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.
#img: steve-billirakis_18249.jpg: left: 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: [#8s#3c#Kh]
OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act OMGClayAiken bets $5,500 MrSmokey1 has 15 seconds left to act MrSmokey1 calls $5,500
Turn: [#8s#3c#Kh][#5h]
OMGClayAiken has 15 seconds left to act OMGClayAiken bets $16,000 MrSmokey1 has 15 seconds left to act MrSmokey1 calls $16,000
River: [#8s#3c#Kh][#5h][#Qs]
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 [#2d#3d] a pair of ThreesOMGClayAiken shows [#Kd#Qc]OMGClayAiken wins the pot ($327,460) with two pair, Kings and Queens MrSmokey1 is sitting out
Summary
Total pot $327,462 | Rake $2 Board: [#8s#3c#Kh#5h#Qs] Seat 1: OMGClayAiken showed [#Kd#Qc] and won ($327,460) with two pair, Kings and Queens Seat 2: MrSmokey1 (button) showed [#2d#3d] 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 $850kHoss_TBF on his way to $1 million monthJust a little $1 million PLO among friendsZiigmund rips Ivey for $300k at ThunderdomeVisit PokerListings.com
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