Worst Session of My Life

Phil Galfond reviews one of the WORST sessions of his career, playing $300/$600 Head-Up against Viktor "Isildur1" Blom back in 2014!
🌟 Want to Learn PLO? Here's All You Need: ➡️ galfond.link/PLO-CrashCourse
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Phil is preparing to dive into some serious cringe!
The year is 2014 and Phil is living in Vancouver, looking for online action against Isildur (Viktor Blom) and lo and behold, one day it happens!
This is a review of every pot of 200 big blinds (or greater), so that's nearly 60 pots (almost 5500 hands in total played!) and Phil face palming his way through one of the worst sessions of his life.
Buckle up, this goes fast, but it's a compelling, intense, high-level of play you won't see any where else!
And don't forget to subscribe to the channel for more- if you haven't already!
The Worst Session of My Life
Contributing Editor: Mirko
Producer: Thomas Deming-Henes
Post Producer: Anne Johnson
Music: DJ Spinello
EpidemicSound: In the Cypher - Bonkers
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Twitter: / philgalfond
Instagram: / phil.galfond
TikTok: / phil.galfond

[@jimpalompa]

This is the definition of making non-clickbait videos. Open cards session vs. Isildur, and no use of "Isildur" nor "Poker" in the title. Thanks for making these videos Mr. Falcons! No player is both so feared and humble at the same time 💛

[@phil6758]

I can vividly remember when Isildur hit the scene on Full Tilt. Used to stay up and watch him battling everyone. Miss those days; Ziigmund flipping, 3k 9k PLO with durrrr, martonas and xwink. The glory days of full tilt.

[@MrAlio101]

They were the nest days of poker. I don't think it'll ever be as good again. Full tilt was so good compared to other sites as well.

[@jondorsey1715]

Railheaven..... my buddy n I would get a 24 pack and watch it lol

[@dsizzle49]

Brian Hastings and Townsend had to join forces to stop him. From what I understand they were sharing hand history.

[@CanariasCanariass]

​@@dsizzle49 Yep. That was sick cheating if you think about it.

[@MadMathmatics]

isildur1 vs durrrr HU. Both deep stake. Isildur1 preflop 5bet shove with AKo, durrrr called with AA and lose.

[@vitheltone]

Phil: "he may fold..." . 0 hands folded :)

[@j.sarnak1391]

Phil, I know losing sessions must be painful to review on KZbin but it is really a huge value to us. Will watch as many of these as you can stand to make!

[@PhilGalfond]

Thank you so much. I doubt any other sessions will be this painful. Happy to find out!

[@PkrDealer86]

He seems to be handling it pretty well

[@FriendsForFriends666]

@@PhilGalfond do you think a losing session like this or a session where you play super bad but manage to profit is worse? i feel its the later... and you dont seem to have had any of those :)

[@user-id8dm2co1f]

This is not poker, it's glorified gambling.. let's be honest

[@matiasnese3438]

Love how you say early in the video that there are so many hands, you will have to go through them quickly. Normal people would make this a three-parter, cynical people would make it a five-parter and there are people in this world would milk this content for 10+ videos. Having said that, thank you so much for the epic and concentrated legendary video. Easily in my top 5 youtube videos of all time, and I have seen a few.

[@supatimefunshow]

You've helped me out a ton Phil. Thanks so much for your videos. I relate to your teachings more than any teacher. Thanks for posting and being an amazing human. Cheers to you.

[@XTSonic]

Loved that moment on 11:49 : "Called a raiiii...huhhehe..se, uh" when you 3bet :D

[@stevegoldy2196]

Great video Phil, i really enjoyed this one, would love to see some more memorable sessions in this format

[@PhilGalfond]

Thank you very much!

[@bcvids14]

This video was really great, thank you for uploading this!

[@PhilGalfond]

Glad one of us enjoyed it!

[@MarkBennett10]

Cool video to go through Phil! Love the honesty as always!

[@z17seattle]

Thank you so much for posting this!!! I can tell it was stomach-turning for you to see some of these flop raises at high SPR, but your analysis seemed very honest!

