Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Barry carter
Poker Expert

Galfond's advice for a massive downswing

We recap some stories you may have missed including a chess prodigy gets Unibet sponsorship and facial recognition for online poker.





Galfond on running bad

The extent of Phil Galfond's downswing for the start of his series of heads-up challenges is now becoming folklore, he is down more than €400,000 in his first of many challenges with a €200,000 side bet on top. 

But one of the reasons he is so admired is for having one of the toughest mental games in poker, and this week he took to Twitter to reflect on downswings and give advice on how to deal with it. 

This really is solid gold advice and given the numbers involved for his own bad run, it really puts our own swings in perspective.

Magnus Carlsen joins Unibet

Not a direct affiliation with poker but still a good association for a leading poker provider nonetheless. 

Norwegian chess GrandMaster Magnus Carlsen has announced a sponsorship deal with Unibet, with the tagline "luck is no coincidence". The deal is worth roughly €400,000. 

Carlsen is just 29 years old but already one of the most celebrated players in chess. He is the current World Chess Champion, World Rapid Chess Champion and World Blitz Chess Champion.

Would you support facial recognition?

Whether you agree with the recent changes implemented by Dusk Till Dawn and partypoker LIVE boss Rob Yong, his Twitter threads and polls are always worth a look. 

This week he got the poker world talking about whether facial recognition to play online was a good idea to prevent cheating. 

Lots of great comments in his replies and it seems that over 80% of his followers liked the idea. Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 

Queen High like a Boss

Finally, it may have been an amazing read or just a hero call because his opponent knew it would be on stream, but Henri Bühler discovered you just cannot bluff some people:

Do you support facial recognition for online poker? Let us know in the comments:


Barry carter
Poker Expert

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO. In 2025, he won the Global Poker Awards for Best Book and Twitter Personality of the Year.