Category: The Phil Galfond Challenge

When Phil Galfond sent his heads-up challenge shivering throughout the poker stratosphere, some expected the odd starling to reply. Instead, he received a murmuration of interest.

Millions of dollars would be on the line, won and lost through high stakes cash games, across a variety of formats, both live and online. Add side-bets into the equation and all the hogs in the yard stop searching for walnuts, and instead, start looking for ways to open a Twitch channel.

The Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) star, ‘VeniVidi1993,’ became the first person to step into the arena. €100/€200 were the stakes. Heads-Up Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) the game. January 22, first blood, and Veni, not Phil, has been crushing the action.

The pair have duelled through 7,583 hands, throughout 11-sessions, and Veni has won all but one of them, with Galfond picking up a measly €2k win on the day the Poker Gods decided to pick him up out of the mud and dump him on a beach somewhere.

The damage is $574,394.83.

Galfond: Beaten & Bloody?

Not yet.

After speculation that Galfond was stuck like glue to an elevator floor heading for a stop called ‘Out of Your Depth,” he took the time to respond to his fans.

In a series of Tweets, Galfond urged people to keep their powder dry. He is taking a good kicking, but downswings like this are part of poker life, and he wants to take the opportunity to teach his followers how to handle them.

“Nobody is immune to the psychological effects of a string of consistent losses, myself included,” Galfond wrote.

It was an illuminating self-assessment rarely seen in public. The more unusual considering the three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder still has 18k hands to play, and a myriad of future challenges to come.

Humility and vulnerability aside, Galfond has not walked through his mistakes. Still, he has admitted that he has been making them despite trying to keep a ‘positive attitde’ in his play.

Galfond’s advice to people experiencing a similar situation is twofold. First, identify the emotion that’s creating the feeling that’s leading to the mistake, and then work on turning down the volume. It’s an aspect of the game that Galfond feels is crucial, and he hires poker’s mental game coach, Elliot Roe, to help with that.

Secondly, Galfond insists that while in the storm of emotional turmoil, you have to focus on logic and rational thinking. You have to ask yourself: “Is this the right play, or is it just the play I want to make for bad (emotional) reasons?”

Knowing When to Quit

Despite wanting to use the experience to coach his followers, Galfond doesn’t want to go broke. Top pros need to assess their performances, and their opponent’s performances to understand when they’re dog enough to quit.

Once again, humility comes to the fore as Galfond admits that he has often thought too long about whether his opponents are much better than him, and then dissects his thought process when applying that same internal question to his current scrap.

“Whatever the (unknowable) truth is about how VeniVidi1993 and I match up, I can be confident I am running poorly. But, if I’m a significant underdog, this has maybe been a bottom 15% run. If I’m a significant favourite, it has been more like a bottom 0.5% run.

“So, if I knew nothing but the results so far, I could conclude that it’s something around 30 times more likely that I’m a significant underdog than a significant favourite (and a sliding scale for edges in between that.”

“I then need to factor in m educated (but somewhat inherently biased) opinion of how I am playing compared to him. Had I somehow been unaware of the results thus far, my opinion would be that I’m a favourite. And to be clear – by that, I mean that I think I am probably a favourite. I always am aware that I could be wrong.”

The tweets end with Galfond remaining steadfast – he will keep on fighting, and anyone who knows him wouldn’t expect anything less.

The reasons for Galfond continuing his tussle with Veni are numerous and astute. He wants to continue teaching his followers how to handle a downswing while in the midst of one. He knows that he is running bad, and is hoping the tide turns. He is still shaking off that ring rust, and with more challengers in the wings sharpening their axes, he needs the action. He has side bets, and if he quits, he forfeits them, including losing an additional €200,000 to Veni. And he has an online poker site to promote.

But.

Most.

Of.

All.

“As difficult, exhausting and risky as it is to battle a tough player at very high stakes, I absolutely love this shit.”

Results

Day 1: 655 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €72,572.68
Day 2: 715 hands, Phil Galfond won €2,615.26
Day 3: 557 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €84,437.52
Day 4: 581 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €17,544.87
Day 5: 726 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €155,063.52
Day 6: 703 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €13.31
Day 7: 823 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €52,057.13
Day 8: 940 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €60,743.37
Day 9: 446 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €12,706.51
Day 10: 696 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €100,993.30
Day 11: 741 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €15,647.36
Total: 7,583 hands with VeniVidi1993 +$574,394.83.

I’m not saying that Phil Galfond is burning at a quarter-candle while everyone else is an electric lightbulb, but by his admission, he hasn’t been playing a bunch of poker lately.

Wives.

Children.

Beard manicures.

Online Poker Rooms.

So much to do, and so little time.

Let’s say, his white glove slap across the face of the poker community in the form of the ‘Galfond Challenge’, is likely to be returned with a few baseball mitts. HighStakesDB even led with an article entitled: Why The Galfond Challenge is Becoming a Disaster For Phil.

But is it?

RIO Poker’s success is everything to Galfond.

A mistake that business owners make is persuading people to buy their product through the means of logical and rational thought, and there’s a lot of that flying around the trapezes of the poker circus.