[@steeezy9585]

Amazing - I love the real, straightforward content that is so rare.❤

[@briankim9781]

Might be my favorite poker video ever. It takes so much courage to go back to a session that you know you played badly

[@PhilGalfond]

Thank you so much!! TBH, I didn’t know going in that I’d played so badly - just knew that I lost a lot. But I’m glad you really enjoyed the video!

[@Mike-hb4qz]

thanks for sharing this. really highlights to me the purpose of always studying and improving your game, or you can easily develop bad habits and regress

[@mizlbart6477]

Great video,very entertaining.I hope to see more old school hand histories in the future.

[@dwarner9158]

These style of videos are the best. We hate that it happened but makes for a good story!

[@maddhatter5428]

When you say " this is terrible" that's exactly what I would have done, lol. Guess I need to work on my plo game:). Thanks for these videos love to see them.

[@PhilGalfond]

:D You're very welcome!

[@FoldinFear]

Thanks for the content Phil. What I would like to see is you review your own stats from a session like this and let us know how you can exploit 2014 Phil. How do you do that analysis and find conclusions? Maybe you can condense a 4 hour review into highlights and emphasis for a 30 minute case study for us?

[@FreeezHD]

Love the content! Hopefully Jungle gets back to Vegas for some more Plo sessions.

[@92oooo]

This is amazing. Thank you.

[@chiubakka]

Thx for this vid Phil. You truly are the GOAT. So much educational value even for us low stakes PLO noobs.

[@oscillatorwsop1129]

Hey this was awesome! I can appreciate being overly critical, and the reasons why, - which is a testament to you, your deep knowledge of the game, and the style you've developed. It's also not hard to see why you would've considered most of the things that you did. I know there are spots that you hated, where your play would've been my default at one point for sure, and likely is for a lot of us. At 22mins I would still play our combo as cr turn and mix flop vs his profile, even tho having the J has some considerations both ways. I'm not saying I'm right to do this, just that I'm likely still happy to do something that you consider to be a big mistake I just cant say enough how many little considerations and variables there are that make the things that you did relatable/understandable, and I appreciate you being willing to share them, even if in a perfect world, noone would get a chance to see them. It's also very interesting to me to see how you're constructing, and making decisions around a strategy that doesn't appear to have leads. I know this is the style that a few of our goats have employed, but subjectively I find that to be more complicated to wrap my head around than having a strat balancing a lot of leads in all sorts of spots. Thanks for giving us another chance to observe your greatness even when it makes you feel not so great

[@brickcitybeatdown]

I remember this guy when he first came out, no shame in having a terrible sesh to this guy. I'm glad you were able to evolve, grow and rebound from this. He gave a lot of people fits in the beginning.

[@johnd5619]

awesome vid. would love to see you review some old holdem footage!

[@tiltlss]

Was interesting watch, thanks for sharing

[@PhilGalfond]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Alexandertygreat]

Love this, brings back some good memories. Since yall running it twice, with your draw type hands isnt it better to rip it in more? Especially since you seem to be dominated alot? I mean these are all hands playing for stacks, how many pots you win with out show down in those spots?

[@elasticharmony]

Very informative.

[@cleissooo]

this is pure gold

[@MrEpicWinner]

Very nice video, Phil. I still have a lot of your Bluefire PLO videos, so I'll try to analyze them and see if I find spots where you'd play differently today. Of course, I'll have to assume.

[@lukapookawooka88]

great vid cheers phil!

[@chrisko6439]

Greatest first line in a poker video ever! Instinctively hit the like button.

[@pugsnhogz]

9 minutes in, already TWICE making the nuts, only to chop... this is how runbad starts lol

[@jackmills8361]

Easiest way to know if a poker player is truly great, they upload a video of them playing badly (and recognise they're playing badly obviously 😂)

[@z17seattle]

"Glad to see I didn't rip it in there." You are literally relieved when you find out you opted out of spazz-raising Viktor AGAIN, lmao

[@vinnypalermo595]

Great content

[@carledholm8245]

Really enjoyed this video! Please lets see more 👍

[@PhilGalfond]

On it!

