Phil Galfond and VeniVidi are playing 25,000 hands of €100/€200 ($110/$220) Pot Limit Omaha, with 7,583 hands in the books after their first 11 sessions. As of this moment, Phil has his work cut out for him!

Galfond Challenge: VeniVidi1993 Opens Up €570,000 Lead After 11 Days of Play

Phil Galfond Not Ready to Throw in Towel Despite Nearly €600K Deficit in Heads-Up Challenge

Good for Phil. He is not a quitter.

In his room he played with his money. A win-win option. Especially if his opp leaves bankroll in the Galfond room. So, drove back and forth free mani, advertising, marketing

Good morning here.I think this first challenge is over.Galfond has no chance at all for a comeback.Against Perkins will be a different story ,I guess.

Where did VeniVidi1993 come from, have not heard of him before?

This challenge has started very bad for Galfond , I want to see how it will end , some matches vs other players yet to come . , Generally I find these challenges made by very good players , provocative for the rest . These challenges '' me against the world , me against everyone else '' are exaggerated ,regardless how good this player is , there will always be some other players in the world , the same as good like him , or even better . Also a less experienced player might strike the better one , due to bad run/variance , even in a not small amount of hands played . Tom Dwan's failed not completed challenge in the past is remarkable .


For Galfond's challenge , despite what I said before in this post , I initially thought he would win in the end , when I first read the news , because he's far , way far imo too good and better than the rest . So I thought , although I said I wish Jungleman defeats him . Who knows , maybe they 'll all defeat Galfond in his own challenge . Perhaps (improbable to me ) he 'll be forced to quit , that will be an example of a challenge not to be repeated again in the future by other pros , hopefully .

Galfond is currently a great example for players, despite the losses, he has shown an attitude that many of us should imitate, despite the results, he decided to extract positive learning, that is, he prefers to use this opportunity to teach and show others how to handle downswing.

The Best of luck to Galfond.

Originally Posted by TeUnit

Where did VeniVidi1993 come from, have not heard of him before?

He is good PLO HU payer but there isn't that running anymore so just few people know who is the end boss

The essence of this challenge was not to make money, but to attract people to your room. Plus, Phil understood that there was a chance to draw a round sum. And he was ready for this. Again, this is only the first opponent.

Seems like he is a getting a right hiding. Can variance explain it or is he up against a better player?

Originally Posted by Richard Grant

Seems like he is a getting a right hiding. Can variance explain it or is he up against a better player?

Worst case scenario, I believe.

Veni Vidi is unquestionably one of the world's best and Phil has not be getting the best cards (and at times playing poorly). As I noted elsewhere, he admitted just prior to the challenge he had not prepped and speculated he could study and learn as the challenge was launched...yikes.

Its getting painful to watch. Now down almost 800k with 1/3 of the challenge complete. Phil had a nice win a couple days ago but was crushed a quarter mil yesterday. I thought there was a cap but I guess not.

I think the problem is Galfond is on the brink of potentially losing a lot of credibility both for himself and the site.

It would appear like the only way he can extricate himself from the hole he has dug with Veni Vidi would be via a massive run of good luck. Then we have Perkins who I am not sure anyone takes that seriously as a poker player, period, let alone a PLO specialist. So even if Galfond pounds him, few will care and I can't imagine many will watch (well maybe if its a train wreck for Perkins).

Then we have Kornuth and Jungleman who are both competent players (though not renowned for PLO) and I am sure they will want to prove themselves. Next Actionfreak, who is a PLO specialist and could provide another banana skin for Galfond. Then finally Brandon Adams, competent as well, and I believe will be very prepared by the time his challenge arrives.

The issue, however, is I think people are going to start to lose interest unless Galfond can make a remarkable comeback against Veni Vidi. He should have scheduled Perkins first, but then who knows the sequence of how the contracts were signed/scheduled...

Originally Posted by DS3

I think the problem is Galfond is on the brink of potentially losing a lot of credibility both for himself and the site.

The issue, however, is I think people are going to start to lose interest unless Galfond can make a remarkable comeback against Veni Vidi. He should have scheduled Perkins first, but then who knows the sequence of how the contracts were signed/scheduled...

I am hoping Phil can make a comeback at least come back some - it seems nearly improbable that he will make a complete recovery. We all know Phil is very well known for his PLO prowess but this latest endeavour shows just how human he really is trying to survive the downswing or maybe he has met more than his match with Veni Vidi?

Before the challenge, I can't remember anyone wishing anything but the best for Galfond...but, even if I was curious as to whether Galfond could sweep all before him, I did not expect this.

