While there were only 77 entrants, they were 77 of the world’s best poker players. George Danzer, Brian Hastings, Jason Mercier, Antonio Esfandiari, John Monnette and Paul Volpe were a few of the names in the field that didn’t even make it to the money.
The final table itself was a nightmare-barrier standing between anyone and a WSOP bracelet.
Aside from Galfond and Schulman, Dan Smith, Erik Seidel, Jon Turner and Eli Elezra were at the final table of this tiny but deadly field.
It was an uphill battle for Galfond since he started the final table as one of the shorter stacks and doesn’t have too much experience with the game.
Keeping it Simple
“I haven't played many hands of it outside of four or five tournaments,” said Galfond.
“I think a few years ago I kind of had no idea what I was doing. I tried to figure it out along the way and each year I learned a little more.
“But it's kind of a simple game and I did feel pretty good.”
The simplicity, Galfond says, comes from its purity.
“[Deuce-to-seven single draw] is probably the purest form of poker that I'm aware of,” said Galfond.
“It's very much a one-zero game, where they either have it or they don't.
“A lot of psychology goes behind that, a lot of math goes behind that. It's just a lot of people trying to read each other more or less.”
While this allowed Galfond to make his way to the final table --and helped Christian Pham win the $1,500 2-7 without ever having played before-- it wasn’t much use at the final table.
“Today there was nobody that I had a particularly good read on,” said Galfond.
Catching and Winning
“I was just kind of just catching some hands when I needed to and playing as fundamentally sound as I could.”
And Galfond caught cards.
On his last hand, Galfond drew one card and hit an 8-7 while Schulman drew one and hit an A-9.
Galfond wasn’t squeamish about getting his stack in, he didn’t have the luxury of a big edge in this field.
“Everybody was so good,” said Galfond.
“Normally in tournaments I tend to shy away from some spots because there's gonna be better situations to get your money in.
“But when I was heads up with Nick, I was like I'm going to take every spot that presents itself. There was no huge edge, I just had to play every hand as best I could.”
The difficulty of the field and the bracelet’s prestige, Galfond says, trumps winning large cash game pots.
“It's funny, because I've played cash game pots the size of first place,” Galfond said. “But this feels a lot bigger and I think it's because of the stage and because of the bracelet.
“It’s been seven years since I won one so I’m pretty happy.”
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