The Galfond Challenge is almost back, but with a new competitor to face Phil Galfond — poker coach Chance Kornuth. The online poker competition, scheduled to begin September 23 on Run it Once, includes 35,000 hands of pot-limit Omaha played at €100/€200 stakes. The Galfond Challenge is a series of high-stakes, heads-up poker matches. Various challengers will take on Galfond over a set number of hands or period of time. They’ll be playing Pot Limit Omaha and there will be betting action on the side as to who wins each match. Who Is Challenging Galfond?

The Galfond Challenge is almost back, but with a new competitor to face Phil Galfond — poker coach Chance Kornuth. The online poker competition, scheduled to begin September 23 on Run it Once, includes 35,000 hands of pot-limit Omaha played at €100/€200 stakes.

Kornuth, the founder of Chip Leader Coaching, isn’t getting much respect from the poker community. Although he’s known as one of the top no-limit hold’em players in the U.S., he’s facing arguably the best PLO pro of all-time. Galfond, formerly known under his famous “OMGClayAiken” screen name during the Full Tilt Poker days, has already won his first two battles in the Galfond Challenge. And few anticipate a different outcome this time around.

PokerShares, a poker betting platform, has already released the odds for the third Galfond Challenge. Kornuth (+600) is a 6-1 underdog.

The 35,000-hand competition will be played on Galfond’s poker site, Run it Once. Galfond is laying some juicy odds on a side bet. Should Kornuth win, the poker site owner will owe him an additional $1 million, whereas he’d owe Galfond $200,000 if he loses.

Although those odds are quite intriguing, Kornuth has his work cut out for him and could lose millions of dollars. Not only would he owe Galfond the $200,000 side bet in the event he loses the challenge. But he would also be out all the money lost during the 35,000 hands of cash game play. At the €100/€200 stakes, over that many hands, losing upwards of $1 million isn’t out of the question. That’s only 50 buy-ins ($20,000). Or, he could win the challenge and profit millions of dollars instead.

Why the odds are in Galfond’s favor

Phil Galfond has been crushing the highest stakes online PLO games for a dozen years. He won millions of dollars back in the day on Full Tilt Poker, pre-Black Friday. And he’s already faced, and conquered, two difficult opponents in the Galfond Challenge.

The first Galfond Challenge match took place early in the year against online poker superstar “VeniVidi1993,” a Swedish pro. Galfond appeared headed to a massive defeat as he trailed by over €900,000 in February. At one point, he considered throwing in the towel and paying off the €200,000 side bet.

But he didn’t want to disappoint his fans and realized had he quit, it would have been a bad look for the poker site he’s trying to grow. So, he stayed the course and battled back. On the final day of the 20,000-hand match, he miraculously pulled it off to win by a slim margin.

In the next challenge, against “ActionFreak,” he didn’t need to scramble to pull it out late. This time around, he opened up a big lead early on and coasted to victory. Galfond won the challenge by approximately €114,000, and then another €150,000 side bet.

The competition against “ActionFreak” concluded in late May. Galfond returned home to Las Vegas afterwards, where he’s stayed since. Run it Once and partypoker — the other poker site partially used during the Galfond Challenge — are both unavailable in the U.S. So, Galfond has been forced to take a break from the online poker challenges. That will change later this month when he returns to Canada to face Kornuth.

Galfond also has a pending challenge against hedge fund manager Bill Perkins, and then later will also face Dan “Jungleman” Cates.

Starting January 22, 2020, the 'Galfond Challenge' will be front and center of the poker world. Phil Galfond, owner of the online poker site Run It Once Poker, is taking on at least six competitors in a series of high-stakes heads-up challenges that will be streamed for all to watch.

Once a dominant player in the high-stakes poker community, Galfond stepped away from the game professionally to start his own online poker site, Run It Once Poker, with a mission to serve players first. Issuing the Galfond Challenge, Galfond announced that he wanted to get back in the high-stakes poker ring, so he issued a challenge to the poker world in November 2019. The smallest stakes for the Galfond Challenge are $100-$200. Those stakes are not small by any means, but it’s the additional side betting action totaling in the millions of dollars that really has people salivating.

What Is the Galfond Challenge?

The Galfond Challenge is a series of high-stakes, heads-up poker matches. Various challengers will take on Galfond over a set number of hands or period of time. They’ll be playing Pot Limit Omaha and there will be betting action on the side as to who wins each match.

Who Is Challenging Galfond?

There are currently six matches lined up, but more may be coming. The six challengers who will be taking on Galfond are Bill Perkins, Brandon Adams, Chance Kornuth, Dan 'Jungleman' Cates, and two online poker players known as 'ActionFreak' and 'VeniVidi1993.' Five of those six will face off against Galfond in heads-up online poker, and Adams will play Galfond in heads-up live poker.

