During a year where most of the poker world has been forced to play online poker, it’s perhaps fitting that the best story of 2020 in poker so far is an online poker challenge that was set up long before the global Coronavirus pandemic hit.

Phil Galfond’s ‘Galfond Challenge’ attracted plenty of headlines when it kicked off, with at least five challengers each bringing something different for the man himself to combat. Could Phil Galfond still be called one of the best players in the world?

After the early exchanges of his first challenge against online player VeniVidi93, Galfond was behind. It didn’t immediately get better for him, the player known as VeniVidi going an incredible $900,000 ahead in the challenge. Galfond considered his options, with many commentators on social media claiming the comeback was impossible.

Not only did Phil Galfond recover his loss, but he won the challenge outright in an amazing final day of play. We spoke to the Run It Once creator and owner to find out what lay behind his comeback and subsequent victory in the second completed challenge against ‘ActionFreak’.