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Phil Galfond loses final session but wins ‘ActionFreak’ challenge

Another massive win for Run It Once Poker founder, Phil Galfond putting an end to the second Galfond Challenge and defeating his opponent ‘ActionFreak’. Inked in the history books, without much drama and miraculous comeback, Galfond took down the challenge earning back-to-back titles!

That's a wrap! @PhilGalfond has secured his second #GalfondChallenge victory by nudging out @crackLiNg1 by roughly €114,803.51 over 15,000 hands. ActionFreak never backed down and made the final session a sweat to the very end. GGs to both players, it was a pleasure to watch! pic.twitter.com/6rWdEMFoHD

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) May 26, 2020

The Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) session against online pro Ioannis Kontonatsios aka ‘ActionFreak’ kicked off on 27 April after besting the previous match against his toughest competitor ‘VeniVidi1993’. The entire heads-up challenge against ‘ActionFreak’ was quite different. With ‘VeniVidi1993’, Galfond was getting crushed through the first 15 sessions and took a few days off to gather his thoughts and regroup himself. The extended break proved beneficial and the three-time WSOP bracelet winner pulled off through €900K loss.

The talented poker pro however lost the final session against ‘ActionFreak’ by almost €123K but it wasn’t enough to overcome the lead he had taken. Galfond carried a sizeable lead of €237K into the final day and played more than 800 hands. In addition to the €114,803 he won over the course of the 15,000 hands of €150-€300 PLO, Galfond seized €150K from their side bet. The champion won back-to-back on Day 15 and Day 16 followed by the 18^th session which pushed his lead more than €450K and from there he held on to the finish line!

I’m pretty disappointed that I didn’t finish stronger, but I’m happy to walk away from a very tough match with the win.

Thanks to everyone involved and to all who watched the show!

I’m looking forward to a little bit of rest. https://t.co/yJdXKiHMRb

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) May 26, 2020

Galfond said, “I had dreams of a much bigger win a few days ago, but all in all, if you told me at the beginning of the challenge that this would be the result, I’d be happy with it.” When Jamie Kerstetter asked the champion which of the first two opponents is a better PLO player, declining to compare his two competitors, Galfond replied saying “I guess I don’t know. Well, I think I have an opinion, but I don’t want to say. They’re both excellent players. So, even saying one is better than the other is not really a slight to the other. But I’d prefer not to.”

The former Full Tilt Poker star has an ongoing match against Bill Perkins which is more than 1K hands complete and Galfond is almost about $90K up. And now he can start playing against Chance Kornuth on WSOP.com. Other competitors on his list include Dan Cates and Brandon Adams.

For more updates on Galfond Challenge, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com and stay tuned!

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