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Chance Kornuth has officially conceded in his high-stakes cash game poker showdown against three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Galfond. The two played around 25,400 hands of heads-up $100-$200 pot-limit Omaha before Kornuth, a two-time bracelet winner himself, decided to throw in the towel and pay out the $250,000 side bet he had put up against Galfond’s $1 million as to which of the two players would come out on top after playing an agreed-upon total of 35,000 hands. At the time the match was called, Kornuth had reportedly lost $726,500 to Galfond.

Posted on May 15, 2012 May 15, 2012. Let’s say, totally hypothetically, that you’re a high stakes online player – we’ll call you Phil Galfond.

• Farah LeeAllen Fath Galfond (born May 1, 1984) is an American actress. She portrayed Mimi Lockhart on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1999 to 2007, and Gigi.
• A POST FROM Posted by Phil Galfond October 29, 2020 Though I’ve been a cash game player for the last decade and a half, Sit & Gos hold a very special place in my heart. My first two years in poker were at the single table SNGs.

I've decided to concede the challenge . Congrats to PhilGalfond</a> on another <a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/GalfondChallenge?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>#GalfondChallenge</a> Victory. It was an incredibly fun battle even though I lost. Going to take a few days w/ friends and family, and share more about my experience in the weeks to come on <a href='https://twitter.com/ChipLDR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>ChipLDR

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) January 23, 2021

The two players were just shy of completing three-quarters of the 35,000 hands when Kornuth made the decision to call it early in the 50th session of the match. Kornuth had held the lead for the majority of the first 37 sessions, building his advantage to as high as $344,500 in profit before Galfond launched a late surge that turned the tables. In the three sessions that followed his low point of -$344,500 that was reached on Nov. 13, Galfond booked three wins in a row to erase $313,000 in losses and nearly pull even.

The two hovered around even for the remaining sessions in November, but December saw Galfond go on the winning streak that ultimately proved decisive. He booked an $88,000 win on Dec. 8 to regain the lead in the match and then proceeded to win 9 out of the next 13 sessions to increase his total profits to $680,500. Galfond won $126,000 on Jan. 22 in what proved to be the penultimate session of the challenge.

Session 50 was delayed due to technical difficulties with the live stream coverage of the match. By the time the issues were sorted out, Kornuth had reportedly lost a few all-ins to fall to be stuck $46,000 on the day. Just minutes after the live stream began to show the two playing, Kornuth sat out. Farah Galfond, Phil’s wife, was making her debut as a commentator. She and fellow commentator Nick Steiner were killing time, reading questions from the chat during the break in action, when Galfond let them know that the match was officially over. Both competitors then joined the live stream via a video call after the shocking announcement that Kornuth had conceded.

“It was a heck of a battle, and things didn’t really go my way down the stretch,” said Kornuth. “Phil played great.”

Kornuth went on to share that he sold action for the match based on a $1 million total. With the $250,000 side bet he was posting, that meant that he had set a $750,000 loss limit for himself.

“So I knew about my number coming in, and when I lost two all-ins I thought I better double-check the numbers, and it was there,” explained Kornuth about the decision to end the match.

Galfond took to Twitter shortly after the match concluded to make a statement about the result, making a point to thank all of the commentators who spent so much time analyzing the action on the live streams. Among those who committed a great deal of time to covering the match were Card Player columnist and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Nathan Gamble. You can check out his Twitch channel to view archived action from the match.

I guess it was “only” 4 months? I have no sense of time anymore because of these things.
Thanks to henry_kilbane</a>, <a href='https://twitter.com/Surfbum4life?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>Surfbum4life, o8grinder</a>, <a href='https://twitter.com/ThalloPoker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>ThalloPoker, and @smithers4pres for holding down the booth this whole time. I hope everyone enjoyed watching!

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) January 23, 2021

This is the third Galfond Challenge match that has been completed, with Galfond coming out on top in all three so far. He started of the challenge in dramatic fashion by mounting a €900,000 comeback to beat ‘VeniVidi1993’ in the final session of the match. Galfond’s second victory saw him hold a lead throughout his battle against Ioannis ‘ActionFreak’ Kontonatsios.’

With this third match now concluded, Galfond’s only active match is now against entrepreneur and frequent high-stakes poker player Bill Perkins. Just two sessions of $100-$200 pot-limit Omaha have been played in this match so far with Galfond up $90,144.05 for the time being. The two have not played a session since April of 2020. With a total of seven matches having been announced, Galfond has at least four more opponents to contend with.

