A few weeks ago, Phil Galfond issued a challenge to the high stakes poker community. Offering players the chance to play him heads-up, the Omaha poker legend wanted to prove that he’s still got it. Now, two players have accepted his challenge for the chance to win $1.2 million.
The first player to accept the Phil Galfond Challenge was Bill Perkins. The two will play 50,000 PLO hands at $100/$200 stakes on Galfond’s Run It Once online poker site. Once one of the players earns a $400,000 profit, the challenge is over. If Galfond is the loser, he’ll pay an extra $800,000 on top while Perkins will only have to fork out $200,000.
There is also an interesting tag-team aspect of this challenge. If Perkins wants, he will be able to tag in any of the members of his Thirst Lounge for take on Galfond.
Another player also decided to take up the challenge. Fernando Habegger took to Twitter to let the world know that he would be facing off against Galfond in a heads-up battle. While this match has yet to have its detail finalised, there is no word of any extra rules similar to Perkins’ tag-team feature.
The hands will be live streamed on Twitch, so members of the poker community can tune in to the action. It has been announced that the Perkins battle will begin sometime in January 2020, while no date has been set for Habegger yet.
Will It Go the Way of the Durr Challenge?
If you can remember all the way back to 2009, then you’ll likely recall the “Durr Challenge”, where Tom Dwan issued a similar call. He stated that he would go head-to-head against any player over the course of 50,000 hands.
The challenge was never finished because the first challenge, Patrik Antonius quit after losing $2 million. Next, Daniel “Jungleman12” Cates decided to take Dwan on but, a decade later, the two haven’t completed their 50,000 hands.
Fortunately, Galfond has issued a specific caveat that will ensure the challenge is finished. The $400,000 will prevent players from quitting like Antonius did, as the challenge will end before anyone gets too deep. So, no matter what happens, viewers will be able to witness some conclusion.
Now that two players have taken Galfond up on his PLO challenge, we’re looking forward to seeing them go head-to-head. It will undoubtedly be a thrilling event to watch.
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