Galfond Challenge: ‘ActionFreak’ Banks €74,625 Win
Phil Galfond and ‘ActionFreak‘ were back in action on Tuesday, May 5, for another session of the ‘Galfond Challenge.’ This time, they battled for 727 hands of high-stakes PLO, with ‘ActionFreak’ winning €74,625.85.
The two are now 4,078 hands through the 15,000-hand challenge, which is just more than 27% of the way through. Overall, Galfond is out in front by €246,512.56.
The two are playing €150-300 PLO, with play going between Run It Once Poker and partypoker. Once the 15,000 hands are complete, the winner will also earn a €150,000 side bet from the other player.
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During Monday’s session, it was revealed that ‘ActionFreak’ was Ioannis Kontonatsios.
Helping ‘ActionFreak’ to book the win on Tuesday was winning the following €102,238.08 hand.
The final board was 
and there was €42,302.24 in the middle. Galfond bet the pot, which was enough to put ‘ActionFreak’ all in. ‘ActionFreak’ had €29,967.92 left and tank-called.
‘ActionFreak’ showed a king-high straight with the 
and beat Galfond’s 
to win the pot.
Although he did finish down almost €75,000 on the session, the beating that Galfond took wasn’t that bad when you consider his loss is only two and a half buy-ins at the stakes they’re playing. One of the big pots Galfond won on Tuesday was this next one, in which he hauled in a pot of €61,231.98 with a set of eights.
On the 
flop, Galfond fired a pot-sized bet of €5,399 and ‘ActionFreak’ raised to €21,596. Galfond went all in for €27,916.49 total and ‘ActionFreak’ called.
‘ActionFreak’ had the 
and Galfond had the 
. The turn was the 
and the river was the to give Galfond the win.
Challenge Results To Date
| Hands Played | Daily Winner | Amount Won | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 (Apr. 27) | 145 | ActionFreak | €11,162.32 |
| Day 2 (Apr. 28) | 1,017 | Phil Galfond | €3,632.83 |
| Day 3 (Apr. 30) | 844 | Phil Galfond | €310,594.59 |
| Day 4 (May 1) | 665 | Phil Galfond | €113,377.48 |
| Day 5 (May 4) | 680 | ActionFreak | €95,304.17 |
| Day 6 (May 5) | 727 | ActionFreak | €74,625.85 |
| – | – | – | – |
| Total | 4,078 | Phil Galfond | €246,512.56 |
What’s Next for the Galfond Challenge?
Galfond and ‘ActionFreak’ will have a day off on Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some action to sweat. Galfond is having a mini challenge against Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates of €100-200 PLO on Run It Once Poker and they’ll play 750 hands. On Thursday, May 7, Galfond and ‘ActionFreak’ will be back at it.