This is where I think we have a conjunction of bad ideas. The first would be launching the site without a thorough grasp of what it would take to make it viable/profitable (Galfond has admitted as much).

The second would be to issue a blanket challenge to all and anyone in an attempt to draw eyes and traffic to the site. The announcement of the challenge drew new players to the site but specifically that meant a handful up to two handfuls per day (in comparison to the established sites). In terms of current stream watchers (Twitch) the figure appears to have averaged around 3,000- even with all the discussion/headlines amongst the poker community. Jamie Staples draws on average double the amount of viewers for every one of his streams. So the notion this was a great promotion/marketing scheme in real world terms is questionable.

The third appears to have been the happenstance of scheduling Veni Vidi first. Even if there is a huge swing in variance back towards Galfond his credibility has been given a black eye. As detailed above, Perkins is not to be taken seriously, but all the other players could give Galfond a serious match. Kornuth has been given silly odds (4 to1 I believe) and then we have actionfreak, who many say could prove as difficult as Veni Vidi.

Galfond did not prep for the match prior to playing Veni Vidi. The result is, as someone succinctly put it, 'a world class PLO heads up specialist from 2010 sitting down with a world class PLO heads up specialist from 2020'.

So will this be enough to draw traffic to Run It Once? That remains debatable. But I imagine every time Galfond faces a losing session from here on out, it will lose Galfond (therefore the site) more credibility. As for any financial hit Galfond personally is taking - I presume he is wealthy enough to afford the losses (for the time being at least). However, that has nothing to do with the financial viability of Run It Once. Galfond has discussed backers and the pressing need to drive revenue to the site otherwise they would have to review where they stood.

Unless he can start playing like a boss against Veni Vidi immediately, Run It once will remain languishing in the doldrums, as I don't think the Perkins match will inject much enthusiasm. I then would speculate if the Galfond Challenge started off on the wrong foot, subsequently meandered along for several more months, people are generally going to lose interest.

If this is peak 'Galfond Challenge' and the interest in real world, commercial terms is fairly insignificant, I can't say I am optimistic in the longer term.

Yikes- day 15 over and although swingy in places, Veni Vidi went another $100,000 ahead so over all he is now S898, 440 in front.

Originally Posted by Shells

Phil Galfond Not the Ready to the Throw in Towel Despite Nearly € 600K Deficit Heads in the Up-Challenge

To be honest, I don’t know this guy .. his name doesn’t tell me anything ... and why should he give up ... if such a lot of money is at stake, hardly anyone wants to experience the bitterness of defeat ...

hope he can get back some before its over

500 thousand is a serious loss. It seems Galfond is not as good at PLO as many people think.

Originally Posted by Vilgeoforc

500 thousand is a serious loss. It seems Galfond is not as good at PLO as many people think.

I can see how some people wouldn't think Phil was as good as thought, but could this also be a serious downswing?

In his defence, good players have downswings too.

it will be very interesting to see how Phil handles this loss, whether he can return to the game after such a failure

The challenge will resume on Wed. March 4 , check out Run it Once Poker for more details.

I am a fan of Phil's, I was sort of hoping he would pay this one off and move on, BUT -Phil did not become successful in life by giving up. I have thought about how I reacted to the people who are Phil Haters for whatever reason, and sadly, this is the "nature" of online commentary. Many people who have never risked anything will never understand a person who makes a decision and will follow it through. Phil is obviously not going to go broke from these challenges and his wife is supporting him so go ahead and hate if you must. Phil is doing exactly what he wants to do and that is a beautiful thing.

Originally Posted by jsnake716

The challenge will resume on Wed. March 4 , check out Run it Once Poker for more details.

I am a fan of Phil's, I was sort of hoping he would pay this one off and move on, BUT -Phil did not become successful in life by giving up. I have thought about how I reacted to the people who are Phil Haters for whatever reason, and sadly, this is the "nature" of online commentary. Many people who have never risked anything will never understand a person who makes a decision and will follow it through. Phil is obviously not going to go broke from these challenges and his wife is supporting him so go ahead and hate if you must. Phil is doing exactly what he wants to do and that is a beautiful thing.

That's awesome he will resume his challenge! (he just needed to regroup - I guess he's human after all! )

I don't think there are as many haters as you may have stated though - sometimes it's easier for some to be a bit more critical than Phil's diehard fans and some words can hurt. Try to be objective and know some days are just better than others therefore jumping on criticism may sound like hate, but in fact, it's not.

Eventually, those who are 'haters' quit hating because the cream rises to the top, right?! - given there is just not as much to hate on.