Below is a look at all seven challenges and the details regarding stakes and side bets:

Phil Hellmuth is an all-time poker great. With just shy of $24 million in career earnings and a record 15 World Series of Poker bracelets, it is hard to argue that his career won’t be regarded as one of the best in history.

As more time elapses between the current environment and the Chris Moneymaker-inspired poker boom of 2003, however, his ability relative to the game’s best is a point of heated debate.

Given his age and background, high-stakes pro and poker site operator Phil Galfond, tweeted a somewhat controversial opinion of Hellmuth Tuesday evening.

In Galfond’s opinion, Hellmuth actually has some chops.

Before the Moneymaker boom there was less math used in developing strategies. Hellmuth was clearly one of the best in the world while using a much more exploitative, feel-based strategy than many top pros implement today. As the game evolved and high roller events emerged, it became clear that the players in those tournaments had much less respect for his game.

Galfond revealed four screenshots of his phone’s notepad, elaborating on his thoughts of Hellmuth’s recent heads-up play against Antonio Esfandiari on PokerGO’s “High Stakes Duel.” It is one of the rare times that a player of Galfond’s age and caliber has outwardly praised Hellmuth’s poker ability.

We so often criticize the plays we see on TV from the comfort of our couches. I think it’s only fair to also give credit where credit is due.
I recently watched phil_hellmuth</a> on <a href='https://twitter.com/PokerGO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>PokerGO’s #HighStakesDuel & wrote down some thoughts. pic.twitter.com/AEOVEeczZQ

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) October 7, 2020

Many of the game’s best base their decisions off what is the correct Game Theory Optimal [GTO] play. GTO is heavily based in mathematics and requires lots of studying. Players who use this strategy generally end up with an understanding how often a certain hand should take specific actions and how to randomize play to prevent getting exploited by their opponents.

Hellmuth doesn’t really ascribe to that method. He’s still an old-school, feel player at his core. He infamously described his game as using “white magic” to pinpoint what his opponents’ hole cards were.

“What I saw wasn’t HUNL technical mastery,” wrote the three-time bracelet winner in one of his screenshots. “It was an uncanny ability to assess and adapt to every spot he found himself in. Specifically, in the second match, Phil’s reads on each and every hand were incredible, and he chose lines that, while often unorthodox, intelligently capitalized on his (dead-on) read of each situation.”

The 35-year-old went on to apologize for not recognizing Hellmuth’s game earlier and said that he would “promise” to respect his game moving forward.

“I just recognize that I witnessed greatness, and that Phil Hellmuth knows something I don’t,” Galfond said to close his thoughts.

Galfond is as close to universally loved and respected in the poker world as possible. He’s regarded as one of the best to ever play the game, has played the highest stakes cash games and tournaments in the world, and recently transitioned to the business side of the game, opening his own online poker site.

However, his tweet drew scrutiny from several high roller regulars.

On your side of the argument, people have some nice things to say. The people on the other side of the argument are willing to bet really big.
Hmm…. https://t.co/FwJDv4SStk

— Dan Smith (@DanSmithHolla) October 7, 2020

He punted every 300k I’ve seen him play in so I don’t share your view I think he’s a clear losing player in tougher lineups and mostly plays a style that exploits vs. tighter weaker opponents and WSOP & oldschool player tendencies.
I find it entertaining to play against him.

Phil Galfond Twitter

— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) October 7, 2020

Easily 1 of the silliest things I’ve ever read from someone I respect. Misses the point or is flat out wrong on almost every substantive issue and an actual formal apology to the most obnoxious disrespectful, self promoting ego maniac in the industry. It’s like Stockholm syndrome

— Olivier Busquet (@olivierbusquet) October 7, 2020

According to the high-roller crowd, Hellmuth can’t beat those games, which means he can’t possibly be considered one of the best in the world.

Phil Galfond Challenge Stream

Poker legend Doyle Brunson chimed in on the issue and said that they were right, but it was irrelevant given how much Hellmuth was able to win off of lesser players. Regardless of how Hellmuth won the money, it still ended up in his pocket. It was that skill set that allowed him to win a WSOP bracelet 15 times.

I thought everybody knew that about Phil. He is the worlds best getting bad players on tilt and throwing their money at him. That's why he has 15 bracelets. Yeah, he has always struggled against tough tables. So what? $$$ https://t.co/y1tPOa568A

— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) October 7, 2020

After seeing the pushback, Galfond clarified his thoughts Wednesday morning.

I don't even know if I'm making an argument, & certainly not one that can be bet on.
My opinion is that PH is very talented & that he has abilities that others don't.
I also think @TexDolly is the greatest of all time, but that doesn't mean I want his action in $100k MTTs. https://t.co/VwZPM47lm4

— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) October 7, 2020