It is quite unusual for a poker professional to go for a period of eight years without even once winning a live poker event. Yet this is the true story of the poker legend, Daniel Negreanu, who for a long time missed from the charts of winners. The dry spell however came to an end in June upon winning the Poker Masters Event #5: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $178,200; that is the second win since June 2021.
Looking back at the events that led to his comeback, Negreanu might just need to send a token of appreciation to Doug Polk, who is an old poker rival. Polk is a video content creator on YouTube, and on 11th July had uploaded a video on his channel discussing how long ago it has been since Negreanu won a tournament of poker.
The very next day, as if to prove that he still had the wit, “Kid Poker” bagged a cash prize of $700,000 at a $50,000 buy-in PokerGO Cup event. By the time the series was coming to a close, no other player had shown such poker talent like he did and he was crowned the king of the championship. Exactly two months after this win, on a laid back Sunday afternoon, the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas would be the stage of poker action where Negreanu unveils his relevance after such a long time.
The long standing poker champion of his day beat a total of 66 participants to clinch his very first Poker Masters event. This second win in a period of less than 3 months indeed proves that the GGPoker ambassador never really went out of action; he still deserves a seat at the circle of winners.
With a total of 179 points which earned him the second round of cash at the high roller series, Negreanu has so far accumulated 281 points. This performance places him at the top of the leaderboard and in the race to earn the coveted purple jacket. Within seven more events to cover, it is still too early to take the champagne out of the ice. His fans are definitely excited for his comeback but will have to wait a little longer to celebrate this time.
The manner in which events unfolded in his favor suggest that the video that Polk posted on his YouTube channel had no effect whatsoever on bringing to an end a long stretch of poker dormancy. The coincidence is quite odd though and must be taken seriously because that is probably what the fans had noticed about his absence from poker sites.
Poker Masters; the stage for a comeback
The 2021 Poker Masters Event #5 Final Table hosted five poker players but the focus was on Negreanu (Canada) and Nick Petrangelo (United States). During the heads up at the game, it appeared that both players were of the same ability considering the close chip values. At the time, Negreanu was a few inches ahead and this was the only advantage he needed to prove who the king was.
It took a pseudo-cooler hand swing for the Poker Hall of Famer to scoop the victory for this particular tournament. Petrangelo appeared to have a clear grasp of the button with a 7 of clubs to land 180,000. With the opponent at 3 bet headed to 600,000 courtesy of a combination of A of diamonds and Q of clubs, the round was called. The flop fell hard with Negreanu’s combination of cards but he did not see it going down this way. He placed a bet of 725,000 and earned a call. The turn happened on a 4 of hearts and came at a time when both players had checked.
On to the river and armed with a 4 of spades, Negreanu took a risk and plunged 1.8 million into the game. Petrangelo should have known that his opponent was not about to give up that much stake for nothing; he made the call only to be hit with some bad news. As the noble sportsman that he is, Petrangelo owned up to the tricky turn that turned his opponent into a winner. The last round found him with only 760,000 which are barely 10 big folds.
The next action from “DNegs” saw him picking up an A of spades and A of clubs combination of cards. It was bait and Petrangelo did not think twice about biting into it. His shove of Q spades and 10 spades must have appeared juicy but it actually cleaned the board for the opponent who served 4 clubs, K diamonds, 5 hearts, 6 clubs and K clubs.
There was no doubt that Negreanu had earned his spot fair and square; he walked away from the table smelling of $178,200 and feeling rather accomplished due to an impressive performance. The second position win that went to Petrangelo earned the poker professional a cool $133,000.
Event #6: 10,000 8-Game has already been opened for registration and the interest is spectacular. There is still plenty of time to sign up for the events but the number of players already on give the impression that it will be an interesting game to watch. The venue of the upcoming event will be PokerGo studio in New Jersey, where the first part of the event was held.
Fans of Poker Masters can catch the live action on a daily basis through to the third week of September but only to those who have a PokerGo subscription. Hope is not lost for those who do not have a subscription because a monthly plan goes for $14.99. If you would rather be signed up for 3 months, the package is available for $29.99. The greatest will however be enjoyed by those who pay an entire year subscription because they will only pay $99.99. To save an extra $10, out of the yearly subscription, players must use the promo code, “PokerNews” when checking out.
