Galfond Challenge: €26,992 Win for 'VeniVidi1993'
Another day of the ‘Galfond Challenge’ between Phil Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993’ took place on Friday. The two played another 777 hands of their 25,000-hand match and it was ‘VeniVidi1993’ finishing up on the session to the tune of €26,992.32.
With just more than 6,000 hands of €100-200 PLO on Run It Once Poker to go, ‘VeniVidi1993’ leads by €260,616.44.
Although ‘VeniVidi1993’ is in the lead entering the home stretch of the duel, he was up by more than €900,000 before. Galfond then opted to take an extended break while he regrouped. Upon returning, Galfond has battled back to get the deficit to a much more palatable one. Now, we’ll see if Galfond can fight all the way back and win the €100,000 side bet that ‘VeniVidi1993’ put up against him. If ‘VeniVidi1993’ wins, he’ll score an additional €200,000 from Galfond.
Friday’s session was another swingy one, filled with plenty of exciting pots. Although the end result only saw ‘VeniVidi1993’ finish up a little more than one buy-in, there were several fun pots that played out, including two that we’ll look at here.
The first hand we’ll highlight involves a full house against another full house. Quite honestly, it wouldn’t be a Galfond Challenge session with we didn’t see a big showdown with both players having a full house. This one resulted in a €39,999 pot going Galfond’s way.
With €9,693.98 in the middle on the 
board, Galfond fired a pot-sized bet. ‘VeniVidi1993’ moved all in and Galfond, who had just €5,458.53 behind, made the call.
Galfond had the 
for a rivered full house, tens over eights. ‘VeniVidi1993’ had the 
for a full house of his own, eights over sevens. Galfond’s full boat was bigger and he was pushed the pot.
Later on, ‘VeniVidi1993’ picked off a Galfond bluff with a set of aces to haul in a €21,809.94 pot.
There was €7,269.98 in the pot on the final board of 
. ‘VeniVidi1993’ checked and Galfond bet the full pot. ‘VeniVidi1993’ made the call.
‘VeniVidi1993’ had the 
to beat the 
of Galfond and he won the 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 |
| Day 20 (Mar. 9) | 566 | Phil Galfond | €92,803.89 |
| Day 21 (Mar. 10) | 576 | Phil Galfond | €3,766.94 |
| Day 22 (Mar. 11) | 556 | VeniVidi1993 | €88,465.60 |
| Day 23 (Mar. 12) | 598 | Phil Galfond | €23,821.05 |
| Day 24 (Mar. 13) | 628 | Phil Galfond | €19,099.65 |
| Day 25 (Mar. 14) | 664 | Phil Galfond | €139,485.78 |
| Day 26 (Mar. 19) | 539 | Phil Galfond | €110,752.58 |
| Day 27 (Mar. 20) | 645 | VeniVidi1993 | €76,026.05 |
| Day 28 (Mar. 21) | 503 | Phil Galfond | €140,979.28 |
| Day 29 (Mar. 26) | 642 | Phil Galfond | €85,271.31 |
| Day 30 (Mar. 27) | 777 | VeniVidi1993 | €26,992.32 |
| – | – | – | – |
| Total | 18,970 | VeniVidi1993 | €260,616.44 |
What’s Next for the Galfond Challenge?
Galfond and ‘VeniVidi1993’ are scheduled for another session on Saturday, March 28, starting at 12 p.m. ET. It will be the 31st session between the two.
As things stand, the match is currently 18,970 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.
