Gossip Column: Negreanu Staring at a Near 7-Figure Deficit Against Polk; Galfond Grabs Lead From Kornuth & More

Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu is now firmly on the backfoot against Doug Polk in their ongoing Grudge Match. After 18 sessions, the match-favorite Polk is sitting with a near-$1 Million lead, $957,932.57 to be precise. Things are only getting more challenging for the Canadian pro to bounce back from.

Meanwhile, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Galfond seems to be doing much better in his heads-up challenge against Chance Kornuth. Both poker coaches have completed 37 sessions, and Galfond presently holds a lead of $28,500.

The Mike Postle saga has reared its head again. Postle’s legal representative Steven T. Lowe has filed a motion to be relieved of his duty of representing Postle in the $330 Million defamation case that he had filed against 12 defendants.

It’s been a while since we have talked about controversy’s favorite child Dan Bilzerian. After becoming a GGPoker Ambassador, Bilzerian not only got himself in trouble for insulting well-known female poker player and streamer Vanessa Kade on Twitter but has also been challenged to a poker match by the former boxing heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe.

Grudge Match: Doug Polk Lands a Massive Blow on Daniel Negreanu; Takes a Near $1 Million Lead after 18 Sessions

The High Stakes Feud between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk is nearing the halfway mark. With 9,950 hands already played, the arch rivals are about 15,050 hands away from reaching 25,000 hands (the losing player can call it quits at 12,500 hands).

For the most part, this has been a heavily contested fight between the duo. However, since session nine, it’s been an all-Polk show with the HU specialist consistently pulling ahead in the match. Though Negreanu has fought back, he hasn’t been able to close the gap on Polk.

December 9 and 10 saw two more sessions play out between the rivals, and this time, Polk may well have taken the game away from Negreanu’s grasp. After 18 sessions, Polk has booked an overall lead of $957,932.57. This may now be near impossible for Negreanu to catch up to.

But we’d still like to say that the GGPoker Ambassador is a resilient fighter, and extraordinary things are known to happen where poker is involved. So, even though Negreanu may be down in the dumps at the moment, he can’t be completely ruled out just yet.

Day 17 Recap

A total of 662 hands were played during session 17 on December 9, and Polk came out on top with a profit of $101,713.33. This was a significant hit for Negreanu, who slipped down to a net loss of $784,560.96 after 8,970 hands. Polk booked his seventh six-figure win in the last 10 sessions.

Session 17 Result: +$101,713.33 662 hands

Online Results pre Session 17: +799,347.63 8108 hands

Live Session Result: -$116,500 200 hands

OFFICIAL TOTAL: +$784,560.96 over 8970 hands

Hand # looks a bit off from what I thought but the results are from WSOP so should be good.

— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) December 10, 2020

Hold on, this hand amount includes hands that it should not include. The real total is probably slightly less, maybe 1 day we will know for sure.

— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) December 10, 2020

Fun stat: so far after 8000 hands we have played 25 all in pots before the river.

Of those 25 all ins, I have won exactly zero times when I was the underdog.

Stats courtesy of @CoreySteel_ who tracks a spreadsheet of all in hands with video.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) December 10, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

Day 18 Recap

Entering Day 18 trailing Polk by $784,560.96, Negreanu had a tough climb ahead of him. The latter had committed to playing a longer than usual session on Thursday, December 10. The match ended up lasting about five hours before the players called it quits.

After 980 hands, the session ended with Polk adding another $173.362.61 to his winnings, taking his overall lead to nearly $1 Million ($957,932.57). By the end of the 18^th session, a total of 9,950 hands had been played between the duo.

Session 17 Result: +$173,362.61 over 980 hands

Total: +$957,932.57 over 9950 hands

The $ amount is for sure correct. The hand number should be off very slightly but will be fixed soon.

Just fucking wow. I think this was my luckiest session ive had of the entire challenge.

— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) December 11, 2020

ah fuck it was session 18, ok who cares

— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) December 11, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

With 18 sessions now in the books, here is how the Grudge Match has gone thus far.

The poker pros will get back to it at 2:30 PM (PT) Friday and then take the complete next week off to compete in the WSOP Main Event.

Galfond Challenge: Phil Galfond $23K Ahead of Chance Kornuth After 37 Sessions

Phil Galfond has snatched the lead away from Chance Kornuth after 37 sessions of their heads-up challenge. While the 35^th session had gone Kornuth’s way, the 36^th session saw Galfond make a comeback and whisk the lead away from Kornuth. The Run It Once founder is currently ahead by $23,000 after 19,300 hands of their 35,000-hand challenge has been played.

Session 35

Galfond and Kornuth returned for the 35^th session on December 9. This session roughly marked the midway mark of the challenge, and Kornuth registered yet another small win of $23,000, boosting his overall lead to $59,000.

Yesterday, @ChancesCards locked up another small win. Chance is now up roughly three buy-ins through about 50% of the challenge. These two will be back at it in two hours, and you can catch the session on https://t.co/mrseaTxK4w! #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/SZaIdb220D

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) December 9, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

Session 36

The very next session took place on December 10 and turned the tide in Galfond’s favor. He pocketed a win of $88,000, landing in the green with an overall lead of $28,500.

