Read the latest tweets. Each new tweet will be picked up by this page. Tweets under the alias @PhilGalfond on Twitter. Check the high stakes twitter-feed for more poker twitter. Jan 24, 2021 The long-running $100/$200 heads-up pot-limit Omaha match between Chance Kornuth and Phil Galfond has ended with the former surrendering after 25,400 hands. Total life earnings: $2,966,023. Latest cash: $7,238 on 14-Jul-2020. Click here to see the details of Philip Galfond's 33 cashes. Phil Galfond once turned a single $100 deposit into millions on a poker site. But to prove he was the best, he issued a challenge and dug a hole that would require a miracle to overcome. The Galfond Challenge could not be off to a worse start for its eponym. After seven sessions of play, Phil Galfond is stuck €379,073.77 to online mystery grinder 'Venividi1993'.They've played.
Table Of Contents
What Is the Galfond Challenge?
High-stakes poker professional Phil Galfond has issued a challenge to the poker world with the Galfond Challenge. The founder and owner of Run It Once poker will be taking on at least six opponents in a series of individual high stakes heads-up matches that are played out of the course of weeks, or sometimes even months.
The heads-up matches will be played in Pot-Limit Omaha over a predetermined amount of hands, with blinds at €100/€200 or even higher. Both players have wagered money on the side in addition to the money won/lost during the matches itself.
Who Are Phil Galfond's Competitors?
At the time of writing, six players have lined up to take on one of the PLO end bosses of the game. These six competitors are Bill Perkins, Dan 'Jungleman' Cates, Chance Kornuth, and Brandon Adams, as well as high-stakers 'Venividi1993' and Ioannis 'ActionFreak' Kontonatsios. Five of these six will contest Galfond on the digital felt, while Adams will only play Galfond in heads-up live poker.
Galfond has defeated both 'VeniVidi1993' and 'ActionFreak', while sporting a lead over Perkins and Kornuth in their ongoing matches.
What Is At Stake in the Galfond Challenge?
The Galfond Challenge features high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha cash game poker with swings that can go up into millions of dollars. In addition, the loser will pay the winner a side bet that's been negotiated upfront, often a six- or seven-figure amount. Galfond is laying odds with most of his opponents.
The Matches in the Galfond Challenge
Phil Galfond vs. 'Venividi1993'
| Status | Complete |
| Hands Played | 25,001 |
| Total # of Hands | 25,000 |
| Stakes | €100/€200 PLO |
| Side bet | Galfond's €200,000 vs. 'Venividi1993's €100,000 |
| Winner | Phil Galfond |
| Amount won (cash game action) | €1,671.58 |
| Amount won (side action) | €100,000 |
An epic showdown between Phil Galfond and 'Venividi1993' came down to a final €100/€200 Pot-Limit Omaha session. Galfond, who had found himself on the ropes multiple times throughout the challenge and was even trailing over €900,000 at one point, completed the ultimate comeback on the final night. Galfond was up €12,500 with about 75 hands to go, allowing him to blind off to win the €100,000 side bet from his Dutch opponent.
Phil Galfond vs. Bill Perkins
| Status | In progress |
| Hands Played | 862 |
| Total # of Hands | 50,000 or a $400K loss |
| Stakes | $100/$200 PLO |
| Side bet | Galfond's $1,000,000 vs. Perkins' $250,000 |
| Current leader | Phil Galfond, +$90,144.05 |
In the aftermath of winning his 25,000-hand match against 'Venividi1993', Phil Galfond didn't waste any time with either celebrations or preparations for his ongoing Challenge series. Instead, two days after wrapping up his epic victory, Galfond sat right back down at the tables and traded the first blows with opponent No. 2, high-stakes tournament vet Bill Perkins.
Similar to the 'Venividi1993' match, the stakes are $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha but this time with Galfond laying $1 million against $250,000 that he'd win across either 50,000 hands or a $400,000 stop-loss. Action kicked off on partypoker
After just 862 hands, Galfond has opened up a $90K lead. The action in this challenge has been dormant for a while as Galfond focused on his other matches, while Perkins launched his new book Die With Zero.