Originally Posted by Shells

I can see how some people wouldn't think Phil was as good as thought, but could this also be a serious downswing?

In his defence, good players have downswings too.

I think this is a consequence of the fact that Galfond did not play for a long time, and VeniVidi is a player equal to him in strength. If it's really downswing, then the situation should level out, and the game will go with varying success.

Phil's Challenge has resumed. I'm sure we will have updates of our own.

One of the places to find some updates are here >>> https://twitter.com/hashtag/GalfondC...g_click&f=live

Is the comeback on now? Time will tell!

Originally Posted by Shells

That's awesome he will resume his challenge! (he just needed to regroup - I guess he's human after all! )

I don't think there are as many haters as you may have stated though - sometimes it's easier for some to be a bit more critical than Phil's diehard fans and some words can hurt. Try to be objective and know some days are just better than others therefore jumping on criticism may sound like hate, but in fact, it's not.

Eventually, those who are 'haters' quit hating because the cream rises to the top, right?! - given there is just not as much to hate on.

Yep, Agree.

[QUOTE=Vilgeoforc;5506289]I think this is a consequence of the fact that Galfond did not play for a long time, and VeniVidi is a player equal to him in strength. If it's really downswing, then the situation should level out, and the game will go with varying success.[/QUOTE

This was probably the biggest problem I thought Phil faced going into this challenge. Phil, in his prime, was known to be able to adapt and exploit opponents in heads-up matches particularly. (Remember Durr's challenge?? The only person he refused to play was Phil )

Anyway, VeniVedi was a very active and very good player, Phil had not played seriously for the 4 years they were putting together Run it Once Poker. In almost every activity, a period of inaction is always a huge negative.

I am impressed by Phil's ability to hang in there, and let's see what happens

That was the first session where Veni Vidi not just looked vulnerable but he patently played badly in the key hands.

The hands shown in the highlights upload reveal Veni Vidi seemed to be stuck on some kind of ego trip where he could not believe Galfond could be running well. Potentially nutted hands were plain to see but Veni Vidi appeared to believe the second nuts (or less) would be good enough.The first such 50K hand is forgivable, the second one debatable...but by the time you hit that third and forth and you are not picking upon the fact today might not be your day...well, that was a peculiar level of stubbornness.

That was embarrassing on his behalf (in fact I would peg it as the single most embarrassing day so far for either party) so its going to be interesting to see how he regroups.

Well another two days completed with Veni Vidi righting the ship after a disastrous recommencement, making a small gain with Galfond making a similar gain back today.

Watching the highlights is not that great (I am not watching the live streams) as the view you get is distorted. They just show a very compressed version (16 minutes or so of several hours) of only the biggest pots played and nothing else. Hundreds of hands are played in a modest manner but all you see are large gambles and many are debatable (as in the first stretch of play). They need to extend the highlights to show some less frenetic hands.


Also the David Tuchman commentary is cringeworthy - he admitted he is unfamiliar with PLO so was repeatedly calling hands incorrectly. Why was he hired? Some of the first sessions commentary was lacking but this is truly amateurish.

Phil Galfond will win this challene. I have faith in him

March 19th 2020 Just a quick update Session 26 Phil wins over 110,752 this brings the total to PLUS -383,848.66 Euros for VeniVedi Phil making a great comeback!!!


Phil proved me wrong so far, I thought it might be better to pay this one off and move on to next challenge. I guess that is why Phil is definitely one of the GOATS of high stakes and I am a micro-stakes grinder

Keep it going Phil.

3.19.20 Phil G.jpg

Lost a slight amount back today, but overall what a comeback! Rooting for Phil.

Crazy money. I don't know how they do it..

very intresting. gl Phil

Wow I’m surprised galfond getting handled like that but opponent must be really solid

Galfond has made a great comeback since the break and its now looking (with only 25% of the hands still to play) that he could balance out things by the time the challenge ends.

However, a few issues have been underlined along the way. The first being never enter a challenge unprepared.

The second issue is length of challenge, 25,000 hands. Ironically this could work out all to Galfond's benefit after the disastrous start. However from a spectators point of view (the challenge predicated on getting eyes/play on the Run It Once site) it would appear long to the point of tedium, with only approximately 1,000 watching the live streams. Which is a shame.

I tend to agree with others who have said, the tournaments/challenges should have been held between (a prepared) Galfond and poker players with a higher profile/celebrity. They could be held over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday to be quick exciting hits - much like watching an EPT or WSOP tourney play out. A succession of such /players weekends might have been more engaging.

