first bracelet in one of the toughest fields ever in the $5k PLO event; he's proved it by staying at the top of the top 100 online moneymakers list for virtually all of '08.

Billirakis: Puffed.

And he proved it yet again last night at the marquee table in all of online poker, the $500/$1,000 RailHeaven table at Full Tilt.

His spoils this time: a good $250k in profit for his session overall, including the biggest pot online so far this week, for $327k, when he picked off a $100k bluff by high-stakes regular - and fellow WSOP bracelet winner no less - Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis.

The hand history, as tracked by the PokerListings MarketPulse software:

7750645055 TABLE : RailHeaven (6 max) $500/$1000 - No Limit Hold'em - Fri Aug 22nd 2008 - 5:56am ET

Table Setup

Seat 1: OMGClayAiken ($205,382)
Seat 2: MrSmokey1 ($162,981)
Seat 5: Urindanger ($138,869)
Seat 6: SteveSung ($178,175)
Urindanger posts the small blind of $500
SteveSung posts the big blind of $1,000
The button is in seat #2

Pre-flop

OMGClayAiken raises to $3,500
MrSmokey1 calls $3,500
Urindanger folds
SteveSung folds

Flop: [8 3 K]

OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act
OMGClayAiken bets $5,500
MrSmokey1 has 15 seconds left to act
MrSmokey1 calls $5,500

Turn: [8 3 K][5]

OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act
OMGClayAiken bets $16,000
MrSmokey1 has 15 seconds left to act
MrSmokey1 calls $16,000

River: [8 3 K][5][Q]

GulahPapyrus sits down
GulahPapyrus stands up
OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act
OMGClayAiken has requested TIME
Urindanger has been disconnected
OMGClayAiken bets $43,000
Urindanger has reconnected
MrSmokey1 has 15 seconds left to act
MrSmokey1 raises to $137,981, and is all in
OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act
OMGClayAiken has requested TIME
OMGClayAiken calls $94,981

Showdown

MrSmokey1 shows [2 3] a pair of Threes
OMGClayAiken shows [K Q]
OMGClayAiken wins the pot ($327,460) with two pair, Kings and Queens
MrSmokey1 is sitting out

Summary

Total pot $327,462 | Rake $2
Board: [8 3 K 5 Q]
Seat 1: OMGClayAiken showed [K Q] and won ($327,460) with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 2: MrSmokey1 (button) showed [2 3] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 5: Urindanger (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: SteveSung (big blind) folded before the Flop

Keep yourself busy waiting for the next big session with Galfond and his pals by firing up a few games at Full Tilt here, or check out more of the 100 biggest pots won online over the past day, week, month and year over in MarketPulse.

More big hands from the last few weeks:

• Wrath of Dwan: durrrr explodes for $850k
• Hoss_TBF on his way to $1 million month
• Just a little $1 million PLO among friends
• Ziigmund rips Ivey for $300k at Thunderdome

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