The Galfond Challenge on Run It Once Poker is on a short pause after VeniVidi asked for a couple days off during their recent downswing. Phil Galfond stormed back in the last two weeks while playing two tables of heads-up €100/€200 PLO against VeniVidi. After 28 sessions, Galfond is only stuck €319K after wiping out €581K in previous losses. The two have less than 7,500 hands to go in the first installment of the Galfond Challenge and action will resume on Thursday.
Momentum. Whether you believe in it or not, Phil Galfond had plenty of it going over the last three weeks. Ever since he resumed the Galfond Challenge against VeniVidi, he's been playing stellar PLO. What a difference one month makes, eh?
A month ago, we were all talking about how Galfond was washed up and he should throw in the towel after bleeding over a $1 million USD after 15 sessions against VeniVidi. Galfond took a break and decided to clear his head before he determined whether he should pull the plug, pay out his lost prop bet, and move onto his next opponent... Bill Perkins.
During his break after a disastrous initial 15 sessions, Galfond made a decision to keep fighting. Galfond stepped away for a bit, studied his opponent in the downtime, and plugged the proper holes in his game. In American pro football, we call those "halftime adjustments". Some coaches and players are terrible at adjusting the original game plan. Other coaches and players (ho hum, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick) were impossible to beat because they always made the proper adjustments at halftime.
To sum up, Galfond fixed his leaky pipes before he went on a heater in March.
Galfond came out of his break with guns blazing. In his first five sessions back, he won over €308K to trim his deficit to minus €592K.
Since then, Galfond played eight more sessions and significantly reduced his early deficit by over a quarter million Euros (€273K to ballpark it).
Overall, Galfond is only stuck €319K with less than 7,500 hands to go in their 25,000-hand heads-up challenge at €100/€200 stakes.
On Day 21, Galfond rallied late to squeak out a small win worth €3,766.
On Day 22, VeniVidi won €88,465 as they inched closer to 14K in hands.
On Day 23, Galfond got back on track and booked a victory worth €23,821.
On Day 24, Galfond booked a small win for €19,100 for back-to-back winning days as the two passed 15K in hands.
On Day 25, Galfond continued his streak with another monstrous six-figure day. He won €139,485.
On Day 26, Galfond won €110,752 for back-to-back 6-figure scores. He extended his winning streak to four days.
On Day 27, VeniVidi won €76K to stop Galfond's winning streak.
On Day 28, Galfond won €1401,979. He reduced his deficit to €318,895. The Challenge reached 17,751 hands.
The two still have 7,249 more hands to go. With huge swings go both ways, who knows how this will truly end up.
