The latest development in the Galfond Challenge is, unfortunately, the final one when it comes to the Chance Kornuth match against the host, Phil Galfond. That’s because, after 25,400 of the 35,000-hand challenge, Kornuth decided to concede the challenge, with his losses standing at $726,500 at this stage of the contest.
For many poker fans, this will come as something of a disappointment, with Kornuth arguably causing Galfond more problems than anyone in the Galfond Challenge legacy. While he didn’t get as close as ‘VeniVidi’ to taking money off the ever-impressive Galfond, Kornuth certainly provide his PLO (Pot Limit Omaha) chops and deserves a lot of credit.
As you might expect – or certainly hope – Kornuth has received some high praise from the poker fraternity after he revealed that the challenge was over, saying on Twitter:
“I’ve decided to concede the challenge . Congrats to Phil Galfond on another #GalfondChallenge Victory. It was an incredibly fun battle even though I lost. Going to take a few days with friends and family and share more about my experience in the weeks to come on Chip Leader Coaching.”
Some of the great and good I poker have commented on Kornuth’s prowess in PLO and in the challenge itself. M.J. Gonzales summed up a lot of the feeling when he wrote:
“To put it all on the line in front of the world to see takes courage and isn’t something most would do. Thank you! You definitely gained another fan here! Can’t wait to see what you do next.”
What Kornuth does do next will likely be revealed soon on Chip Leader Coaching by the WSOP bracelet winner. One thing is for sure, however – Galfond is a confirmed fan of his opponent.
“After almost five months, 25k hands & $730k, another #GalfondChallenge is in the books. I was very unpleasantly surprised by how well [Chance] played. He tested my game in ways no other opponents had, exposing weaknesses I wasn’t aware of, and I’m stronger now for it.”
Galfond’s profit of – to be exact – $726,500 may be huge, but we’re not yet 100% sure whether it could be more, with the sidebet of $250,000 from Kornuth also on the line too. No word has come as yet as to whether that will be owed in full or not, with the challenge conceded well before the end with just 60% of the hands making it to the history books.
When pressed to some specifics by Twitter follower Ben, Galfond responded with the following:
“He used a much wider variety of sizings and played with higher aggression frequencies on boards that are very challenging to defend enough on if you’re not careful.”
Impressive stuff from both men during the challenge, but who’ll be next for Galfond? Well, with just 862 hands in the bank of a challenge supposedly lasting 50,000 hands or a $400k loss, Galfond has a pretty big relative lead of $90,144 in the $100/$200 PLO challenge against Bill Perkins.
With a sidebet of $1 million from Galfond, were Perkins to win it, all the profit from this Kornuth challenge would be wiped out. Put the other way, if Galfond could see out the win, it would be worth an extra $250,000 to him.