However, the messages that get goosebumps pimpling don’t ambush the brain; they attack the heart.

Feelings.

You can’t change a mind without first winning their hearts.

If you love poker, then it’s hard not to respect Phil Galfond and what he’s trying to do at RIO Poker. How will it make you feel to see him battling against so many diverse characters across different stakes and platforms with millions of dollars on the line?

Will a few hearts flutter?

Will a few hairs stand on end?

Will one or ten of you choose to compete on the site after seeing the silky software?

It’s hard to persuade people to do things they don’t want to do — what better way than showing them how exhilarating it can be.

And the poker community needs this challenge after the ‘Durrrr Challenge’ debacle. Coincidentally, Phil Galfond was the only player banned from challenging Dwan when the challenge first got off the ground. Galfond chose to allow all-comers into his home, but who are the ones he’s secretly hoping he doesn’t have to ask to leave their shoes at the door?

“There are some players that I am thinking, ‘Man that would be a challenge,’” admits Galfond before continuing. “If only the top players had taken on the challenge, I would have had to have taken some on. But I have too many challengers, so I don’t have to play the toughest. I still might, and I will play more tougher players than I need to, so I can challenge myself, and for publicity for the site – but I do have my pick.”

Future thinking or dwelling on the past is the primary cause of our anxiety because the brain doesn’t know the difference between our mental models and reality. In the spirit, of using this knowledge to his advantage, and priming the pump ready for an injection of poker fairy dust, I ask him to reminisce over his fiercest battles.

“My most famous battles have been against Isildur,” said Galfond. “My biggest winning day was against Viktor when I won $1.6m. We started at $300/$600 PLO and moved on to $500/$1k PLO at some point during the session. I’ve also had a million-dollar losing day against him.

“Back in the day, I also used to play a lot with David Benyamine and Gus Hansen. Gus had that heads-up PLO table that had one seat reserved for him, with one open, and I played him quite a bit. This one time, Gus asked Full Tilt to create a $2k/$4k O8 table for him, and instead, they made a $2k/$4k PLO table. I might have been the only one to play him there, and won small. That’s the highest stakes I have ever played.

“I mainly played Benyamine at NLHE. It may have been before my PLO days. I’ve had at least three seven-figure losses playing online within 24-hours, and I think one was largely against him, but I can’t say that with certainty, because it’s been so long.”

Galfond has seen it all, and also has the perspective of his perch on the throne of RIO’s online training site – so what are the skills and abilities that make a world-class heads-up player?

“What makes a world-class heads-up player are the attributes that surround reading your opponent,” says Galfond. “Reads on game flow, their mood and the way they play as the match progresses and getting a feel for that and staying one step ahead. Or making reads based on stats or showdowns about some leaks that they have. The next step is being able to logically determine the correct counter strategy to take advantage of that.

“As poker progresses, people are becoming more proficient with solvers, and are approaching optimal play a little bit more. At the highest level, the best player is the one that’s super closest to optimal play, but I don’t think anyone is close enough right now for that to be the most important attribute. I think we’re still quite a ways off that, and everyone has enough leaks that if you’re able to identify them and combat them, then these are the most important skills.”

With so much money on the line; reputation, and the profitability of RIO Poker also in the lens – what are the unhelpful thoughts that go through Galfond’s head when it comes to achieving his goals?

“It’s a strange combination of having a lot of doubts in myself and yet being very determined to achieve my goals,” says Galfond. “I have never been a hard studier in poker, but in business, I have found a work ethic that I didn’t have before. I am hoping, as I focus on poker more these next months because of the challenge that my business work ethics rubs off on my poker one.

“I also have unhelpful thoughts around the belief that I am not good at studying or learning from the available new tools. I fear that I can’t digest the information, and it will end up hurting my game more than helping it. Fear of failure is a common problem, and in Elliot Roe’s Run It Once course, which I’ve been taking, I identified that as a big leak of mine. He has an exercise where you go through a fear like that and determine what you’re really afraid of and what you can do to combat the fear, which I found very helpful

The interest in the ‘Galfond Challenge’ has been phenomenal, prompting the thought – could RIO Poker be the new Rail Heaven?

“We have thought a lot about elevating RIO to the Rail Heaven of the past,” admits Galfond. “It’s always been a part of our plans, and we have changes planned in our software development to accommodate the high stakes playing and railing experience. The idea for this challenge happened pretty quickly, so the full experience that we have planned for the future is not available for this challenge.”

And who would Galfond like in a Rail Heaven cast?

“I want great players, but you need to give them an incentive to play with each other. Some of that comes from us, and some of that comes through recruiting non-pros, preferably those that are well known, to make the games better, and hopefully, we can offer something to them to make it worthwhile.

“If I had to give you names then I like to watch guys like Sauce battle. I like watching Berri Sweet, Ike Haxton, Trueteller – but I also think the fans would like to see guys like Ivey, Antonius; some of the old school high stakes players. Those are the names that immediately spring to mind, and now I am doing this high stakes challenge I will include myself in that cast.”

