When Farah Galfond started playing poker 10 years ago as an actor in New York she never thought she'd end up playing in one of the biggest cash games in Las Vegas. Galfond had long-running parts on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and One Life to Live before meeting her husband Phil Galfond and playing poker to earn a living. PokerShares is the only website where you can bet on literally any poker player in the world.
- Kornuth’s comeback hasn’t just been credited as terrific by poker fans, pundits and the media. Galfond himself has called out the bravery of his opponent taking him on. With any victory, no.
- Tags: live poker, Mike Postle, Phil Galfond, Run It Once, Stones Gambling Hall The Mike Postle drama is a bit like the 11th and final season of the U.S. Sitcom Happy Days.
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 | In progress |
| Hands Played | 20,000 |
| Total # of Hands | 35,000 |
| Stakes | $100/$200 PLO |
| Side bet | Galfond's $1,000,000 vs. Kornuth's $250,000 |
| Current leader | Phil Galfond, +$136,000 |
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, but 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, so when Galfond booked back-to-back wins worth another $124K, he retook the lead on Dec. 4.
It proved a short-lived lead as Kornuth inched back in front the very next session with the players past the halfway mark. He'd grab one more small win, but then a big Galfond win pushed him back in front, and the back-and-forth battle remains closer than many predicted at this juncture.
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.
A series of high-stakes poker matches against Phil Galfond, a poker professional, and owner of the poker site Run It Once.
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.
Poker Player Phil Galfond
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.
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'.
'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.
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 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.
Poker Phil Galfond
Yes, players are able to bet on the outcome of the various Galfond Challenge matches.
Phil Galfond has won two of his Galfond Challenges so far, against 'Venividi1993' and 'ActionFreak'. Other matches are in progress or upcoming.
Galfond Poker Girl
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