Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Galfond is giving his fans an inside look into his life as a professional poker player and family man in his new YouTube series, “Who Is This Guy?”
In the first episode of the series that premiered last Saturday, fans of the 39-year-old poker pro are right away greeted with an abundance of information about his daily routine when he’s at home.
“I’m 5 days a week, 11.5 hours a day working on business, and if I’m not working on business, I am with my family. Being a husband and father,” Galfond said in the docuseries, while flaunting his rather conservative home life with wife Farah Galfond and their son Spencer, whom they welcomed in December 2018.
For Galfond, who is considered one of the best, pot-limit Omaha players in history, business meant waking up very early and maximizing his time to accommodate as much work as possible.
“My days are pretty full. I start waking up earlier than everybody, and I just get to work immediately. I’m writing, [making] calls with my social media team, creating content, working out, coaching, being coached, and then I have my other businesses,” which, according to him, included having meetings with Run It Once Poker and Run It Once Training.
However, don’t bet on seeing Galfond sitting on his office chair or staying inside his office when you come to visit his home. In the docuseries, Farah, who is also a poker player, revealed that her husband typically “paces” around the house when he is working. Phil himself admitted to walking around their property while preparing newsletters or brainstorming with his phone in his hand.
“The days really fly by. There are a lot of things I do throughout each day and sometimes… I don’t even feel like I could fit it all in,” he added.
When asked why he decided to document his private life on YouTube, the longtime poker pro first credited his wife for it. Farah is no stranger to the spotlight, having starred in hit soap operas like “Days of Our Lives” and “One Life to Live. But more than pushing her husband to the public eye, the former actress was invested in Phil finally sharing his life story with the world.
“I’ve been asked many times to share some behind-the-scenes, day-in-the-life type content, and I’ve always resisted — not because I’m uncomfortable, but because I didn’t think it would be interesting. This time, it was my wife pushing me, so I said yes! As it turns out, I was wrong. Farah, John Irwin, and Miikka Anttonen (series producers) showed me how much story I had to tell, and I was blown away by the four episodes John put together,” Phil was quoted as saying by Card Player.
“If you’ve followed my career closely, about half of the show will be an enjoyable inside perspective on things you know about me, while the other half will cover stories I’ve never shared publicly.”
True enough, in the first episode of the series, Galfond, who has already earned $10 million in live tournament cashes, recounted how he started his poker journey.
“I started playing poker at the end of my freshman year of college. And by my junior year, I had turned $100 into $100,000, and I was struggling to take school seriously. So, I dropped out,” he said. “My parents weren’t thrilled, but they supported me through it, which I’m still very appreciative of. After dropping out and going full-time, things really took off.”
He went on to reveal that two years after quitting his studies, he managed to transform his $100,000 into $1 million. A year later, in 2008, he had his biggest year when he won $8 million online.
Aside from Phil and Farah’s perspectives, the docuseries also features many of Galfond’s pals and colleagues in the industry, giving insights into how hardworking and diligent the poker pro has been in strategizing and reviewing his hands after every game.
Each episode of “Who Is This Guy?“ promises unfiltered and raw footage of what it really takes to achieve success and staying on top of the poker world while navigating family life and personal trials. Watch the first episode here.