Now go and trim that beard, you’ve got hearts to win, Mr G.

Phil Galfond Challenge Lineup (Subject to Change)

VeniVidi1993 – €100/€200 PLO over 25k hands
ActionFreak – €150/€300 PLO over 15k hands.
Jungleman – €100/€200 PLO over 7.5k hands
Brandon Adams – $100/$200 PLO over 40hrs of live poker
Chance Kornuth – €100/€200 PLO over 25k hands
Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – €100/€200 PLO over 50k hands or a €400k loss

*Rob Yong has also accepting the challenge, and negotiations have begun.

Side Bet Info

VeniVidi1993 – Side bet of Phil’s €200k to VeniVidi’s €100k
ActionFreak – Side bet of Phil’s €150k to ActionFreak’s €150k
Jungleman – TBD
Brandon Adams – Side Bet of Phil’s $150k to Brandon’s $100k
Chance Kornuth – Side Bet of Phil’s €1m to Chance’s €250k
Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – Side Bet of Phil’s $800k to Bill’s $200k

PokerShares Odds

Galfond (2.16) v VeniVidi1993 (1.73)
Galfond (2.25) v ActionFreak (1.66)
Galfond (1.91) v Jungleman (1.95)
Galfond (1.60) v Adams (2.40)

It seems its more natural to breath life into dead flowers than run an online poker room. 

Ask Phil Galfond.

Yet, the man didn’t become one of the best in the business without the grit, determination and resilience needed to overcome the obstacles that Joseph Campbell always maintained would bar your way. 

Galfond needs more sweaty palms covering mice that fire arrows onto Run It Once like Robin Hood on crack, and one of the ways he intends to do that is to bring high stakes online cash game action to his baby. 

In a post entitled: “Heads-Up Battle,”, Galfond goes old school, issuing a high stakes challenge to everyone except his current roster of Run It Once pros. 

“Who wants to play some high stakes poker with a washed-up ex-pro?”

There are two ways to get involved in the action.

Galfond is offering a Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) challenge to all coaches that work on Run It Once’s competitor sites. He suggests Heads-Up, PLO over 50k hands, and a 3:1 side bet of 10 buy-ins played at 100/200+.  

Galfond would consider dropping the stakes to get some action, but judging by feedback on his blog, it’s likely high stakes fans will get the knitting needles in the eyes they so desperately want. 

Outside of PLO superheroes, Galfond offered a second challenge to anyone who thinks they have what it takes to topple a man the poker community would gladly memorialise with a golden statue. 

Here are the deets:

  • Prefer 100/200 through 300/600 PLO.
    • Will consider as low as 25/50
    • Will consider PLO/NL, PLO / limit games, and perhaps even straight NL if I get desperate enough!
  • Strongly prefer play on Run It Once Poker, but would consider some or all of the match played elsewhere if necessary.
  • You accept that I might make training content around the match and/or stream some of the match.
  • Any opponent who would stream some of the match (on RIO Poker) will get preference and possibly better terms.

The format is similar to the ‘Durrr Challenge,’ and who was the only player Tom Dwan omitted from that challenge – Mr Phil Galfond. 

If you are interested in taking him on, then send an email to support@runitonce.ru with “Phil’s HU Challenge” as the title.

But there’s more than one way to skin a sloth.

Want to be a Legend?

Galfond has many attributes, and one of them is his humility. In a blog post, entitled “Become a Legend” , the online cash game genius admits that his beloved ‘Splash the Pot’ Rakeback system, isn’t as loved as he would like.

During his time streaming and talking with players, Galfond has had to admit that some poker players prefer the older, volume-based way of grinding profits through Rakeback. 

“As should be obvious from all of my previous discussion on the topic, I don’t share that view, but it doesn’t really matter what I think,” wrote Galfond. “If we are giving back over half of our rake collected and a number of players view our rewards as worse than sites which offer 20% flat Rakeback, then we are failing miserably at getting the most out of our rewards system.”

In what Galfond calls ‘the first time that we’ve substantially altered course based on customer feedback,’ Run It Once’s rewards system changes. Rakeback reserved for Splash the Pot reduces from 51% to 30%, and soon, players can compete for splashes worth 100bb without risking any chips. Run It Once are set to implement “all-in for nothing” splashes, where the best hand at showdown wins 70% of the splash, with 30% reserved for the table.

The reduction in ‘Splash the Pot’ Rakeback allows Galfond to siphon rake to the new Legends program where players can earn up to 45% Rakeback (making that 75% in total). Legends is a point-based, tiered-system where a single point equates to €0.05 in gross rake paid, and there is a variety of fun and innovative ways that you can boost your scores including the first login of the week, first hand of the day, and clearing a rewards level. Run It Once plans to pay Rakeback weekly, and they’ve also added a rolling 4-Week Streak Rakeback boost for achieving a specific tier or higher four weeks in a row.

There is also insane value for people brave enough to keep games running with 1.5x point multipliers for 3-handed action, and 2x multipliers for battling heads-up.

Click on this link to learn more about the Legends program.

https://www.runitonce.eu/rewards/legends/