Phil Galfond vs. 'ActionFreak'
| Status | Complete |
| Hands Played | 15,000 |
| Total # of Hands | 15,000 |
| Stakes | €150/€300 PLO |
| Side bet | €150,000 each |
| Winner | Phil Galfond |
| Amount won (cash game action) | €114,803.51 |
| Amount won (side action) | €150,000 |
Galfond's second series of matches against Ioannis 'ActionFreak' Kontonatsios provided much less drama than the first one. Galfond took an early lead in the challenge and rode it all the way to victory. Entering their final session, Galfond held a €237K lead over his opponent.
While 'ActionFreak' was able to recoup some of his losses, he ultimately had to shed with €114K of his own money after the 15,000 hands had concluded. Galfond and Kontonatsios had an even money side bet of €150K riding on it for a total profit of €264K and two for two for the Run It Once founder.
Phil Galfond vs. Chance Kornuth
| Status | Complete |
| Hands Played | 25,400 |
| Total # of Hands | 35,000 |
| Stakes | $100/$200 PLO |
| Side bet | Galfond's $1,000,000 vs. Kornuth's $250,000 |
| Winner | Phil Galfond |
| Amount won (cash game action) | $726,500 |
| Amount won (side action) | $250,000 |
After a quiet summer, the action flared up again in the Galfond Challenge with Galfond starting his series of heads-up battles against Chance Kornuth. The duo will play 35,000 hands against each other with the action kicking off on WSOP.com due to Kornuth living in the United States.
The Run It Once founder is laying a mighty price to his fellow coach: €1 million against Kornuth's €250,000. After 15% of their match completed, the favorite Galfond took a comfortable lead. However, a crushing streak of wins by Kornuth turned the match on its head and left him up a significant margin, almost $350K.
After a long stretch of close to break-even play, Galfond finally put together a three-session run in which he profited more than $300,000 to reduce his deficit back to five figures. Kornuth stringed together three wins after that, but none were particularly large.
On. Dec. 9, Galfond moved back into the lead with an $88K win and he never looked back. He won five of six sessions going into the holiday break, and his lead stood at $352,000. After an early January hiccup, he resumed his winning ways and more than doubled that total, leading Kornuth to concede the match with just under 10,000 hands remaining.
- Day 42-50: Kornuth Waves White Flag Down $726K
Phil Galfond vs. Dan 'Jungleman' Cates
| Status | Upcoming |
| Hands Played | 0 |
| Total # of Hands | 7,500 |
| Stakes | €100/€200 PLO |
| Side bet | TBD |
Possibly the most-anticipated match of the Galfond Challenge, Galfond will take on Dan 'Jungleman' Cates in the near future. While details have to be fully fleshed out, such as the side bet, the duo has already played a mini-challenge with Galfond walloping his adversary for €86K.
Phil Galfond vs. Brandon Adams
| Status | Upcoming |
| Hours Played | 0 |
| Total # of Hours | 40 |
| Stakes | €100/€200 PLO |
| Side bet | Galfond's €150,000 vs. Adams's €100,000 |
The match between Phil Galfond and Brandon Adams will be different than the other five as this match will be fully played out in yet to be determined live setting. Instead of a # of hands, the two will play for a total of 40 hours before the winner is determined. Galfond is laying €150K against Adams' €100K.
Galfond Challenge F.A.Q.
What is the Galfond Challenge?A series of high-stakes poker matches against Phil Galfond, a poker professional, and owner of the poker site Run It Once.
Who is Phil Galfond?
Phil Galfond is a highly respected professional poker player who's played the highest stakes on the planet. He's known under his aliases 'MrSweets28' and'OMGClayAiken' online and is especially feared for his Pot-Limit Omaha skills. Originally from Gaithersburg, MD, Galfond has won nearly $3 million dollars in live poker winnings according to The Hendon Mob, as well as countless more money in online cash games and tournaments. He also has three World Series of Poker bracelets.
Why is there a Galfond Challenge?Once a dominant player at the high stakes, Phil Galfond has stepped away from playing poker professionally to start his own poker site Run It Once. However, wanting to get back into the high-stakes ring, Galfond issued a challenge to the poker world to play him in a series of heads-up pot-limit Omaha matches.
