The ‘Galfond Challenge‘ between Phil Galfond and ‘ActionFreak‘ was back in action on Monday. It was the ninth session of €150-300 PLO between the two and 721 hands were played. At the end of the session, Galfond had lost €256,044 to ‘ActionFreak.’

Despite the big loss, Galfond remained in the lead overall in this Galfond Challenge. The two have played 6,496 hands of their 15,000-hand challenge and Galfond is up €178,249.27 total. Helping Galfond to maintain his overall lead was a €165,093.85 win he had on Saturday.

With almost 6,500 hands in the books, the Galfond Challenge between Galfond and ‘ActionFreak’ is almost 50% of the way through. They’ve been averaging more than 700 hands per session (nearly 800 hands per session if you throw out the first session being cut short due to connectivity issues). That means there should be about 11 sessions left before this Galfond Challenge has a winner. At the end of the 15,000 hands, the player that is up will win €150,000 from the other player, in addition to the money that is won from playing.

Monday was a tough day for Galfond, as ‘ActionFreak’ seemed to get the best of him left and right. That doesn’t mean Galfond didn’t win some big pots himself, though, and that’s where we’ll start. But, to win this €69,042.20 pot, Galfond had to find a saving card on the river.

Galfond bet €1,799 on the  board and ‘ActionFreak’ raised to €7,196. Galfond made it €23,287 with €10,234.60 behind and ‘ActionFreak’ shoved all in. Galfond made the call.

Galfond had the for a set of eights and a flush draw. ‘ActionFreak’ had a better set holding the . The river was the to give Galfond quads and he won the pot.

The next pot we’ll look at was worth €66,646.50 and it went over to ‘ActionFreak’ after he made a heart flush.

With €5,399 in the middle on the  flop, ‘ActionFreak’ checked and Galfond bet €2,699.50. ‘ActionFreak’ raised to €13,497.50 and Galfond went all in for €30,623.75. ‘ActionFreak’ made the call.

‘ActionFreak’ had the and Galfond had the . The turn was the and the river was the . With that heart on the river, ‘ActionFreak’ made a flush and won the pot.

Another big one that went over to ‘ActionFreak’ was this €70,330.03 one after both players made trips. The problem for Galfond was that ‘ActionFreak’ had the better kicker.

With €26,887.02 in the middle on the  board, Galfond checked and ‘ActionFreak’ bet the full pot. Galfond had €16,555.99 in his stack and made the call.

Galfond showed the for trip tens with a queen kicker. ‘ActionFreak’ had the  for trip tens with an ace kicker and he scooped the pot.

Challenge Results To Date

What’s Next for the Galfond Challenge?

Galfond and ‘ActionFreak’ plan to be back in action on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. We can expect another four or five hours of action and around 750 hands to be played.