Phil Galfond, possibly the greatest PLO player of all-time has posted a Twitter thread detailing how and why he was able to return to the pinnacle of high stakes poker. The 36-year-old American teamed up with mindset coach Elliot Roe and got the shock of his life when he saw the verdict.
17/ My dad loved following the action & he was as proud as can be – and it occurs to me now that I gave both of us that experience due to the realizations I came to, the fears I faced & the decisions I made.
Thank you @ElliotRoe1 & the rest of you who helped me figure it out! ❤️
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) June 23, 2021
PLO Legend Phil Galfond Opens Up About His Return to the Pinnacle of Poker
It turned out that he had deep-seated fears of failure that were the real reason for his retreat into semi-retirement; not simply moving onto being a businessman.
The 1-1 sessions with Roe, along with studying his ground-breaking mindset course, were the catalyst for the realisation that “sparked some big changes” in his life.
Same Old Excuses
Poker players are known for wheeling out the same list of excuses when it comes to why they aren’t as competitive as they used to be. In Phil Galfond’s case a lack of time is probably true, but could he have tried harder?
Running two businesses and having a young child is enough to fill anybody’s life. But Galfond admits that his stepping away from the “tough online nosebleed games“ was also partly due to his never having worked with solvers.
He didn’t think he could be competitive in this new era of poker where the skills needed for excellence might not be the same as a decade ago.
After many sessions with Elliot Roe Phil Galfond learned about a particular brand of “fear of failure” that applies to naturally clever people, especially those who were gifted at school. He then had the realisation that because he was so smart that he didn’t need to study at school, he subconsciously expected not to have those study skills when it came to working with GTO solvers.
Phil Galfond Looking to the Future
This ironing out of his mental game leaks led to Phil Galfond returning to high-stakes poker again in 2019. He wanted to face his “fear of solvers” and ultimately this led to the Galfond Challenge, which all poker fans are grateful for.
Eventually, Galfond realised that his irrational fears were completely unfounded and that the skills that made him into a great player almost two decades ago are still valid today. Poker will always be about “outwitting your opponents”.
“Thank you Elliot Roe & the rest of you who helped me figure it out”
He ends his Twitter thread by mentioning that his father passed away unexpectedly, telling how proud he was of his son and what he has achieved in his poker career.
“And it occurs to me now that I gave both of us that experience due to the realizations I came to, the fears I faced & the decisions I made. Thank you @ElliotRoe1& the rest of you who helped me figure it out!“
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