Who is challenging Phil Galfond?Currently, six players have taken up the gauntlet to take on Galfond: Bill Perkins, Dan 'Jungleman' Cates, Chance Kornuth, Brandon Adams, as well as two high-stakes PLO players 'Venividi1993' and 'ActionFreak'.
Who are Galfond Challenge players 'Venividi1993' and 'ActionFreak'?'ActionFreak' is a Greek high-stakes player named Ioannis Kontonatsios, who is more famous under his moniker. 'Venividi1993' is a Dutch poker player that prefers to remain anonymous.
What is at stake in the Galfond Challenge?The Galfond Challenge features high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha cash game poker with swings that can go up into millions of dollars. In addition, the loser will pay the winner a side bet that's been negotiated upfront, often a six- or seven-figure amount. Galfond is laying odds with most of his opponents.
Phil Galfond Twitter
How can I watch the Galfond Challenge?The Galfond Challenge can be followed on the Run It Once Twitch channel, where all matches will be live-streamed. PokerNews often provides recaps of all the action.
Can I bet on the Galfond Challenge?Yes, players are able to bet on the outcome of the various Galfond Challenge matches.
Has Phil Galfond won the Galfond Challenge yet?Phil Galfond has won two of his Galfond Challenges so far, against 'Venividi1993' and 'ActionFreak'. Other matches are in progress or upcoming.
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I'm not saying that Phil Galfond is burning at a quarter-candle while everyone else is an electric lightbulb, but by his admission, he hasn't been playing a bunch of poker lately.
Wives.
Children.
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Beard manicures.
Online Poker Rooms.
So much to do, and so little time.
Let's say, his white glove slap across the face of the poker community in the form of the ‘Galfond Challenge', is likely to be returned with a few baseball mitts. HighStakesDB even led with an article entitled: Why The Galfond Challenge is Becoming a Disaster For Phil.
But is it?
RIO Poker's success is everything to Galfond.
A mistake that business owners make is persuading people to buy their product through the means of logical and rational thought, and there's a lot of that flying around the trapezes of the poker circus.
However, the messages that get goosebumps pimpling don't ambush the brain; they attack the heart.
Feelings.
You can't change a mind without first winning their hearts.
If you love poker, then it's hard not to respect Phil Galfond and what he's trying to do at RIO Poker. How will it make you feel to see him battling against so many diverse characters across different stakes and platforms with millions of dollars on the line?
Will a few hearts flutter?
Will a few hairs stand on end?
Will one or ten of you choose to compete on the site after seeing the silky software?
It's hard to persuade people to do things they don't want to do — what better way than showing them how exhilarating it can be.
Phil Galfond Challenge Twitter
And the poker community needs this challenge after the ‘Durrrr Challenge' debacle. Coincidentally, Phil Galfond was the only player banned from challenging Dwan when the challenge first got off the ground. Galfond chose to allow all-comers into his home, but who are the ones he's secretly hoping he doesn't have to ask to leave their shoes at the door?
'There are some players that I am thinking, ‘Man that would be a challenge,'' admits Galfond before continuing. 'If only the top players had taken on the challenge, I would have had to have taken some on. But I have too many challengers, so I don't have to play the toughest. I still might, and I will play more tougher players than I need to, so I can challenge myself, and for publicity for the site – but I do have my pick.'
Future thinking or dwelling on the past is the primary cause of our anxiety because the brain doesn't know the difference between our mental models and reality. In the spirit, of using this knowledge to his advantage, and priming the pump ready for an injection of poker fairy dust, I ask him to reminisce over his fiercest battles.
'My most famous battles have been against Isildur,' said Galfond. 'My biggest winning day was against Viktor when I won $1.6m. We started at $300/$600 PLO and moved on to $500/$1k PLO at some point during the session. I've also had a million-dollar losing day against him.
'Back in the day, I also used to play a lot with David Benyamine and Gus Hansen. Gus had that heads-up PLO table that had one seat reserved for him, with one open, and I played him quite a bit. This one time, Gus asked Full Tilt to create a $2k/$4k O8 table for him, and instead, they made a $2k/$4k PLO table. I might have been the only one to play him there, and won small. That's the highest stakes I have ever played.