[@MrSimonvk]

In this session we seem to see the Isildur1 effect. Its just really difficult to stick to solid GTO poker when playing someone with the reputation of a mad man.

[@nvain3]

Holy shit. I was actually watching your videos in 2014/2015 phil. Now that explains why I kept getting crushed. Just kidding, RIO was the best poker decision I've made in my career. I went from barely beating 5/10 NL to beating the 5/10-20/40 games at Bellagio and Wynn. In PLO I got just OK enough to win in the 10/20+ Vegas games, cause you don't have to get that good, when the competition is not great :D. Thanks for all the content during all these years. There is no one I enjoy watching more than you Phil. keep up with the great content and positivity.

[@darrellirwin8412]

Definitely an interesting hand review, you were playing 1 of the most aggressive plo players remember

[@Alexandertygreat]

Def a combo of running bad and playing not optimal, wouldn't say bad. Its tough countering a maniac and he makes decisions quick too from what i remember. So i imagine that insane pressure would get to even the best, you are def in that talk. Def makes us mere mortals feel better. Thanks Phil

[@dominikpoznic2519]

In the hand at 4:56 of the video, you have 9s full of 3s 99933, but you say you ran into 3 6, which would mean that oponens hand is 666 33, but his hand is 99966 right? From the board he uses 99 and a 6, and in his hand he has 96 which would mean his hand is 99966? Am i wrong, sorry I am a no limit texas holdem player and I have recently started dipping into PLO so I am not sure if I am understanding something wrong. Please let me know. Sending the best wishes.

[@jasonmccord9778]

Thinking the same thing. I'm guessing Phil, at the moment, didn't realize he had the 3 and thought he only had trip 9s but it still doesn't make sense since isildur had 9 6

[@qtamomusic7620]

People aren't good at knowing their playing strength in poker in real time (the game doesn't give you honest feedback). I've also been shocked at how much I sucked after a long break. Feels good that even the legends have the same problems :D

[@rosslogie217]

Some elite NL+ 2 cards play!

[@adrianoalves20]

Awesome hands Phil! Btw, where is Isildur1 these days?

[@patrickclay3537]

You are about to watch me get demolished. Pause. 😂

[@DAWEAP1]

Awesome!

[@CRAIG5835]

Youre a good man, Phil Galfond.

[@Bitty20]

That was awesomely bad! Any chance you can review your best/ winningest session that you have saved? Maybe bring back some good memories for yourself while entertaining us at the same time!

[@juliusdavis5069]

Could someone explain why some turn and rivers are being ran twice and some aren't?

[@roberthallstrand4167]

Pretty damn nice to se the old school poker while it still was nice to watch,, Anyone knows what Isildur is doing theese days? Is he still playing poker?

[@tiltlss]

Really enjoyed watching you vs venividi, chance etc

[@PhilGalfond]

Awesome, thank you!

[@willinnewhaven3285]

PLO isn't much _instructional_ use to me, because I don't have much opportunity to play it, but it was good to watch

[@relaximjustasnowflake3115]

Where do you stream when it happens?

[@xParis23x]

Will you bring any 5 card content? And your session agains actionfreak would be interesting. Thank you 😊

[@bubikart]

you guys go all in in every hand...^^

[@user-vx7fp5py5d]

can someone help me understand why he lost at 4:55 when actually both had 99966 ? (new to PLO)

[@PhilGalfond]

In PLO, you *have* to use two of your hole cards :)

[@BaenGeiwn]

Is freerolling in heads up play less important than in ring game? You had a couple hands here where you had the nut straight with a redraw before the river and elected to just call both times. 8:44 and 20:23 (in the latter one it wasn't an actual freeroll as it was straight vs. set but villain showed a lot of strenght and could've easily had the straight).

