The Galfond challenge between Phil Galfond i Dan “Jungleman” Cates it’s over way before it was meant to be over… for now.
With less than a third of Omaha’s pot-limit head-to-head competition complete, “Jungleman” has decided to take a break. Galfond said he’s taking a “wait and see” approach, but isn’t sure when his opponent will return to action. The reason why Cates is walking away, at least for now, is unclear.
Galfond and Cates began a $100/$200 battle on WSOP.com last week. They have been playing at $10/$20 due to deposit issues, but the losing player will owe the difference to the winner after the challenge ends, assuming it ever does.
Check out our player profile on Phil Galfond here!
Where is the Galfond Challenge
Day 1 of the Galfond Challenge started on February 2nd at 8:00am PT. Galfond booked a modest win of about $10,000, the equivalent of half a buy-in, in what was a competitive match.
The next day, Cates controlled most of the contest and booked a $50,000 win. A day later, he won again, this time with a profit of $35,000. This was the last time the two were in action.
As it stands, “Jungleman” has a lead of about $77,500 through 2,250 hands. They had agreed to play 7,500 hands before determining a winner, so we’ll wait and see if and when the competition resumes. Galfond sent out a sarcastic tweet on Thursday looking for a new opponent, but made it clear that the current challenge against Cates is not officially over.
Hello, poker world!
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond)
Galfond has never lost a Galfond Challenge. He first defeated the online poker pro “Venividi1993” in 2020 after clawing back a deficit of nearly $1 million in 25,000 hands. Then he dominated another online professional, “ActionFreak”, especially from start to finish in a 15,000 hand challenge. Next up was the bracelet winner Opportunity Kornuthwhich he bought after 7,500 hands against a massive deficit.
In between these matches, he has also competed in some mini challenges Bill Perkins, Brandon Adamsand Cates
Complete the history and results of the Galfond challenge
