POKERPLAYER: Has it sunk in yet?

PHIL GALFOND: It kind of hasn’t. I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it. I’d been playing for three days straight and sleeping for three hours a night, so I just crashed, woke up, had lunch with some friends, then played cash at the Bellagio for the rest of the day.

PP: You maintained a smooth chip lead right to the final table.

PG: It was intense. The structure was great, there was a lot of play in it, but there are so many opportunities to get all-in as a slight favourite or underdog, so you just have to do your best to not risk all your chips and hope to win when you do.

PP: Which you seemed to do throughout the tournament...

PG: I wasn’t all-in apart from at the end of Day 2 when I had top set versus Negreanu’s bottom two and straight draw.