[@Mark-bb9qx]

I can't begin to imagine 4 tabling heads up plo

[@imemine8605]

I play plo100 to plo200 hu for a living now with tournies mixed in when im having a good day if you played like either of them played now at those stakes v any reg ud get destroyed it crazy how much pokers moved on the misunderstanding of how to use equity here seems hard to understand but obviously everybodys game has evolved im watching this hoping i bump into one of these players later.

[@Trias805]

So how would you counter his high 2nd barrel frequency?

[@d4ba19]

this

[@loneskum]

Great video. Terrible poker for Phil's standard but good watch

[@eun974]

Love it.

[@user-cc7rw6lr6l]

You just don’t see action like this anymore sadly. Loving the long form plo content philly

[@randomacousticthoughts]

Quality vid

[@lemonade8903]

Omgclayaikon high stakes adventure is back!!! Brought to you by bluefirepoker😂

[@donnalawton3710]

What can we do at the state level to talk up online poker? I now live in Colorado where it is not legal and I’d love to see it legalized here. I lobbied twice in D. C. back in the day with the PPA. If you ever put together another grass roots team I’d love to be a part of it!

[@Zach-tf2qu]

$900k!? Makes me feel a lot better about my worst session being -$4k

[@mrgainz7252]

I get what you are saying but his biggest wins will be a lot more than yours just like his losses, I would rather my biggest loss be 900k than 4k if I we're a pro if that makes sense. God I'm bad at explaining through text 🤣 definitely not the most articulate of people.

[@dantonkull6491]

@@mrgainz7252 exactly. Better to have the roll to be able to afford to lose such money

[@bhpwner]

Was this still on FTP? Don’t remember any other site running 300/600.

[@tjebbedonckers]

INSTANT LIKE

[@jamesandalexandramonroy7736]

I remember isildur playing you and beating you to my suprise in this session. No one believed me as you are aware you were one the best at the time. Thanks for sharing these hands with us I hope you got plenty more past sessions hu 6max whatever 2014-2017 were some of the best plo sessions I’ve witnessed online.

[@user-qu8rh3ib4p]

no lol

[@jamesandalexandramonroy7736]

Yes lol 🤙🏼

[@docokd7oco443]

PLO is slot machine, roulette, and craps played with cards.

[@panoskal455]

Can you please review like that a session from your challenge with Actionfreak ?

[@dsizzle49]

Back then of the 10 biggest pots in olp isulder was in 6 of them.

[@Sn3G]

Top content

[@denniss420]

So when is the rematch going to happen?

[@zalujevi]

🐐 vs 🐐

[@Theo42600]

wait why the first hand split i don't get it you hit flush on both ?!

[@johnodowd9790]

there is only 2 diamonds on the second board

[@qtamomusic7620]

First run out 8,4 with flush. Second run out 9,4 no flush.

[@NoWayFolding]

Did you ever review these hands earlier? If so do you have review notes. Do you do that?

[@matthewgittins3338]

How is the subscriber challenge going? You are really committing!

[@itiswhatitis...9648]

I miss party poker and stars....

[@aids1312]

Was there some playmoney feeling playing on Full Tilt after they paid out missing funds or whatever? :D

[@richardv648]

Man you looked like you were on supertilt

[@Tarnfara]

Hello Phil. Thank you so much for all that you have been sharing for free. Not only here but over the years in all these different places. I just want to let you know, that I personally did not enjoy this video. Is it possible that you were on tilt this session, at least slightly? I don't share the nostalgia about those glory days and prefer the more educational content.

[@phisharkk]

4:59 "run into 36" you prob alr know this but he does have 96 here. he flopped the nuts =\

[@anthonymeeker3172]

cool video

[@ricardogcl]

lol this is so sick

[@olivertaylor9125]

Very surprised to hear how much you don't like your raise at 06:08. You're not raising for value clearly, but if you want to bluff with the nut flush blocker on later streets, better to start telling that story on the flop isn't it? Plus you have the wrap to fall back on. I think this is a great raise, you seem to think it's one of the worst in the session... So interesting to hear one of the greatest of all time breakdown my favourite game.

