Galfond Challenge: Galfond Picks Up €26,018 Win On Saturday
On Saturday, Phil Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993’ played another session of their ‘Galfond Challenge’ match. This time, they battled for 638 hands of €100-200 PLO on Run It Once Poker and Galfond finished up €26,018.41.
Saturday’s session was the fourth session between Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993’ since the match was suspended for more than three weeks, and the latest win was Galfond’s third winning session of the four.
The 25,000-hand Galfond Challenge between Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993’ is now 12,276 hands complete, with ‘VeniVidi1993’ up €685,112.95. With the match just about 50% complete, it’s still a big hole that Galfond is in, but being down €685,112.95 is much better than being down more than €900,000, which is where things stood when Galfond decided to suspend the match to regroup.
Galfond was down for much of Saturday’s session, and it wasn’t until after the two had played 500 hands on the day that Galfond pulled back to even and started to get his own lead. Before that, Galfond was down as much as €73,000. Over the last 100 or so hands on Saturday, Galfond got even and finished up more than a single buy-in.
The first all-in pot of the day went the way of ‘VeniVidi1993,’ with ‘VeniVidi1993’ scooping a €39,999 pot with a wheel.
On the 
board, Galfond checked and ‘VeniVidi1993’ bet €4,048.88 into the pot of €5,398.50. Galfond called and the river was the Kh. Galfond checked, ‘VeniVidi1993’ bet all in for €13,251.37, and Galfond made the call.
Galfond showed the 
for a set of kings. ‘VeniVidi1993’ showed the 
for a wheel straight and he won the pot.
Much later on, Galfond scooped a €42,710.90 pot after flopping quads. Once again, Galfond had quads and ‘VeniVidi1993’ made a full house, which is something we’ve seen before in this Galfond Challenge match.
On the 
board, there was €5,398.50 in the middle. ‘VeniVidi1993’ bet the full pot and Galfond raised to €21,594 to put ‘VeniVidi1993’ all in. ‘VeniVidi1993’ had €13,257.70 behind and made the call.
Galfond revealed the 
for flopped quads. ‘VeniVidi1993’ had the 
for a full house, eights full of sevens. Galfond’s quads were good and he scoop the pot.
Not long after that, Galfond scooped another pot of more than €40,000 in the following clash.
‘VeniVidi1993’ raised to €600 on the button, Galfond reraised to €1,800, and ‘VeniVidi1993’ made the call to see the 
flop. Galfond bet €3,599, ‘VeniVidi1993’ raised to €14,396, and Galfond reraised to put ‘VeniVidi1993’ all in. ‘VeniVidi1993’ called off his last €4,711.74.
Galfond had the 
and ‘VeniVidi1993’ had the 
. The turn was the and the river the . Galfond finished with trip sevens and was pushed the €41,814.48 pot.
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 |
| Day 15 (Feb. 9) | 659 | VeniVidi1993 | €102,593.34 |
| Day 16 (Mar. 4) | 574 | Phil Galfond | €183,481.38 |
| Day 17 (Mar. 5) | 582 | VeniVidi1993 | €21,571.51 |
| Day 18 (Mar. 6) | 555 | Phil Galfond | €27,198.94 |
| Day 19 (Mar. 7) | 638 | Phil Galfond | €26,018.41 |
| – | – | – | – |
| Total | 12,276 | VeniVidi1993 | €685,112.95 |
What’s Next for the Galfond Challenge?
Sunday, March 8, is a day off for the Galfond Challenge between Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993,’ but they’ll be back in action on Monday, March 9, starting at 11 a.m. ET. Since returning from break, Galfond has done well to lessen the deficit by more than €200,000 and we’ll see if he can continue to chip away.
The match is currently 12,276 hands complete. The two are scheduled to play 25,000 hands, with Galfond putting up €200,000 in side action to the €100,000 of ‘VeniVidi1993.’
Be sure to stay tuned to PocketFives for more on the Galfond Challenge.
