“VeniVidi1993” is back in the news, and this time it isn’t for blowing a $1 million lead in a heads-up challenge against Phil Galfond. The online poker pro — whose real name isn’t publicly known — claims he was also banned from GGPoker for the sole reason that he’s a winning player.
Tobias Duthweiler, aka “dudd1,” accused GGPoker in a recent 2+2 thread of refusing to refund his winnings after being banned from the site. He was previously banned from Natural8, a GGPoker Network skin, but claimed he was unaware the two poker sites were related.
The action will take place at Galfond's site, Run It Once Poker. The action will be streamed on Twitch.tv/RunItOncePoker, though no hole cards will be shown (at least initially). Galfond and 'Venividi'. The poker player Venividi1993 was first discovered by HighstakesDB on the high stakes tables of PokerStars on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Since then, a total of 42029 poker hands have been. Venividi went with his 10 9 6 4 and found an offsuit seven on the river, much to the fans' dismay. A bit later, Galfond four-bet J 7 8 6 and called a five-bet then put the rest in on a jack-high flop. Venividi had aces and the board paired on the turn, so Venividi stacked Galfond once more. Professional poker player Phil Galfond has managed to recover from a €900,000 losing run in a heads up battle against online regular Venividi. Coin Rivet reported on Galfond's downswing in. Phil Galfond vs. VeniVidi1993: The Show is Over. The first match of the Galfond Challenge was a rollercoaster for poker fans.At some point, Phil was €900k down and the question was whether he was throwing in the towel against VeniVidi1993.
Poker legend Fedor Holz, a GGPoker ambassador, defended the poker site’s actions. He informed the poker community that “dudd1” was warned not to sign-up for any of GG’s network of sites.
But since that accusation, more high-stakes players on GGPoker have come forward accusing the site of banning winning players. That includes a high-profile online pro — “VeniVidi1993.”
Does GGPoker fear winning players?
“VeniVidi1993,” who famously lost the first Galfond Challenge despite jumping out nearly a $1 million lead, shared his own story about GGPoker withholding money from players.
Free real cash earning app reviews. He claimed on Twitter that he was banned for “bumhunting.” That’s when someone takes a seat in an online poker game and refuses to play anyone not considered a weak opponent. Bumhunting is frowned upon among recreational players and many pros. But it’s been common practice among the top heads-up online players for years.
“VeniVidi1993” said in a series of tweets that he was banned by GGPoker for bumhunting and “told to never come back.” He claims he returned a couple years later and after he raked in $250,000 in profits, the poker site banned him again and confiscated his winnings, much like they did to Duthweiler.
I have been banned from GG for false reasons. Years after I came back to play, which they allowed me to do for a very long time taking 100’s of thousands of dollar (Yes uncapped rake can be a bitch). Only to confiscate my money when I tried to cash it out
— Venividi1993 (@thevenividi1993) August 11, 2020
“What they do is not illegal. They told me not to play on their network, so for me to return I broke their rules and they are allowed to confiscate my funds. I still think it’s very questionable how they rig the rules in their favor,” he wrote.
Andy Cooper (@coopah88) also shared a similar story on Twitter. He claims he won a bunch grinding cash games and earned over $17,000 worth of tournament tickets on top of that, which he never got to use because he was also banned from GGPoker for supposed bumhunting.
Grinded the cash games on GG poker recently, had won around $17,000 worth of tournament $ as I freq won the top prize of $1k playing 6k hands daily. Banned for bumhunting despite playing every table, they'll keep the prizes. #ggpoker@CrownUpGuy@RealKidPoker
— Andy Cooper (@coopah88) August 12, 2020
One Twitter user who often plays with Cooper on GGPoker — @dejank1337 — came to Cooper’s defense. He said he can confirm Cooper was starting games. If a player is the first to register for an online poker game, they aren’t bumhunting as it’s impossible to know which player(s) will register next. Bumhunters seek out games where “fish” have already registered.
Another GGPoker player in Cooper’s thread — @Platameri — also claims to have been banned for bumhunting. This player wrote: “I got banned for bumhunting with $28k winnings but was able to withdraw $15k after they banned me by contacting them that I’d be fine with it if they gave me half. They were generous and gave me a bit over half.”
The high stakes poker world is hardly spinning around like a seagull, right-wing smashed by a serial killer’s slingshot, but boy oh boy has the Phil Galfond challenge attracted more eyeballs than a strip poker livestream.
Venividi Poker Twitter
On November 19, in a bid to make Run It Once Poker more crop circle than Arctic Circle, Phil Galfond, issued a high stakes heads-up challenge to every single player in the universe.
Galfond wanted to face rival online poker training coaches in sessions of €100/€200 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) and offered similar but negotiable terms for all other forms of poker to mere mortals.
With the tap turned on, a trickle soon became a tsunami with a high volume flicking in their interests with the zeal of a chain smoker flicking his dimps into an ashtray.
The first of these epic heads-up battles take place at 8 am (PST), January 22, where Galfond squares off, fingers and thumbs, with ‘VeniVidi1993.’ The pair will compete at stakes of €100/€200 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO), four hours a day, five days a week, until they reach a ceiling of 25,000 hands.
‘Veni Vidi1993,’ is the bookies favourite with PokerShares offering odds of 1.74, with Galfond an outside bet at 2.13, There’s also a side bet up for grabs with Galfond’s €200k versus VeniVidi’s €100k.
Veni Vidi Poker
You can watch the entire squabble on Twitch/RunItOncePoker.
Here are the rest of the jigsaw pieces.
No dates on these, yet.
The Action
ActionFreak – €150/€300 PLO over 15k hands.
Jungleman – €100/€200 PLO over 7.5k hands
Brandon Adams – $100/$200 PLO over 40hrs of live poker
Chance Kornuth – €100/€200 PLO over 25k hands
Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – €100/€200 PLO over 50k hands or a €400k loss
Side Bet Info
VeniVidi1993 – Side bet of Phil’s €200k to VeniVidi’s €100k
ActionFreak – Side bet of Phil’s €150k to ActionFreak’s €150k
Jungleman – TBD
Brandon Adams – Side Bet of Phil’s $150k to Brandon’s $100k
Chance Kornuth – Side Bet of Phil’s €1m to Chance’s €250k
Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – Side Bet of Phil’s $800k to Bill’s $200k
PokerShares Odds
Veni Vidi Poker Real Name
Galfond (2.16) v VeniVidi1993 (1.73)
Galfond (2.25) v ActionFreak (1.66)
Galfond (1.91) v Jungleman (1.95)
Galfond (1.60) v Adams (2.40)
Please Sir, Can I Have Some More
There’s still time for more action.
With only Chance Kornuth taking up the online coaching challenge, it seems the attention has swerved to an online poker room battle. Rob Yong surfaced first, accepting that he would have ‘little chance of winning,’ but respects Galfond’s PR initiative, and would like to support it.
Negotiations between the RunItOnce Poker founder and partypoker associate are currently underway.
Then Luke Schwartz got involved in the gob on gob action.
A Galfond versus Schwartz battle would boost the live stream for sure, and according to an interview with PokerNews, aired on January 13, Galfond believes the match will go ahead.
One dynamite match shelved would have pitted Run It Once Poker with GGPoker. In the wake of Luke Schwartz’s early Twitter back and forth with Galfond, Bryn Kenney got involved, and it ended with Galfond offering Kenney a seat.
Kenney, however, declined.
We’ll bring you further news when we receive it.