Phil Galfond Extends Lead Over Chance Kornuth to $554,500

January 18th, 2021 | by Greg Shaun

Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu are currently dominating the heads-up challenge headlines. However, Phil Galfond has reminded everyone that he’s still in fighting for supremacy against Chance Kornuth.

Phil Galfond (pictured) is back to winning ways in his high stakes match against Chance Kornuth. (Image: Farah Galfond/Instagram)

The high-stakes star has been content to play second fiddle to Polk and Negreanu in recent weeks. But, late last week, he reasserted his authority.

With his match against Kornuth nearing a conclusion, Galfond notched up more wins to extend his lead in the match to over $550,000.

Phil Galfond Taking His Chances

Galfond and Kornuth are scheduled to play 35,000 hands and, last week, the pair almost moved to within 10,000 hands of that target.

They initially resumed the heads-up battle on January 5. Things didn’t go well for Galfond as he kicked off 2021 with a $33,000 loss.

Things got worse when he dropped another $46,500 the next day. With Kornuth starting the year strong, it looked as though an impressive comeback might be on the cards.

Galfond is starting to dominate. (Image: Run It Once)

However, Galfond managed to stem the tide on January 7 with an $80,000 win. He followed that with a $192,000 profit on January 8, before losing back $76,000 on January 12.

Galfond eventually ended the week with two back-to-back wins worth $46,000 and $40,000.

The founder of Run it Once is now leading Kornuth by $554,500. With 24,800 hands played, a comeback is looking unlikely.

But with two playing $100/$200 Pot Limit Omaha (PLO), it’s far from impossible. The volatile nature of PLO and the stakes make for a deadly combination; particularly if someone is running bad.

Entertainment for Everyone

Galfond knows this all too well. He was forced to come back from a monumental deficit in his first challenge match against VeniVidi1993.

At one point, he’d lost almost $1 million to his mysterious online opponent. Such was the magnitude of his losses that it drew barbed comments from the likes of Luke Schwartz.

However, like a true pro, Phil Galfond took a break and came back to secure the win.

That’s something Kornuth could do as the two enter the twilight of their match. It’s also something Daniel Negreanu could do in his match against Doug Polk.

He recently committed to seeing out their high stakes match despite losing more than $629,000.

Whatever the outcome of both matches, the contrasting fortunes of those involved make for compelling viewing. Many parts of the world are still locked down by COVID-19 restrictions, so any type of distraction right now is a positive.

Galfond et al are entertaining us by putting their bankrolls on the line and, for that, we should all be grateful.