An exciting moment in poker history, the anticipated heads up match between the industry’s two popular icons, Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk has finally begun. With years of history between the two established players, the agreed challenge seems like a resolution to their long standing back and forth banter and countless controversial issues. The initial 200 hands was a good start for Negreanu as he booked a win of over $100k but was quickly reversed within the next two sessions.
Set to play a 12,500 or 25,000-hand, $200/$400 heads up No Limit Hold’em challenge, the match has a long way to go before an overall victory is awarded. Roughly over 1,300 hands in, Polk is in the lead with a profit of $180,865 so far, with many fans closely tuning in for the next session and latest updates.
Session 1: 200 hands live at the PokerGO studio in Las Vegas
The first 200 hands set a different tone from the rest of the following sessions being it was played live at the PokerGO studio in Las Vegas, delivering fans an entertaining experience right off the bat. Thousands of enthusiasts watched the live stream across the various media channels, excitedly cheering for their favored player while the two icons battled it out on the felt.
Taking a more conservative route paid off for Negreanu as he ended the initial session with $116,500 in winnings. Right timing as well as a good run of cards was in the works as the Poker Hall of Famer crushed the first match. Polk on the other hand, began with a more aggressive style which brought a few losses right from the start. By the 127th hand however, Polk managed to grab the lead by catching a few bluffs and making hands that would see a payout from Negreanu. The last 70 hands for the match was brutal for Polk as things seemed to just fall out of his way, pushing him to end the session with a six-figure loss.
Felt good about my play tonight despite going -$116,500. Couple hands were slightly loose (first hand of the night I misread the board to be totally honest lol)
Looking forward to not getting stacked bluffing into trips next session.
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 5, 2020
“I thought he played a couple nice lines that panned out. I thought he played fine, he played well.”, commented Polk to Poker Central’s Brent Hanks after the segment.
Negreanu, similarly content with how the session turned out, said, “I know that we’ve got a long road ahead and we’re gonna be walking into his arena. Felt like I played well, I executed my strategy and it worked out as good as it could.”
Session 2: 424 hands online on WSOP.com
Set out on a different field, the first online match kicked off last Saturday on the WSOP.com client lasting roughly two hours in a two table arrangement with automatic top-ups to the 100-big blind and a $40,000 buy-in. The two famous poker personalities battled it out on the virtual felt to complete a total of 424 hands for the session with Polk securing a great recovery from his initial loss.
Showing some excitement in a series of tweets prior to the match, the pair shared their gaming setups with the viewers, ready to unleash some great poker action on the online tables.
It’s almost GO TIME! pic.twitter.com/hMGedX71gQ
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 6, 2020
I’m ready to roll pic.twitter.com/RyajrwYteY
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 6, 2020
Polk’s arena proved to be well-suited for the famed Youtuber as the match resulted in a landslide for a profit of $218,292.78. Negreanu, who was down for more than 5 buy-ins for the day, encountered coolers here and there and found himself always second best even with his generally good hands. With the tables turned and Negreanu now at a downswing of -$101k, the six-time bracelet winner positively ended the session on a good note despite the striking loss.
“Long way to go and I’m excited to get back to it!”, tweeted Negreanu.
Session Total: 424 hands +$218,292.78
Challenge Total: 624 hands +$101,792.78 (And Daniel owed 2 buttons)
Felt good today. Obviously ran hot in some important spots. Much happier to be back on the online felt.
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 7, 2020
“I won 200k but I still feel bad because I made more misclicks in my session than a man 2 tabling in a recliner”, he added.
Session 3: 382 hands online on WSOP.com
Another two-hour match was in full swing as the duel continued on, adding just over 382 hands to bring the total to 1,006 hands completed. Still riding his wave of luck, Polk smashed another $166,239.03 in earnings to bring his lead up to +$268,031.82. His aggressive style countering Negreanu’s under-betting strategy enabled him to frequently scoop up pots in addition to his good run of cards. Negreanu on the other hand, once again saw second best with his big hands while failing to catch his big draws in crucial pots.
Got my hand caught in the cookie jar early, but we rallied back for another strong session (+$166,239.03 over 382 hands)
This brings the total up to +$268,031.82 over 1006 hands. So far so good!
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 10, 2020
While Negreanu’s recorded loss of over $268k seems huge, the match is only 8% through the 12,500-hand halfway mark. With a long way to go and multiple sessions yet to be completed, Polk was quick to chime in on Negreanu’s run right after the match.
At the end of the challenge ill give my thoughts on Negreanu’s play, but until then not going to say much.
I will say he is obviously running bad in a bunch of standard cooler spots. His game does have some issues though.
— Doug “Truck Driver” Polk (@DougPolkVids) November 10, 2020
“I will say this though, just cause the number is big doesn’t mean Dnegs is down that much. He is down a little under 7 buyins. That is a completely normal result over 1k hands of hunl.”, Polk tweeted.
Session 4: 366 hands on WSOP.com
Four days in the exciting heads up challenge, Negreanu finally comes out on top, booking his first online win of $87,166.59 over 366 hands. Cards were at last falling his way, scooping up a $95k pot all-in preflop with pocket Kings against Polk’s pocket Jacks. His luck continued on for the duration of the session up until the last couple of hands.
Just when everybody was watching the Canadian pro possibly secure a big win of over $170k to recuperate his standing $268k loss, a terrible runout on the last hand of the day cut a chunk of his winnings by half. A four-bet preflop from Negreanu with pocket Jacks and a call from Polk saw a flop of 6h-5s-2h. With over $20k already in the middle, Polk check jammed his remaining $30k with 10s-10h. The turn 3h and the river of 7h gave Polk a runner runner flush against Negreanu’s favored two black Jacks.
Nice to book a win today of about 2 buyins. Lost that pesky JJ vs TT hand on the river or it would have been 4 buy ins, but a win is a win.
1372 hands played of 25,000 and currently down about 4.5 buy ins.
Back at it Friday 2:30pm PST.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 12, 2020
A bad beat for a pot of $81k, Polk was glad to have cut his losses for the day tweeting, “Was only a matter of time until we had a losing session online. Honestly was a river card away from losing 4 buyins, happy to walk away only having lost a little over 2!”
Latest tally
With four sessions completed, the latest update can be seen with Polk in the lead for $180,865.22 across 1,372 hands. Play is expected to resume tomorrow Friday at 2:30pm PT.
| 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) |
