Phil Galfond Challenge vs. 'VeniVidi1993'
The first match of the Galfond Challenge sees Phil Galfond take on 'VeniVidi1993' in 25,000 hands of €100-€200 PLO

Phil Galfond’s losing in the ‘Galfond Challenge’ against continued on Saturday, as he dropped another €48,473.73 to ‘VeniVidi1993.’ Galfond is now down nearly €800,000 overall.

Saturday gave us the 14th session between these two players, and they battled for another 593 hands of €100-€200 PLO on Run It Once Poker. Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993’ have now played 9,268 hands of their 25,000-hand match, with ‘VeniVidi1993’ €797,646.83 to the good.

Two sessions ago, on Thursday, Galfond booked an €87,940.91 win. He was still very much in the hole, to the tune of €481,223.40, but the win presented a lot of hope for those in his corner. That progress was quickly undone on Friday, though, as Galfond dropped more than three times what he won the day before, losing €267,949.70 to ‘VeniVidi1993’ in what was his worst session loss to date in the Galfond Challenge.

Coming into Saturday, Galfond was down €749,173.10. With this latest loss, he’s down even more and on pace to lose more than €2.15 million from the game play alone. If Galfond finishes down to ‘VeniVidi1993,’ he’ll have to fork over an additional €200,000.

On average, Galfond is losing €56,974.77 per session, €8,606.46 per 100 hands, and 43.03 big blinds per 100 hands.

Galfond actually started Saturday by winning, and got up more than €50,000 in the match. One of the early wins he had came from the following hand.

With €7,198 in the middle on the Ah4c2h2c board, ‘VeniVidi1993’ checked and Galfond bet €4,798.67. ‘VeniVidi1993’ raised to €21,594.01 and then Galfond went all in for €25,530.70. ‘VeniVidi1993’ made the call to create a pot of €58,259.40.

Galfond showed the AsTc4d4h for a full house, fours over deuces. ‘VeniVidi1993’ had the AcJsJh9c. The river was the Td and Galfond scooped the pot.

A little bit after that, Galfond was caught in an interesting spot on the river.

A 6c6h2hQs7c board and €15,999 pot were in the middle. ‘VeniVidi1993’ checked and Galfond fired a pot-sized bet of €15,999. ‘VeniVidi1993’ raised all in for €17,873.64, so it was only €1,874.64 for Galfond to call. Galfond tanked for a bit and then eventually made the call with the AsKc6s2d for a full house. ‘VeniVidi1993’ had the Ac7h6d5c for a higher full house and raked in the €51,746.28 pot.

One of the biggest pots we’ve seen across the entire Galfond Challenge to date took place on Saturday, and it was a pot worth more than €75,000 in which Galfond was caught bluffing.

The board read AsTs7c5cQh and there was more than €25,000 already in the pot. ‘VeniVidi1993’ checked to Galfond, and Galfond fired a pot-sized bet of €25,178.94. ‘VeniVidi1993’ made the call with the AcQcTh3s for top two pair. Galfond was bluffing with the 9h8c6h2h and the €75,536.82 pot went the way of ‘VeniVidi1993.’

Challenge Results To Date

Hands Played Daily Winner Amount Won
Day 1 (Jan. 22) 655 VeniVidi1993 €72,572.68
Day 2 (Jan. 23) 715 Phil Galfond €2,615.26
Day 3 (Jan. 24) 557 VeniVidi1993 €84,437.52
Day 4 (Jan. 25) 581 VeniVidi1993 €17,544.87
Day 5 (Jan. 27) 726 VeniVidi1993 €155,063.52
Day 6 (Jan. 28) 703 VeniVidi1993 €13.31
Day 7 (Jan. 30) 823 VeniVidi1993 €52,057.13
Day 8 (Jan. 31) 940 VeniVidi1993 €60,743.37
Day 9 (Feb. 1) 446 VeniVidi1993 12,706.51
Day 10 (Feb. 3) 696 VeniVidi1993 €100,993.30
Day 11 (Feb. 4) 741 VeniVidi1993 €15,647.36
Day 12 (Feb. 6) 622 Phil Galfond €87,940,91
Day 13 (Feb. 7) 470 VeniVidi1993 €267,949.70
Day 14 (Feb. 8) 593 VeniVidi1993 €48,473.73
Total 9,268 VeniVidi1993 €797,646.83

 

What’s Next for the Galfond Challenge?

With 9,268 hands complete, Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993’ have now battled through 37% of this match. As we mentioned, Galfond has a lot of digging out of the hole to do with ‘VeniVidi1993’ being up almost €800,000 at this point. The two are planned to resume play on Sunday, February 9, starting at 11 a.m. ET and that’s when Galfond will next look to turn the Galfond Challenge around.

Be sure to stay tuned to PocketFives for more on the Galfond Challenge.