A system and methods for recovering data from an input data signal are disclosed. The system includes a transmitter for conveying a data signal filtered by a finite impulse response (FIR) filter to a receiver via a channel. The receiver uses an adaptive algorithm to determine update signals for a pre-cursor tap coefficient of the FIR based on samples taken from the received data signal and conveys the update signals to the FIR. To generate update signals, the receiver samples the data signal at a phase estimated to correspond to a peak amplitude of a pulse response of the channel. The phase is based on a clock recovered from the data signal. The update signals increase or decrease a pre-cursor tap coefficient setting in response to determining that the phase corresponds to a point earlier or later, respectively, than the peak amplitude of the channel's pulse response.