Back-to-back wins breathe life into the Pot-Limit Omaha battle
The Galfond Challenge continues to live up to its reputation as one of the most intense and thrilling series in online poker. This time, the spotlight is on Galfond’s third challenger, ActionFreak, who has bounced back in dramatic fashion after a rocky start.
While Phil Galfond has been balancing sessions with Bill Perkins — his second challenger — he kicked off a new series against ActionFreak. The stakes? $162/$324 Pot-Limit Omaha, over 15,000 hands, played primarily on Galfond’s own poker site.
A Strong Start for Galfond
The challenge began with Galfond dominating the early sessions. After 2,731 hands, he had built up an impressive $443,230 lead, showcasing the poker brilliance that helped him pull off a historic comeback against his first challenger.
The Comeback Begins
But ActionFreak wasn’t going down without a fight.
Due to technical issues with fund transfers, the last two sessions were moved to another poker platform — a switch seemingly to ActionFreak’s advantage. In Session 5, he staged a massive recovery, scoring a $103,042 win that slashed the deficit by nearly a quarter.
The real shocker came the following day: ActionFreak closed Session 6 with a $172,968 victory, cutting Galfond’s lead to just $172,968 — less than half of what it had been just days before.
Galfond Takes a Break for a Side Bet Match
With the challenge heating up, Galfond took a brief break for another entertaining heads-up match — this time a 750-hand mini challenge against Dan “Jungleman” Cates. The stakes were $119/$238, and the twist? The loser had to film a video admitting the winner is the better poker player — and man.
