"VeniVidi" Out To Big Lead in Challenge

Published on February 9th, 2020 4:59 pm EST

Things have gone about as poorly as possible for Phil Galfond so far in the first "Galfond Challenge", as he has dropped over 900,000 Euros over the course of just 15 sessions.

As of this moment, a total of 15 sessions and 9,927 hands have been played in the first "Challenge". "VeniVidi", who is Galfond's opponent in the first Challenge, has won the vast majority of the sessions. While "VeniVidi" has been able to post some very big sessions, Galfond hasn't been able to do the same.

After another six-figure losing session on Sunday, Galfond is currently down €900,240.17, while "VeniVidi" is almost 1 million Euros in the green.

The entire Challenge is set to last 25,000 hands, while means that Galfond has just over 15,000 hands to turn things around and finish in the green. Given what we've seen so far, this seems quite unlikely, especially if "VeniVidi" starts to play less aggressively in the second half of the challenge.

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To make matters worse for Galfond, he is going to be forced to pay an additional €200,000 to "VeniVidi" if he ends up losing the challenge.

If Galfond can turn things around and finish in the green, "VeniVidi" will have to pay €100,000 to settle their side bet.

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It will be interesting to see how the two players adjust, given the results that have taken place so far.

Will Galfond attempt to play ultra aggressively in order to try to close the gap? Will this lead to even bigger losses?

Will "VeniVidi" play less aggressively in the second half of the challenge in order to maintain his lead and win the challenge, or will he look to capitalize on Galfond's likely desperation?

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With all of that being said, "VeniVidi" is almost certainly going to be one of Galfond's toughest opponents, and Galfond being down early in the challenge, especially given his time off from the game in recent years, can't be all that surprising.

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Filed Under: Cash Games