Gossip Column: Negreanu & Galfond Staring at Significant Deficits in Their Respective Challenges

Just when it looked like poker superstars Daniel Negreanu and Phil Galfond were starting to pick up momentum in their respective heads-up challenges, a couple of rough sessions have set them back again.

Negreanu’s High Stakes Feud against Doug Polk is nearing the mid-way mark (provided they settle the score at 12,500 hands). After playing 5,067 hands across 11 sessions, Polk is commanding a lead of $264,019.75. Meanwhile, Galfond is down $92,000 to Chance Kornuth after 30 sessions.

It’s not just the heads-up challenge that’s keeping Negreanu awake at night. He, along with fellow poker pro Erik Seidel was recently made the target of a hacking incident. Both the poker pros had their Venmo accounts hacked. While Negreanu lost $15,000, Seidel’s losses are still unknown.

Grudge Match: Doug Polk Wins 3 Back-to-Back Sessions, Commands $264K Lead Over Daniel Negreanu

The Grudge Match of the century between archrivals Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk has been a swingy one, to say the least. The GGPoker Ambassador, who was an almost 5:1 underdog at the start of the challenge, made a flying start in the match by winning the very first session that was played live. But as soon as the match moved online, Polk bounced back and showed why he is considered one of the best heads-up specialists. He dominated the duel till the fourth session before Negreanu claimed the lead back after the fifth session. Polk won the sixth session, but Negreanu was back on top in the seventh session and held onto the lead till Day 8.

Session 9 saw Polk regain his lead once, and he extended that to three back-to-back winning sessions to take over a dominating $264,019.75 advantage.

Day 9 Recap

Negreanu had entered Day 9 with a commendable lead of $179,000 and was looking forward to another winning session. But Polk flipped the script by booking a thumping $205,521.74 profit. He regained the overall lead by around $26,371.78. Three-hundred-and-seventy-seven hands were played during the ninth session, taking the total amount of hands played to 3,799.

Session 9: +$205,521.74 377 Hands

Total: +$26,371.78 3,799 Hands

Back in the green. Had some pretty nice cooler spots back the opposite way. Feel like im playing great.

Also just bought a Threadripper 3990x and upgrade to 128gb ram to get deep in the lab all weekend.

— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 21, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

Day 10 Recap

Polk continued his winning spree into the 10th session. Polk booked a $117,624.38 win over four hours, bringing his lead up to around $143,996.16. Day 10 saw the rivals play 852 hands, with the overall hands being played reaching 4,651.

Session 10: +$117,624.38 over 852 Hands

Total: +$143,996.16 over 4651 Hands

This was our longest session we have played yet I think. Lots of big pots back and forth. Some coolers, some bluffs, this one had it all. (Except all ins before the river?)

— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 24, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

A big part of the challenge through the 10 sessions has been how pure Polk has run in all-in pots. According to Corey Steel, Negreanu entered Monday’s session down almost $115,000 in expected value on all-in bets with cards still to come. On Day 10, there weren’t any hands with an all-in and call with cards to come.

We know one thing. @RealKidPoker still $115k below all-in EV.
Google spreadsheet: https://t.co/fknkLDNyRE pic.twitter.com/mLvKB2dmqj

— Corey Steel (@CoreySteel_) November 21, 2020

Day 11 Recap

The 11th session witnessed Polk firmly secure himself in the driver’s seat. Over two hours, the duo played 416 hands, and the session ended with Polk adding another $120,023.59 to his lead. Polk extended his lead to $264,019.75, with 5,067 hands now in the books.

Session 11: +$120,023.59 over 416 Hands ***Corrected

Total: +$264,019.75 over 5067 Hands

Very quiet day. We didnt even play an all in pot. Lot of small-mid pots going our way to take a 6.5 buyin lead.

Back at it Saturday at 2:30 pm pt.

— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 26, 2020

I don’t know how I only lost 3 buy ins in today’s session but I’m thankful for it!

Happy Thanksgiving y’all.

Will be back at it again Saturday at 2:30pm PST.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 26, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

With 11 sessions now in the books, here is how the Grudge Match has gone thus far:

The challenge still has 7,433 hands to reach the 12,500 mark – the first milestone when they can decide to call it quits. The long-time feuding poker pros will take a break for Thanksgiving and then return to the virtual felt on Saturday at 2:30 pm PT for Day 12.

Galfond Challenge: Phil Galfond Trails Chance Kornuth by $92,000 After 30 Sessions

The Heads-Up Challenge between Phil Galfond and Chance Kornuth seems to be once again slipping out of the Run It Once Founder’s hands. With 30 sessions now in the books, the three-time WSOP bracelet winner trails Kornuth by $92,000.

In our last update, Galfond had managed to reduce Kornuth’s lead to $48,000 after the 28th session.

Let’s do a quick recap of how the last two sessions played out.

Session 29

Galfond started out strong, but by the time the session wrapped up, Kornuth booked a profit of $3,000, extending his lead to $82,500.

The six-figure swings were in full effect last night! @PhilGalfond surged out to an early five buy-in lead, but @ChancesCards picked up the heat in the closing hour and ended up turning a $3,000 profit. These two will back at it tonight! #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/6pdRxgVG5u

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) November 21, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

Session 30

The 30th session was neck-to-neck, and while Galfond fought back, Kornuth snuck in another profit of $9,500. His overall lead now stands at $92,000.

Another toe to toe session that ended with @ChancesCards escaping with a narrow win, $9,500. These two will be taking a break until December, and we will update everyone when the first session is set. Enjoy the break, guys! #GalfondChallenge pic.twitter.com/SWyGV8wf7O

— Run It Once Poker (@RunItOncePoker) November 22, 2020

Watch the highlights of the session below.

The Galfond Challenge will now return on December 2.

Daniel Negreanu & Erik Seidel’s Venmo Accounts Get Hacked

Daniel Negreanu and Erik Seidel recently had their Venmo online payment accounts hacked, with the six-time WSOP bracelet winner seeing $15,000 robbed from him.

The alleged thief even tried to spend another $43 of Negreanu’s money on an Uber ride!

The dude who robbed my @venmo @VenmoSupport account has some balls. Cleaned it out and then still tried to pay for a $43 Uber ride on my dime.

You just stole $15k dude, and you still need to get me for $43 more? Ain’t you a piece of work.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 25, 2020

Negreanu’s loss came just hours after fellow high stakes legend Seidel posted a similar story, though it’s not clear if or how much money the hacker got away with.

Looks like my Venmo has been hacked & email connected to the account changed. I’ve tried calling, emailing & contacting @venmo & @VenmoSupport with no response for the last hour

— Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel) November 24, 2020

“The security of customer account information is always a top priority for Venmo and PayPal, and we take all the necessary steps to protect our customers,” Tom Hunter, a PayPal spokesman, said in an emailed statement. “We take these situations very seriously and work quickly and diligently to support customers, mitigate any impact, and resolve the situation if issues arise.”