With the duo taking a short break for the WSOP online Main Event and Polk’s 32nd birthday last week, the exciting heads up challenge resumed for two sessions right before Christmas day. Negreanu, who bagged a $143k win prior to the break, had a strong start for the week recording a profit of roughly $118k for Monday’s session. What was possibly a much needed heater to cut his massive deficit, Polk was quick to regain his lead of now amounting to $810,468.18 just right in time for the holiday break.
As the halfway mark of 12,500 hands nears, the next session scheduled on December 28, 2020 will ultimately be the deciding match on whether the two icons will continue on to complete the total 25,000 hands agreed or quit with Polk in favor to win. Negreanu, however, has been vocal on his plans to continue playing regardless of the outcome.
Session 20: 534 hands online on WSOP.com
An impressive comeback from a pause for a week and a half, Negreanu dominated the 20th session from start to finish, ending the day with a $117,962.28 win across 534 hands. While the back-to-back six-figure scores may be an astonishing feat, Negreanu still has a long way to go if he wishes to cut down his current loss of close to $700k.
Playing against the aggressive heads up pro, Negreanu is regularly put in tough spots with sometimes a hefty river call making or breaking a session. Fortunately for this match, Negreanu’s intuition served him right to the likes of an $88k pot. The interesting hand started with Polk having raised the button to $900 and met a three-bet from Negreanu for $4,200. A call from behind, the flop revealed Qc-2h-Jd as to which Negreanu checked. Polk fired a small bet of $2,400 with Negreanu seeing a call. The turn came a 3h followed by another check-call of now $8,800. A Kc completed the board, pushing Polk to shove for his remaining $29k. Using his time to make a decision, Negreanu found the call with Qh-9h awarding him the sizable pot with Polk only showing pocket fours.
Want to fix something I said in the postgame, Q9hh is not a fold, its a call. WP hand from @RealKidPoker on that one.
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) December 22, 2020
After a nice win in the last session and a week off, we’re back and looking to build some momentum as we near the halfway point of the match. Round 20 Hand Reviews https://t.co/z1p6hqxKdP
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) December 22, 2020
“Tough one today. Lots of really tough spots. Got my work cut out for me.”, Polk tweeted right after the losing match.
Session 21: 904 hands online on WSOP.com
The second to the last session scheduled for the year, Polk managed to turn things around quickly recuperating his $118k loss earlier this week. The five-hour session endured a ton of swings with Polk holding a profit of even $200k at one point. Establishing his lead within the first hour, Polk continued his good run over the next four hours, ending the day with a six-figure score across a total of 904 hands. With a most recent win of $117,962.28, Polk remains in the lead for $810k.
“The big hands this session were lots of all in preflops. Things were swinging around but once we got deep it stayed in the +2-3 bi range for the entire remaining session.”, commented Polk.
Session: $114,140.26 over 904 hands
Total: +$810,468.18 over 12,222 hands
Very close to halfway now, just a few hundred hands to go. The hand number we got will probably be off slightly im going to try and verify before the last session.
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) December 24, 2020
As an added treat for viewers, Polk appeared in today’s GGPoker stream for a post match interview with Negreanu. The pair shared a few thoughts on the overall challenge and the recent lengthier sessions played out. When asked if a live session was in the line up, both players agreed that due to the risks tied with Covid-19, it would unfortunately be unlikely. Nonetheless, many are hopeful to see the duo push through on the virtual felt in the coming weeks.
Latest tally
After 21 sessions completed within the span of two months, Polk continues to dominate the heads up challenge holding a lead for $810,468.18 over 12,222 hands. The battle is set to take a break for the holidays and is anticipated to resume on the 28th for this year’s last session. With Negreanu in it for the long haul, poker fans can expect more matches to resume in January 2021 for the second half of the grudge match.
| Session | Hands Completed | Daniel Negreanu | Doug Polk |
| 1 | 200 | $116,500 | ($116,500) |
| 2 | 424 | ($218,792) | $218,792 |
| 3 | 382 | ($166,239) | $166,239 |
| 4 | 366 | $87,166 | ($87,166) |
| 5 | 365 | $206,994.59 | ($206,994.59) |
| 6 | 637 | ($93,542.68) | $93,542.68 |
| 7 | 591 | $222,832.70 | ($222,832.70) |
| 8 | 457 | $24,256.82 | ($24,256.82) |
| 9 | 377 | ($205,521.74) | $205,521.74 |
| 10 | 852 | ($117,624.38) | $117,624.38 |
| 11 | 416 | ($120,023.59) | $120,023.59 |
| 12 | 684 | ($332,178.14) | $332,178.14 |
| 13 | 476 | $17,780.32 | ($17,780.32) |
| 14 | 788 | $13,015.31 | ($13,015.31) |
| 15 | 452 | $46,581.88 | ($46,581.88) |
| 16 | 824 | ($160,348.99) | $160,348.99 |
| 17 | 662 | ($101,713.33) | $101,713.33 |
| 18 | 980 | ($173,362.61) | $173,362.61 |
| 19 | 834 | $143,642.37 | ($143,642.37) |
| 20 | 534 | $117,962.28 | ($117,962.28) |
| 21 | 904 | ($114,140.26) | $114,140.26 |