'I mainly played Benyamine at NLHE. It may have been before my PLO days. I've had at least three seven-figure losses playing online within 24-hours, and I think one was largely against him, but I can't say that with certainty, because it's been so long.'
Galfond has seen it all, and also has the perspective of his perch on the throne of RIO's online training site – so what are the skills and abilities that make a world-class heads-up player?
'What makes a world-class heads-up player are the attributes that surround reading your opponent,' says Galfond. 'Reads on game flow, their mood and the way they play as the match progresses and getting a feel for that and staying one step ahead. Or making reads based on stats or showdowns about some leaks that they have. The next step is being able to logically determine the correct counter strategy to take advantage of that.
'As poker progresses, people are becoming more proficient with solvers, and are approaching optimal play a little bit more. At the highest level, the best player is the one that's super closest to optimal play, but I don't think anyone is close enough right now for that to be the most important attribute. I think we're still quite a ways off that, and everyone has enough leaks that if you're able to identify them and combat them, then these are the most important skills.'
With so much money on the line; reputation, and the profitability of RIO Poker also in the lens – what are the unhelpful thoughts that go through Galfond's head when it comes to achieving his goals?
'It's a strange combination of having a lot of doubts in myself and yet being very determined to achieve my goals,' says Galfond. 'I have never been a hard studier in poker, but in business, I have found a work ethic that I didn't have before. I am hoping, as I focus on poker more these next months because of the challenge that my business work ethics rubs off on my poker one.
'I also have unhelpful thoughts around the belief that I am not good at studying or learning from the available new tools. I fear that I can't digest the information, and it will end up hurting my game more than helping it. Fear of failure is a common problem, and in Elliot Roe's Run It Once course, which I've been taking, I identified that as a big leak of mine. He has an exercise where you go through a fear like that and determine what you're really afraid of and what you can do to combat the fear, which I found very helpful
The interest in the ‘Galfond Challenge' has been phenomenal, prompting the thought – could RIO Poker be the new Rail Heaven?
'We have thought a lot about elevating RIO to the Rail Heaven of the past,' admits Galfond. 'It's always been a part of our plans, and we have changes planned in our software development to accommodate the high stakes playing and railing experience. The idea for this challenge happened pretty quickly, so the full experience that we have planned for the future is not available for this challenge.'
And who would Galfond like in a Rail Heaven cast?
Aejonesleggo Twitter
'I want great players, but you need to give them an incentive to play with each other. Some of that comes from us, and some of that comes through recruiting non-pros, preferably those that are well known, to make the games better, and hopefully, we can offer something to them to make it worthwhile.
'If I had to give you names then I like to watch guys like Sauce battle. I like watching Berri Sweet, Ike Haxton, Trueteller – but I also think the fans would like to see guys like Ivey, Antonius; some of the old school high stakes players. Those are the names that immediately spring to mind, and now I am doing this high stakes challenge I will include myself in that cast.'
Now go and trim that beard, you've got hearts to win, Mr G.
Phil Galfond Challenge Lineup (Subject to Change)
VeniVidi1993 – €100/€200 PLO over 25k hands
ActionFreak – €150/€300 PLO over 15k hands.
Jungleman – €100/€200 PLO over 7.5k hands
Brandon Adams – $100/$200 PLO over 40hrs of live poker
Chance Kornuth – €100/€200 PLO over 25k hands
Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – €100/€200 PLO over 50k hands or a €400k loss
*Rob Yong has also accepting the challenge, and negotiations have begun.
Side Bet Info
VeniVidi1993 – Side bet of Phil's €200k to VeniVidi's €100k
ActionFreak – Side bet of Phil's €150k to ActionFreak's €150k
Jungleman – TBD
Brandon Adams – Side Bet of Phil's $150k to Brandon's $100k
Chance Kornuth – Side Bet of Phil's €1m to Chance's €250k
Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – Side Bet of Phil's $800k to Bill's $200k Poker keno.
PokerShares Odds
Galfond (2.16) v VeniVidi1993 (1.73)
Galfond (2.25) v ActionFreak (1.66)
Galfond (1.91) v Jungleman (1.95)
Galfond (1.60) v Adams (2.40)
