Gossip Column: Phil Galfond Takes Six-Figure Lead Against Chance Kornuth & More

The heads-up challenge between the two poker legends Phil Galfond and Chance Kornuth is moving along fast, and there have three sessions that the duo has played this week already. If Galfond was only $32K ahead of Kornuth after six sessions, he won the last three sessions to pull into a commanding $280,000 lead. The 35,000-hand challenge taking place on WSOP.com is about a fifth done with 6,600 hands of $100/$200 PLO already done with, and there’s another session lined up tonight.

Taking a break from the Postlegate saga, stirring up controversy this time is the Midway Tour that landed into trouble during its debut run in the Chicagoland area of Illinois, U.S. The players who cashed the $1,100 Main Event reported that they were fraudulently paid overpriced silver bullion instead of the full cash payouts. As it turns out, the event was advertised as a ‘charity’ event.

Over in suburban Toronto, police raided a mansion to bust an illegal casino and arrested 33 people. More than $1 Million in cash was seized along with a vast cache of alcohol, 11 firearms, gaming machines, and tables.

Phil Galfond Takes Commanding Lead Over Chance Kornuth in Galfond Challenge

Run It Once Poker (RIOP) founder Phil Galfond set upon the third of his heads-up PLO challenges last month, and his opponent this time around is Chance Kornuth. The duo will play 35,000 hands of $100/$200 PLO on WSOP.com.

In our last report on the challenge, the duo had played six sessions, and despite losing the previous session for $70K, Galfond was $32,000 ahead of the Chip Leader Coaching founder.

Three more sessions have played out since, and Galfond has extended his lead to a commanding $280,000 after 6,600 hands!

Let’s take a quick look at the three recent sessions.

Session #7

Galfond and Kornuth played 750 hands, and it turned out to be a one-sided affair with Galfond booking a profit of $117,000, extending his overall lead to $149,000.

After the session, Nathan Gamble commented, “The #GalfondChallenge’ is so intense I was doing commentary in my sleep last night!”

RIOP tweeted an update.

A casual six-figure day for Mr. Falcons. ?? #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/ZxkhNkzbBM

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) October 1, 2020

Kornuth also took to Twitter to share the news.

Lost ~118k today, down 150k overall… but got the play 6 holes of golf after AND I get to battle it out w @PhilGalfond again tomorrow https://t.co/tLgbZuemFz

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) October 2, 2020

Check out the Day 7 highlights below.

Watch Mr. Falcons feast on his prey in our Day 7 #GalfondChallenge highlights! Well played @PhilGalfond and @ChancesCards! We're back tomorrow with commentators @henry_kilbane and @Surfbum4life https://t.co/lEPRlnJstX pic.twitter.com/kAHhDB1mK1

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) October 2, 2020

Session #8

Both Galfond and Kornuth took an aggressive stance right from the start, but Galfond went into overdrive to take the driver’s seat. Kornuth did stage somewhat of a comeback midway through the session but slipped back into the shadows by the end of it.

It wasn’t an excellent session for Galfond, though, as, despite the strong start, he won only €28,000. With Session #8 in the books, the duo had completed 6,350 hands, and Galfond was up for roughly €177,000!

Watch the Day 8 highlights below.

Did you catch today's #GalfondChallenge stream? No? What's wrong with you?! Catch up on the highlights before it's too late! Plenty of action between @PhilGalfond & @ChancesCards with nearly-decent commentary from @henry_kilbane & @Surfbum4life https://t.co/uClcSM4LC7 pic.twitter.com/5h6jGHWIn2

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) October 3, 2020

Session #9

This turned out to be another smashing day for Galfond. In less than an hour of play, he had already chipped ahead for $30K. Two more hours, and Kornuth emptied his bankroll on the site. The two players had played only 250 hands, but Galfond had already won $103,000!

Kornuth tweeted the news.

Hey @WSOPcom and @888poker, @PhilGalfond busted my account today and we now have to put the challenge on hold due to deposit limits… Can you plz fix this ASAP!!!! #forthefans

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) October 3, 2020

RIOP updated fans on Galfond’s six-figure lead.

An early session tonight, as @PhilGalfond soared to a six-figure lead. Unfortunately, @ChancesCards is waiting on a deposit limit increase. We are hopeful things will be sorted by Tuesday, and we'll keep everyone updated with the schedule moving forward. GG! pic.twitter.com/du9upEkGZi

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) October 3, 2020

After 6,600 hands, Galfond commands a massive $280,000 lead. According to updates, the challenge will resume for another session today.

