Phil Galfond Down €570k In First "Galfond Challenge"
Published on February 5th, 2020 6:12 pm EST
The "Galfond Challenge" was a masterful idea by Phil Galfond to funnel some much-needed exposure to his new poker site, Run It Once Poker. After all, the "durrrr Challenge" provided tons of exposure to Full Tilt Poker, as tens of thousands of dollars from all around the world would rail the action between Dwan and Antonious/"Jungleman".
Galfond, regarded at one time as one of the best poker players in the world, invited anybody to take him up on his Pot Limit Omaha challenge. The carrots to attract potential opponents were the lopsided side bets that Galfond was offering - for instance, in his battle with "Venividi", Galfond is giving up an additional €200,000 if "VeniVidi" wins, while Galfond will receive €100,000 extra if he manages to win the 25,000 hand battle.
The plan worked, as a number of players, including Bill Perkins, Brandon Adams and Daniel Cates, all signed up to participate in the challenge.
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While Run it Once Poker is getting plenty of exposure right now, Galfond is getting smoked in the first challenge.
Thousands of people per day have watched as Galfond has lost session after session after session.
We are nearing the 33% mark of the challenge, and Galfond is currently down €569,164.31 over a total of 7,583 hands.
The entire challenge will run 25,000 hands. While Galfond does has plenty of time to turn things around (given that the stakes are €100/€200), he will need to avoid falling into too far of a hole. At the very least, Galfond needs a confidence boost and needs to start posting some winning sessions.
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Phil Galfond has been out of the high stakes poker world for a couple of years now, as he has been focused on his family and building his new Run It Once Poker room.
While Galfond has been focused on other things, his opponents have continued to adapt and improve. Can Galfond make up lost ground, both in this "Challenge" and overall in the high stakes cash game world?
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Filed Under: Cash Games
