Phil Galfond Puts Six-Figure Loss Behind Him and Resumes VeniVidi1993 Match

March 4th, 2020 | by Greg Shaun

Phil Galfond is getting back on the horse after a short break from his high stakes heads-up challenge against VeniVidi1993.

Phil Galfond will resume his high stakes match against VeniVidi1993 on March 4. (Image: YouTube/Run It Once)

Galfond decided to hit the pause button at the start of February after suffering significant losses. After an initial flurry of sessions, the American was down almost $1 million.

He attributed the heavy downswing to a combination of poor decisions and bad luck. With the pressure on, he decided to stop and take stock of his options.

Phil Galfond Wounded but Still Alive

⚔️ #GalfondChallenge Alert ⚔️@PhilGalfond and Venividi will be resuming their match this Wednesday at 16:00 GMT! As usual, you can catch all of the action live on https://t.co/VVpAfF0mLr! pic.twitter.com/pZ3FTUiivf
— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) March 2, 2020

VeniVidi1993 agreed to a hiatus and accepted a $3,250-a-day compensation payment from Galfond. He’ll now get to put that money to use as the match is scheduled to restart on March 4.

As one of the leading high stakes online poker players for at least a decade, Phil Galfond isn’t one to give up easily. With time to reflect, he decided it was time to saddle up and get back to it.

Quite why he decided to continue in the face of adversity is unclear. However, a simple post made it clear he wasn’t going down without a fight.

“I’m gonna keep playing,” Galfond wrote on Feb. 26.

The first match gets underway at 16:00 GMT and Galfond will battle VeniVidi1993 for four hours. Assuming all is well, the pair will continue to play four-hour sessions, five-days-a-week until they reach 25,000 hands.

Drawing Positives from Negatives

Speaking to PocketFives, Galfond said he’d be happy to end the match $440,000 down. However, given the swings so far, he admits that’s optimistic.

“Obviously, that’s ambitious and there’s a lot out of my control, so I’ll try to focus on playing my best and keeping my mindset strong,” Phil Galfond told PocketFives.

The good thing to come out of the highly-publicized match is that it’s shone a spotlight on Run It Once. Although Galfond hasn’t released exact figures, he said the exposure has given his online poker site a boost.

However, with more challenges lined up, including a possible match with Luke Schwartz, Galfond won’t want to lose too heavily.

Indeed, with some of the game’s top players baying for blood, he’ll want to regain some confidence as he fights to the end against VeniVidi1993.