'Venividi1993' and Phil Galfond engaged in one of poker's all-time greatest heads-up matches in the first round of the Galfond Challenge. The real-life identity of 'Venividi1993' remains a mystery, but the high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha has appeared to join Twitter under the handle @thevenividi1993.
As the match between 'Venividi1993' and Galfond played on throughout the early months of 2020, a couple of different Twitter accounts sprang up that looked like an official account from the mysterious nosebleed PLO specialist. None of those accounts were ever confirmed, however.
This time it appears that the new handle is the real deal. The @thevenividi1993 handle joined Twitter in July 2020, and since an initial post on July 28, the account has gained more than 3,000 followers.
Some of those followers include some of poker's biggest names and brands. Doug Polk, Run It Once Poker, Fried "mynameiskarl" Meulders, Joey Ingram, Andrew Neeme, and Remko Rinkema represent just a few of the names following the new @thevenividi1993 account.
Phil Galfond himself, along with his wife Farah Galfond, both follow the @thevenividi1993 handle as well. The new Twitter account looks like a legitimate product of the real 'Venividi1993', who's been offering glimpses into the world of high-stakes online poker.
'Venividi1993' creates content for the people
One of the first posts on the @thevenividi1993 Twitter feed asks followers what kind of content they'd like to see on the account. "Graphs" narrowly beat out "Hand Histories," "Phil Galfond Challenge," and "My Onlyfans account" as the top choice.
Followers on the Twitter feed responded in disbelief, prompting 'Venividi1993' to elaborate on the incredibly unlucky swing.
"Yeah these were the really tough days," 'Venividi1993' tweeted. "Went broke and had to get myself a backer. These days the swings don't really impact my financial status, so it's way easier to cope with. Also tried to wire my brain early on to care about the process and EV more than net earnings."
In another tweet, 'Venividi1993' offered advice for aspiring poker pros:
The tweet sparked a spirited discussion about the state of high-stakes poker, and the viability of poker as a career choice in the modern era. In a later tweet, 'Venividi1993' invited fans to watch him take on Doug Polk in a heads-up match on the Winning Poker Network, with Polk returning to poker to warm up for an upcoming challenge against Daniel Negreanu.
'Venividi1993' vs. Galfond ranks with the greatest heads-up matches in poker history
Phil Galfond extended the Galfond Challenge in promotion of his Run It Once Poker online platform. Galfond challenged all takers to 25,000-hand heads-up PLO matches, played at €100/€200 on Run It Once.
'Venividi1993' was the first to take on Galfond, with the entire match streamed on the Run It Once Twitch channel. The match took 39 sessions to complete, with 'Venividi1993' taking a commanding lead of more than €900,000 through the first 10,000 hands played.
Galfond staged one of poker's all-time greatest comebacks in the final 15,000 hands of the challenge, however, with the match coming down to the final few hands. Galfond still trailed with less than 100 hands remaining.
Galfond found a victory in the final stretch, however, coming away with a +€1,671.58 advantage at the end of a match that kept the poker community riveted.