[@anbinh5496]

28:04 Why did Phil lose that pot? He has a better flush than opponent

[@jasonmccord9778]

Have to play two cards I'm confused at 4:50 they both have 9s full of 3s and Phil said he lost to 3 6 which would be a lower full house

[@Moonlightmaster]

@@jasonmccord9778 You asked this ages ago but Phil lost to 96, he misspoke I'm fairly sure.

[@zefix1234]

phil i think you´re a little too hard on yourself here. sure, some plays are pretty bad but as you said it´s clearly a counterstrategy against isildur who played far from optimal and way too aggro. was it the correct counter? well maybe not but if you´re playing overly agressive opponents and they get to have their day of hitting, there is no way you´re not bleeding money to them. they´re paying for this in sessions where they run normal. also i had to think about my own poker career at the time as i think that´s pretty much the timeframe where i transitioned from nl to plo and i was bleeding a lot of money in the beginning playing similar to you in this session. just sticking money in with too bad hands, draws espescially, also overplaying my own made hands a lot, AAxx in 3-bet pots etc. i also always was in too much fear of board changes and bad runouts and i tried to protect myself from that by sticking the money in early. and you know, your videos was my most used form of content, so these things might be connected in some way :P. overall it turned out to be pretty profitable for me, so no worries :P.

[@paulpena5040]

Ok after a careful analysis I can assert that Viktor Blom is not a nit.

[@PhilGalfond]

I can confirm your analysis is accurate.

[@riseandshine5706]

peak HUNL

[@MarcusDickeyPoker]

How much did you lose in that session?

[@garethwalsh5666]

8:44 Fart!

[@kevanrennie9106]

I don't think any of these were bad plays just more unlucky

[@mladenkuznar29]

I heard of that name he was like the best online player in the world at that point didn't he destroy Tom dwan at the time or something

[@LMW87MMA]

He was one of the best at HUNL which is where he beat durrr but he was relatively weak at PLO and lost it all back at plo mostly to Brian Hastings

[@ineksaban-xv3pl]

Isuldur is the biggest fucking fish Sweden has seen. Must have been enormouly value to play that overaggro fish.

[@jimduggan8382]

WHAT WAS THE $ amount that Phil lost for the session, I don't think it was mentioned

[@WatsonatorTV]

-$900,000 he mentions it at the very end :)

[@therealexquisiteexistentia4743]

7500 hands in a session?? How is that possible

[@nanibaya3096]

i think he mentioned they are playing 4 tables

[@therealexquisiteexistentia4743]

@@nanibaya3096 still, that’s insane. Don’t know how that doable in under 15+ hours

[@jimduggan8382]

5500 but ye its a long session

[@j.sarnak1391]

he mentions 5500 hands 4 tables. It still had to be a fairly long session

[@zefix1234]

@@j.sarnak1391 isildur played fast as fuck. one of the things that made him so exciting to watch.

[@blackopal3138]

- it's hilarious how many times I reach for my mouse, wanting to do something on the table, lol - I didn't understand the first hand. You make a flush both runs, he makes a straight both times, but you split 60K each?? (p.s. he makes the same gutshot both runs,lol. Sign of a bad session coming?) - Your eyes are getting darker. Get some sun and sleep! You also said you have regressed.... If you are not getting better than you are getting worse, right. Cz the average quality of player is always going up. You also expose yourself a lot now. Guys don't just learn to play from you, some are learning how to play against you. Trust me on the nature thing, dude. You don't seem stressed or anything,, why would you be, lol, livin the good life. But the biggest enemy of success is complacency, which again, miight be irrelevant, lol... I think it bothered me when I heard you were so nature adverse:( lol, Idk... cz I respect you, and I know how important it is. No matter who a person is in their life. It's necessary to self discovery. For your little girl too, I strongly believe if you took the fam on a nature based hiatus, you'd see rewards in her, and for yourselves, for years to come.... K, smoke another one, Black Opal... lol Peace

[@aw7049]

Isildur is the goat!!