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Once a legend, always a legend! At least that’s what Daniel Negreanu and Phil Galfond are proving to the global poker community. Both poker pros were stuck for six figures in their respective heads-up challenges. They have both turned the equation by either bursting into the lead or by mounting a significant recovery.
First up, let’s talk about the Grudge Match, aka, the High Stakes Feud between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk. The Canadian pro has snatched the lead away from the online heads-up specialist and now enjoys a commanding $179K lead on Polk.
On the other hand, Galfond registered two back-to-back winning sessions, bringing Chance Kornuth’s lead down to just $31,000. However, the 28th session went Kornuth’s way, with the poker coach extending his lead to $79,500.
Grudge Match: Daniel Negreanu Books $179K Profit in Session #8
Kid Poker is back with a bang! Daniel Negreanu recorded a $23K profit in the eighth session of his Grudge Match against arch-rival Doug Polk. He now holds an overall lead of $179K.
Polk, a HUNL expert, was pegged as the overwhelming favorite to take down this Grudge Match at the start. Looking at the current scorecard, Negreanu seems to have taken the bull by his horns. The sixth session had seen the GGPoker Ambassador losing his $25,916 lead to Polk. By the end of it, Polk had booked a $67,625.81 instead.
Day 6 was followed by some Twitter drama, fueled by Bill Perkins. He had tweeted that Polk has been studying Negreanu’s hand histories from the previous sessions, which, according to Negreanu, violated the match’s agreed-upon rules. Polk and Negreanu had asked Phil Galfond to step in as an impartial judge to arbitrate the matter. The issue was eventually resolved, and the duo moved ahead to their seventh session on November 19.
Day 7 Recap
This session ran majorly in Negreanu’s favor right from the first big pot of the day that he won. While Polk did fight hard and won a lot of the smaller pots, but Negreanu took down most of the bigger pots, including a $40,000 pot where both players had flopped a diamond flush.
Negreanu had apparently predicted the massive winning session and had tweeted about it as well.
Wrote in my journal this morning that I was going to win $218k in today’s session. Ended up winning $222k and am back in the lead in a seesaw battle!
More tomorrow 2:30pm PST https://t.co/WOYhEsIz0z
Up roughly 4 buy ins right now.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 19, 2020
Day 7 was the best session yet for Negreanu in the match as he booked a whopping $222,832.70 profit after playing 591 hands.
Match stats currently:
Today:
591 hands
+$222,832.70Total:
2965 hands
+$155,206.89— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 19, 2020
Todays Results*(Need Verification from WSOP, this is an estimate)
591 hands -$222,832.70
Total: -$155,206.89 2965 hands
Lowest point in the challenge yet. Luckily only about 4 buyins or so. Looking forward to getting in a lot of volume tomorrow and friday.
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 19, 2020
Watch the highlights of the session below.
Day 8 Recap
The eighth session played out on November 20. It proved to be yet another winning session for the six-time WSOP bracelet winner, who registered a profit of $23K, taking his overall lead to $179K.
Won $23k in today’s session and will be going over it tonight. One tilting hand:
I 3 bet 34dd he calls
Flop 567dd I check call
Turn 8 check call
River K
He shows me J9.
Ouch
Hands Played: 3422
Result: +179k overall— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 20, 2020
Watch the highlights of the session below.
With eight sessions now in the books, here is how the Grudge Match has gone thus far:
Session | Live/Online | No. of Hands Played | Won By | Profit | Overall Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Live | 200 | Daniel Negreanu | $116,000 | Daniel Negreanu - $116,000 |
2 | Online | 424 | Doug Polk | $218,292.78 | Doug Polk - $101,792.78 |
3 | Online | 382 | Doug Polk | $166,239.03 | Doug Polk - $268,031.82 |
4 | Online | 366 | Daniel Negreanu | $87,166 | Doug Polk - $181,365 |
5 | Online | 365 | Daniel Negreanu | $207,281 | Daniel Negreanu - $25,916 |
6 | Online | 637 | Doug Polk | $93,542.68 | Doug Polk - $67,625.81 |
7 | Online | 591 | Daniel Negreanu | $222,832.70 | Daniel Negreanu - $155,206.89 |
8 | Online | 457 | Daniel Negreanu | $23,000 | Daniel Negreanu - $179,000 |
Dan Bilzerian Calls Out Doug Polk
After Perkins stirred some Twitter drama, it was time for his partner in crime to create some mischief. The self-proclaimed ‘King of Instagram,’ Dan Bilzerian, trash-talked Polk after one of his biggest losing sessions on Day 7 of the match.