Phil is back in the green once again after booking an $88,000 win during last night’s session. Here’s a quick look at @PhilGalfond‘s graph during his match against @ChancesCards: #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/XPkXzYsBfP

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) December 10, 2020

Tough day today. @PhilGalfond beat me for ~89k and retook the lead. Three more days of battle this week pic.twitter.com/Gu0E8zaWXn

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) December 9, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

Session 37

The 37^th session saw Galfond hold on to his lead. Kornuth won $5,500 in this session that played out on December 11, not enough to displace Galfond, who is still in the lead for $23,000.

We witnessed another tight match last night. @ChancesCards ended up escaping with a $5,500 win. After roughly 19,000 hands, only one buy-in separates these two legends. #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/VdTS78s8cw

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) December 11, 2020

Super fun battle today with an uneventful results. Won 5k. #GalfondChallenge

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) December 11, 2020

My new motivation for winning is watching the replay and hearing the pain and agony from @Surfbum4life and @henry_kilbane when I stack Phil. https://t.co/RNHIEMGTI1

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) December 11, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

Mike Postle’s Attorney Files Motion to Exit Case

The never-ending Postlegate saga is back in the spotlight. This time around, the latest news is that the attorney representing alleged poker cheat Mike Postle in his libel suit against his most prominent accusers has filed a motion to be relieved of his duty as Postle’s legal representative.

In October, Postle had been let off the hook by the courts from the previous $10 Million lawsuit filed against him. Riding on the luck perhaps, and with legal counsel from Lowe & Associates, Postle sued the defendants for reportedly $330 Million in damages.

Steven T. Lowe, of the Beverly Hills (CA) based Lowe & Associates, filed the motion and a supporting declaration of cause on Tuesday, December 8, to the Sacramento Superior Court where the early stages of the case are ongoing.

Lowe’s filing states this as the reason for seeking to be relieved from the case:

“Client [Postle] has failed to comply with the written agreement between the firm and the client and communication has otherwise ceased between the client and attorney.”

The notice of Lowe’s filing his removal request was posted publicly by gaming attorney Maurice “Mac” VerStandig, who declined further comment. VerStandig’s firm represented Veronica Brill and the dozens of other players who sought compensation for Postle’s alleged cheating activities.

The lead plaintiff in the earlier case, whistleblower Brill is among the 12 defendants in Postle’s countering action. Those other defendants in Postle’s libel suit include:

1. ESPN

2. PokerNews.com (iBus Media Limited)

3. Joey Ingram

4. Haralabos Voulgaris

5. Daniel Negreanu

6. Todd Witteles

7. Upswing Poker (associated with Doug Polk)

8. Seat Open LLC

9. Jonathan Little Holdings LLC

10. Solve for Why Academy LLC

11. Run it Once, Inc. (associated with Phil Galfond)

Lowe’s motion to be relieved from representing Postle will be ruled upon on January 14, next year, before presiding California Superior Court Judge Richard K. Sueyoshi. All other activity in the case will likely be put on hold until the matter of Postle’s representation is resolved.

Dan Bilzerian Makes an Explosive Start as GGPoker Ambassador

While Dan Bilzerian’s claim of having invented the loose-aggressive style in poker may be an outlandish one, but there is no denying that he is a truly controversial character. The ‘King of Instagram’ joined GGPoker as a brand ambassador on December 3, and about a week later, Bilzerian has already begun hogging the limelight.

He started off by calling Canadian poker player and streamer Vanessa Kade a “hoe” on Twitter.

Yeah I saw 🙁

I dunno why this has disappointed me so much. I think because the site has clearly been all about trying to be the best version of itself, I think in my mind it was the future of poker in a lot of ways.

Then this is just a huge step backwards.

— Vanessa Kade (@VanessaKade) December 3, 2020

This was essentially a reaction to Kade calling out Bilzerian’s problematic image of being a well-documented misogynist.

Sponsoring a sleazy, sexist tool with toxic followers as poker’s biggest ambassador lends validity to the idea that he’s an accurate representation of our sport.

Not unlike supporting a president with similar traits because he would benefit our bottom line.

Not worth the price. https://t.co/890sSmMSl1

— Vanessa Kade (@VanessaKade) December 3, 2020

Kade has already changed her Twitter profile to that of a ‘hoe,’ ridiculing Bilzerian’s inability to correctly spell the two-letter ‘ho,’ a street-slang version of ‘whore.’

Bilzerian’s response, as usual, led to a barge of criticism for him.

GG poker pro manager rn pic.twitter.com/jKkR1yBJES

— Max Silver (@max_silver) December 4, 2020

You just made her point.

— Joe Kozlowsky (@JoeKozlowsky) December 4, 2020

@GGPoker ‘s newest brand ambassador…

Dont you have a fraud situation to cover up? pic.twitter.com/jhB7elGz4D

— Ori13 (@Ori13poker) December 4, 2020

@GGPoker this your boy here. Might want to rethink

— Corey Daniels (@cddsoccer) December 4, 2020

GGPoker Ambassadors not being able to spell correctly in public statements is a bad look for the site.

IMHO

— Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz) December 4, 2020

Just as this controversy was coming to a close, ex-heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe tweeted to Bilzerian promising to “hand” his “ass” to him at the poker table.

Hey @DanBilzerian u ready get your ass handed to you on a plate on the @GGPoker tables? U aint on Bowe’s level but you keep tryin . You ain’t not champ. Bowe

— Riddick Bowe (@riddickbowe) December 6, 2020

GGPoker celebrated Bizerian’s signing with a $100,000 freeroll. Bowe was one of those taking aim at the protagonist’s bounty when he joined the festivities.

While Bowe’s fans got behind the tongue-in-cheek tweet, Bilzerian is yet to respond to it.