How Can You Bet On the Galfond Challenge?

You can bet on the Galfond Challenge, thanks to PokerShares. PokerShares is offering match prices for the outcomes of the different Galfond Challenge matches, plus daily betting options for which player will come out on top after a specific session.

How Much Is at Stake?

Millions of dollars will be on the line. Not only will each side be playing for the stacks on the felt, but each side has agreed to terms of side betting action. In most cases, Galfond is laying odds to his opponent.

'VeniVidi1993' vs. Galfond

Start: Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Stakes: €100-€200 PLO
Duration: 25,000 hands
Side Action: Galfond's €200,000 to VeniVidi1993's €100,000

The first match of the Galfond Challenge saw Galfond square off against high-stakes online poker player 'VeniVidi1993.' Although not much information is available on 'VeniVidi1993,' we can tell you that he is a respected high-stakes PLO player. Galfond and 'VeniVidi1993' planned to play for 25,000 hands, with Galfond risking €200,000 and 'VeniVidi1993' having €100,000 on the line, in addition to any money won on the table.

The opening match of the Galfond Challenge saw two very different storylines play out. The first is the dominance of 'VeniVidi1993' over the first 15 sessions of play. At the end of those 15 sessions, 'VeniVidi1993' was up more than €900,000 and Galfond decided to suspend the match in an effort to regroup. After more than three weeks off, Galfond returned to continue playing 'VeniVidi1993' on March 4. That's when the second storyline kicked in and Galfond mounted a comeback for the ages.

Galfond went on to erase the €900,000 deficit, but the match came down to the wire. With less than 100 hands to go, 'VeniVidi1993' had Galfond on the ropes, but Galfond fought back in what was an incredibly suspenseful performance. Eventually, Galfond won a final pot that sealed his victory.

Day 1 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Grabs €72,527 Lead

Day 2 Recap: Galfond Books Small Win

Day 3 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Wins €84,437

Day 4 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Scores €17,544 Win

Day 5 Recap: Big Day for 'VeniVidi1993,' Wins €155,063

Day 6 Recap: Galfond Wins Final Pot for Breakeven Day

Day 7 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Wins €52,057

Day 8 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Now Up €439,817

Day 9 Recap: Galfond Now Down More Than €450,000

Poker Galfond Challenge Game

Day 10 Recap: Galfond Loses Another €100,000

Day 11 Recap: Galfond Now Down Nearly €570,000

Day 12 Recap: Galfond Wins Back €87,940

Day 13 Recap: Galfond Suffers €267,949 Loss

Day 14 Recap: Phil Galfond Down €797,646 Overall

Day 15 Recap: €102,593 Loss Leaves Galfond Down €900,000

Day 16 Recap: €183,481 Win for Galfond in Return

Day 17 Recap: ‘VeniVidi1993’ Picks Up €21,571 Win

Day 18 Recap: Friday Brings €27,198 Win for Galfond

Day 19 Recap: Galfond Picks Up €26,018 Win On Saturday

Poker Galfond Challenge Cheat

Day 20 Recap: €92,803 Win for Phil Galfond

Day 21 Recap: Tuesday Brings a Small Win for Galfond

Day 22 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Battles Back with €88,465 Win

Day 23 Recap: Galfond Books €23,821 Win

Day 24 Recap: Galfond Picks Up Another €19,099

Day 25 Recap: Galfond Wins €139,485 On Saturday

Day 26 Recap: €110,752 Thursday Win for Galfond

Day 27 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Scores €76,026 Victory

Day 28 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Rage Quits, Galfond Wins €140K

Rio Poker Galfond Challenge

Day 29 Recap: Galfond Wins €85,271, Now Down €233,624

Day 30 Recap: €26,992 Win for ‘VeniVidi1993’

Day 31 Recap: Galfond Scores €106,328 Win

Day 32 Recap: Galfond Enjoys First Overall Lead

Day 33 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Wins €28,538 On Friday

Day 34 Recap: €28,722 Win for Galfond On Saturday

Day 35 Recap: €121,486 Win Gives Galfond Overall Lead

Day 36 Recap: Galfond Loses Tuesday, Maintains Overall Lead

Galfond Poker Challenge

Day 37 Recap: 'VeniVidi1993' Retakes the Lead

Poker Galfond Challenge Games

Day 38 Recap: Galfond Trails By €8,171 with One Session Left

Day 39 Recap: Phil Galfond Completes Incredible Comeback To Win Galfond Challenge