@DougPolkVids congrats heard you’re killing the hu match
— Dan Bilzerian (@DanBilzerian) November 19, 2020
It got a lot of responses, with Perkins being one of the first to comment.
Savage
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) November 19, 2020
Isn’t dan bilzerian that guy who used to have loads of money but blew it on hookers and guns? He had a fake business or something that paid for everything I think.
— David Lawrence (@Mr_Lozza) November 19, 2020
Calls his company ignite because he may as well have set his investors money on fire
— Peter Blow (@PeteBlow) November 19, 2020
Never one to back down from a fight, Polk responded by asking Bilzerian if he would like to play him next.
You want next bud? I’d say lets go but you aren’t man enough to play without begging for odds. https://t.co/xXCbA4TqTj
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 19, 2020
While Bilzerian did not reply, his friend Perkins sure did.
you’re gonna need a bigger truck deposit or withdrawal, either way you’re gonna need a bigger truck…..
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) November 19, 2020
Will Bilzerian really take up Polk’s challenge? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Galfond Challenge: Phil Galfond Cuts His Deficit Against Chance Kornuth to $48K
The Heads-Up Challenge between Phil Galfond and Chance Kornuth has been another roller coaster. But the Run It Once founder has been steadily fighting to get back the lead from Kornuth – something he has gained a lot of experience doing from his previous heads-up challenges. After the completion of the 28th session, Kornuth’s lead has dwindled down to $48,000.
When we had last checked in, 25 sessions had played out, and Galfond had bounced back by registering his most significant win at the challenge yet, after a $123,000 winning session. Nevertheless, he was still trailing Kornuth by $221,5000.
Let’s do a quick recap of how the last three sessions went.
Session 26
The 26th session saw Galfond get hit by one of the worst coolers of the challenge when his quads lost to Kornuth’s straight flush. The three-time WSOP bracelet winner still managed to bounce back, ultimately registering a $47,000 profit in the session to cut his overall deficit to $174,500.
While being on the wrong side of one of the worst coolers we’ve seen yet, quads versus a straight flush, @PhilGalfond managed to bounce back & put another dent, $47,000, in @ChancesCards overall lead. Chance still hangs on to a $174,500 lead through ~14k hands. #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/IQgnfGrWyL
— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) November 18, 2020
Watch the highlights of the session below.
Session 27
The next day, session 27 saw Galfond book a six-figure win of $143,000. He reduced the gap with Kornuth to $31,000, bringing the challenge to a neck-to-neck battle.
Another six-figure win for @PhilGalfond, and now, this challenge is neck & neck. Over the last three sessions, Phil has chopped @ChancesCards $344,500 lead into a measly $31,500. These two will be back at it tonight. Sweat the swings on https://t.co/RvHjkQ4Dgh! #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/dTJYERXbng
— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) November 19, 2020
Watch the highlights of the session below.
Session 28
November 20 saw Kornuth return to his winning ways. He posted a $48,000 profit, taking his overall lead to $79,500.
Last night, @ChancesCards got back to his winning ways and added €48,000 to his overall lead. He’s now up roughly four buy-ins as they approach the halfway point. They’ll jump back on the tables at 17:30 UTC, and you can sweat the action on https://t.co/RvHjkQ4Dgh! pic.twitter.com/L3H4W8ycdl
— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) November 20, 2020
Watch the highlights of the session below.
The next session is scheduled for November 21.