When the challenge is 25,00 hands, whatever the outcome it is inevitably becomes a grind from many perspectives.

Another update!

Another Huge Day for Phil Galfond in the Galfond Challenge, Battle Tightens Up

Originally Posted by chattydb4567

Wow I’m surprised galfond getting handled like that but opponent must be really solid

I am wondering if you are just hearing about this?? Phil was down 900,000 Euros at the start of the challenge. He has mounted a pretty incredible come-back .. Keep on rolling Phil!!!!!

March 22, 2020 - Update from Phil G. on Twitter. VeniVedi is taking a page out of Phil's playbook. He is taking a few days off from the challenge to regroup. Same rules apply VeniVedi pays Phil $3000 euros per day missed . Keep it going Phil !!


Phil G update 1.jpg

This entire challenge has proven to be a bit taxing on them both, it appears.

Originally Posted by Shells

This entire challenge has proven to be a bit taxing on them both, it appears.

At those stakes i would be having my 3rd nervous breakdown

Originally Posted by Shells

This entire challenge has proven to be a bit taxing on them both, it appears.

That sums things up in a nutshell, Shells.

There is the argument 25,000 hands can be insufficient in terms of variance and proving definitively who is the better player. I used to subscribe to this to a degree, but now I do not. It is valid in theory but not so much in practice. Both players have been under stress and at times patently not making optimal decisions.

Imagine playing golf, tennis or chess (whatever) at the highest level day after day for a month or two against one opponent. It would wear thin. What I would argue now is a challenge of shorter length would ensure players could bring their A game with greater regularity.

Originally Posted by DS3

That sums things up in a nutshell, Shells.

There is the argument 25,000 hands can be insufficient in terms of variance and proving definitively who is the better player. I used to subscribe to this to a degree, but now I do not. It is valid in theory but not so much in practice. Both players have been under stress and at times patently not making optimal decisions.

Imagine playing golf, tennis or chess (whatever) at the highest level day after day for a month or two against one opponent. It would wear thin. What I would argue now is a challenge of shorter length would ensure players could bring their A game with greater regularity.

I hear what you are saying, BUT on the flip side, one of the things about a heads up poker "match" that makes it different from playing full ring, is it is a battle of wills. 2 players battling each other, who can focus the best for the longest. "We" already see the new school players playing much shorter sessions. I think this shows that players need to put more energy into each hand.

Reducing 'time" played even farther, reduces the idea of this being a contest between 2 humans, who suffer from fatigue, lack of focus and all of the beautifully imperfect elements of being human. What you suggest is almost like 2 machines playing, we cannot allow anything else into the game, in my opinion you would like the human element totally removed.

Just my thoughts, maybe you are 100% right. I love the idea of players getting tired and frustrated, making wrong moves and the opponent being able to gain an advantage because of it.

Phil is the G.O.A.T.

I’ve really enjoyed watching this battle play out as Vini has a very solver based approach to the game where as Phil hadn’t really used solvers much until studying during the run up to the challenge. While the number of hands is insignificant in my opinion to show who really is the best player, I think Phil has already shown that a deep understanding of the game can offset someone with a deep understanding of solver outputs

Originally Posted by EarnDAStack

Phil is the G.O.A.T.

I’ve really enjoyed watching this battle play out as Vini has a very solver based approach to the game where as Phil hadn’t really used solvers much until studying during the run up to the challenge. While the number of hands is insignificant in my opinion to show who really is the best player, I think Phil has already shown that a deep understanding of the game can offset someone with a deep understanding of solver outputs

I like the way you phrase the strengths of both players, Phil has always been a guy who attempts to "figure out" a player and respond. On the subject of 25000 hands. To put that into perspective, if you ever tried to get a staking deal or financial backing to play online poker and you attempted to prove you are profitable by submitting a 25000 hand sample you would get rejected. People expect to see a bare minimum of 50000 but preferably much more than that.

Originally Posted by jsnake716

March 22, 2020 - Update from Phil G. on Twitter. VeniVedi is taking a page out of Phil's playbook. He is taking a few days off from the challenge to regroup. Same rules apply VeniVedi pays Phil $3000 euros per day missed . Keep it going Phil !!


Attachment 266556

Wow! I did really think this was all over a couple of weeks ago, but you have got to admire what Phil has managed to achieve here. It will be exciting to see how VeniVedi responds once the challenge resumes, as I am sure it will this time.

Galfond is doing great. Hopefully he can continue the comeback and win the sidebet. What a turnaround that would be.

Galfond won three WSOP bracelets........So im sure he is able to come back....