Clearly, with the way Galfond has taken charge, Kornuth will need to fight back quickly if he has to orchestrate a comeback in the challenge.

The Midway Poker Tour Debut Runs into Trouble Over Allegations of Fraudulent Payouts

The Midway Poker Tour that kicked off last week in Illinois, U.S., near the Chicagoland area, ran into muddy waters on its debut run. Instead of being held under a standard casino gambling license, the tournament organizers found a workaround by hosting the $1,100 buy-in Main Event at a Sheraton hotel in suburban Elk Grove Village under the U.S. state’s charitable-gambling statutes.

Apparently, this was a detail none of the 266 players who bought into the tourney were aware of. To make matters worse, there’s a cap on cash payout for charitable events dictated by Illinois gambling law. Due to this, the tournament organizers planned to pay the ITM finishers only $1,600 of their payouts in cash and compensate the rest in the form of silver bullions. Unfortunately, that’s where the plan went sideways.

Not a Regular Tourney

Players were apparently not told of the ‘charity’ tag associated with the event initially, and the first prize was touted to be $55,065. As per the state law, players cannot receive more than $500 above their initial buy-in in such charitable events.

This is why even though a min-cash for the final 31 players was worth $2,300, all the ITM finishers were paid only $1,600 in cash, with the rest paid in silver/ gold bullions.

As the play progressed towards Day 2 on Sunday, it became even more glaringly evident to players that they have been taken for a ride. One of the reasons for their anger was that the silver was purchased at a retail price of $35, but some of the silver coins were worth less. Also, players were given silver at a retail price with no one at the venue to repurchase it at the same price. Clearly, players wouldn’t have been able to encash the silver coins at the same price point.

Eventually, the last 10 players called a halt to play to discuss the issue. However, neither the tour’s founder and organizer Daniel Bekavac, nor the lead Tournament Director Jeremy Smith – a well-known figure from the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) – were present on the final day. The players finally opted to play down to the winner with Renato Spahiu, eventually coming out on top.

Plan to Exchange Goes Sideways

Bekavac later made an official statement to PokerNews, blaming the gaming regulators for refusing to allow him to have a gold dealer present at the venue to convert the bullion into cash.

Evidently, an official of the State Attorney-General’s office visited the site to ensure the bullions were actually on-site and accounted for. The official rejected the organizers’ plan to have someone on-site for exchanging the bullions for cash. Furthermore, the organizers were also prevented from recycling the bullions, and needed individual bullions to represent each payout.

According to the organizers, as they struggled to find more bullions, they worked out a solution before Sunday by tying up with Andy Mettille of AMPM.999, whom the players were supposed to contact for exchanging the bullions. However, it seemed later that either the buyer did not stick around or did not exist altogether.

AMPM.999 later told PokerNews that it had nothing to do with the tournament and were only contacted for selling the organizers $200K in silver. “Given the events at the Midway Poker Tour in the Chicagoland area, we wanted to give you our side of the story. First off, we had nothing to do with the tournament and had no knowledge that it was even going on. At 1 a.m. on Sunday morning we got a call looking for help because the tournament runners found out that they could not pay out cash and needed precious metals for the ‘prize’. They said they needed $200,000 in silver. We had almost half of that on hand. On the way to the tournament, we found a dealer that agreed to provide us the rest of it, which we purchased and then sold to the tournament organizers. We had agreed on a price as what we had on hand was mostly premium silver, most of it retailing from $30-$40 per Oz. Again, we in no way were associated with the tournament. All we did was fill in an order for silver.”

Police Raid Illegal Casino in Toronto Mansion & Arrest 33 Gamblers

Canadian authorities recently raided a mansion located in suburban Toronto and busted an illegal casino. Apart from gaming machines and tables, the police seized over $1 Million in cash, more than $1.5 Million worth of alcohol, and 11 firearms. Police booked 33 people in connection with the case.

Local media reported that the site was Markham residence, valued at $9 Million. Police raided the spot as part of its ‘Project Endgame’ to target illegal gambling dens that have spun up since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The York police also shared a video of the illegal venue on Twitter.

This $9 million Decourcy Court palace in #Markham was the site of a high-end illegal casino and spa operation recently shut down by @YRP investigators as part of Project Endgame. More at https://t.co/3m7Ct9rNDe. pic.twitter.com/waUAx6yXC4

— York Regional Police (@YRP) September 30, 2020

Even though casinos in Ontario reopened last week, the area’s illegal gambling dens are reportedly very active. Two more locations were raided as part of the project, but the biggest haul was uncovered at the Markham residence.