Negreanu takes lead against Doug during Heads-up grudge live match

The most awaited match of 2020 I must say! The heads-up grudge match between the only two time WSOP Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu and retired poker pro Doug Polk looked more like a friendly game.

The first two hands of the 25,000-hand challenge live at the Aria Wednesday evening, was uneventful most of the match, with neither player swinging up or down much more than a buy-in. During the last 30 hands of the match, Polk led to Negreanu winning $117, 000. Negreanu played a triple barrel bluff and a couple of river bluffs.

What was mainly spoken about was the friendly manner in which the match took place. Netizens were surprised by the way in which everything concluded. Polk and Negreanu showed up, were cordial with one another, and had pleasant conversations throughout the match. All that happened despite a very adversarial history that both of them share on social media and in live tournaments. The poker world knows very well that the two would take shots at one another on Twitter and use their YouTube channels to trade blows as well. While each of us expected a massive blow, they both sat down and played poker without any controversy.

Negreanu got out to an early lead in the $200-$400 no-limit hold’em match, up about $30,000, but Polk topped off his stack twice and evened out the match, even taking a slight lead. On the 170th hand of the match, Negreanu raised the button with K9 and Polk three-bet with AQ. On the 193rd hand of the match, Polk raised the button with QJ and Negreanu three-bet 106 from the big blind.

Negreanu flopped trips and bet $1,600. Negreanu check-called a $7,600 bet on the 8d turn and check-called a nearly $44,000 river shove on the 2 river. Pol later tweeted, “I go on reddit/2+2 and all the posts are how owned I got and then I go on twitter and all the posts I see are people trying to bet more money on me lol,” The final match began at 4:00 IST today.

To know more about the Heads-up grudge, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com.

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Manthra Koliyer

Manthra Koliyer is a writer at Gutshot Magazine. She has an affinity for seeing the world through people’s eyes. With a bubbly fun personality, you can always catch her chatting with anyone she comes across. Holding an English Literature degree from Wilson College, Mumbai, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Asian College of Journalism, this pop culture fanatic is ready to take on the world with a pen, paper, and microphone. She also actively works on her personal blog called namasteyconvict.blogspot.com, where for a moment she lets you into her drama-filled world.