Phil Galfond will take on ActionFreak in the next installment of the Galfond Challenge over at Run It Once Poker. This heads-up PLO series, the third overall, will take place at €150/€300 stakes for only 15,000 hands. The two have an even money side bet worth €150,000. The first day of action lasted a brief time whole ActionFreak experienced technical difficulties. Action between Galfond and ActionFreak will resume on Tuesday.
Back to the grind for the GOAT named Galfond. Only a couple of weeks after a stunning and remarkable comeback in the inaugural Galfond Challenge against VeniVidi in which he was stuck €900K and stormed back to take the lead and win, Phil Galfond returns for a third heads-up match in his running Galfond Challenge over at Run It Once Poker.
During the pandemic, people stuck at home under lockdowns and quarantine all over the world are seeking out new ways to pass the time. Whether you're a hardcore poker junkie that has been unable to get your fix in the real world, or you're an old-school online player form America that got screwed after Black Friday, then check out Run It Once on Twitch for daily episodes of the next installment of the Galfond Challenge as the PLO GOAT takes on one of the top online grinders in the world.
Galfond started a heads-up bout against Bill Perkins and his crew from the Thirst Lounge. But Perkins, an energy trader, has a real job and they agreed to spread out their matches (consisting 50,000 hands) over a longer period of time.
In the meantime, Galfond has daily weekday action going against a new challenger to keep his PLO-fix going. Enter... ActionFreak.
In the latest installment of the super-exciting Galfond Challenge, these two brave PLO warriors have switched things up versus the initial challenge. For one, Galfond and ActionFreak are playing higher stakes at €150/€300 PLO (versus €100/€200 with VeniVidi).
Secondly, this Galfond Challenge with ActionFreak only consists of 15,000 hands of heads-up PLO.
Thirdly and lastly, the overall side bet is worth €150,000 at even money.
In the first bit of action on Day 1 yesterday, ActionFreak opened up a slim lead against Galfond worth €11,162 before they decided to cut the first session short. ActionFreak ran into connectivity issues. They thought they'd resume after a short break to rectify the situation. But they never resumes. As a result, the two agreed to resume action on Tuesday… so long as ActionFreak can maintain a steady connection.
These guys expect to play five days a week for the latest Galfond Challenge and hope to have it complete by the end of May. Of course, we're in the middle of a global pandemic, so everything right now in life is a fluid situation while the coronavirus still ravishes part of the world and shuttered casinos all over the globe, including Las Vegas for another month despite the redonkulous pleas from Mayor Goodman to open up the Strip.
Before all the heads-up PLO challenges began, Galfond told PocketFives that he felt Jungleman and ActionFreak would be his most difficult heads-up opponents. Both Jungleman and high-stakes guru ActionFreak posed the biggest threat to disrupting the harmony of Galfond's well-oiled PLO game. Jungleman is outright crazy and freakishly good, while ActionFreak had been making a name for himself over the last year as a bona fide baller and nosebleed shark.
But heck, after Galfond wiped out €900K in losses after the first 14 sessions in the first Galfond Challenge by old-school grinding, the public has doubled down on Galfond the Legend. Like a knight in King Arthur's court or an 80s sports legend brought back to life in a 30 for 30 documentary, Galfond's legend grows stronger and stronger as he defeats every challenger that steps into his path.
With the grueling and mentally taxing VeniVidi match down, it is now Galfond vs. ActionFreak, which should feature some killer PLO action at €150/€300 stakes.
You can tune in today for Session #2 or check back during the week. As always, the Galfond Challenge matches are streamed live over at RIO's Twitch channel.
By the way, check out Galfond's appearance on the Joey Ingram Podcast. It's from last week, but the two discuss his insane comeback along with talking about the future of Run It Once.
