Phil Galfond and Gus Hansen In Battle of the Poker Fish

The online feud at Full Tilt Poker between Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and Gus Hansen is in full swing as the two players engaged in a high stakes battle with more ebbs and flows and monster pots than most railbirds could digest.

When it was all said and done, the two players battled each other heads up on Gus Hansen's personal table for over 4 hours and featured an unfathomable 28 pots that were over $100,000 each.  All of the hands played were of the $500/$1000 Pot Limit Omaha variety and the pendulum in this high variance game swayed with each passing hand.  Though the large pots were plentiful, the players took turns taking them for the most part, and when all was said and done, Hansen emerged victorious, albeit by a fairly slim margin considering the average pot size.  In total, Hansen finished the session up about $160,000 over his opponent which was quite a feat considering Galfond took the 3 largest pots of the session.

The largest pot between the two players was a $307,991 one in which Galfond coerced an all in call on the turn by Hansen who was drawing slim holding 2 pair vs. Galfond's flopped straight.

The largest pot Hansen won came early on in the session when he took down a $212,000 pot but was only the 4th largest pot of the session, with the 3 largest going Galfond's way.

As most online poker players know, the two have been embroiled in a sometimes not so friendly debate over who is the biggest fish at the online high stakes games.  It is hard, given the results, to put that label on Hansen as he has amassed $1.6 million in online profits thus far in 2009.  However, from time to time, railbirds watching the chat box along with the action have been treated to a good amount of ribbing and goading on during their matchups.  The bottom line however, is that both of these players have been doing very well online for quite some time and are among the biggest cash game winners over the past few years.  It would be a mistake for any opponent who ventures into a table against either of them to underestimate them as a fish of any sort.

Source:  www.aintluck.com