In this column we deliver you the latest and most interesting news and gossip from our favourite poker people.
Negreanu vs. Hellmuth Duel – Fuel for more bets
After Daniel Negreanu was beaten by Phil Hellmuth in the first round of the High Stakes Duel, things are heating up even more. Daniel re-challenged Hellmuth immediately when the match was done, which was to be expected. So the next round between the two will be played at some point in the next month for double the stakes.
In order to motivate himself more to do better this time round, Daniel Negreanu offered a bet on Twitter – betting on himself. He offers -1.50 (@1.67) against Hellmuth with a $200k cap. So far it seems there are no takers, however.
Looking for action on the rematch laying -1.50 vs @phil_hellmuth
I’m struggling to find anyone who wants the other side at -1.50 so if I know you, and you want up to $200k let me know!
1.50 is a heavy price for a sit n’ go! Come and get it!
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) April 1, 2021
So, if this won’t help his motivation then he has to rely on his own methods. Daniel will definitely not study for the next match, he made this clear in the latest DAT Poker Podcast episode. He knows his current knowledge is more than sufficient to beat Hellmuth. Just as it was with Polk though, he does need variance on his side.
In addition to this, Bryn Kenney finally came out of the woodwork, challenging Hellmuth to a $1 million battle. Kenney is the number one on the HendonMob All-time Money list and is being seen as the all around tournament GOAT. Hellmuth is of course challenging this by continuously saying that he is the best player.
What’s all this white magic and apexpredator shit I’m hearing @Phil_hellmuth . We know who is king of the hill, but if you want your shot at the top let’s put up a million each and give the people what they want
— Bryn Kenney (@BrynKenney) April 3, 2021
Hellmuth did reply to this offer, but not in the way the poker world had hoped. “Bryn – I have massive respect for you, I actually think you have a shot at becoming the poker GOAT (because you play all the games so well). Matusow thinks your the best! When you say I’m getting crushed at High Rollers, and it’s NOT true, seems like an attack on my legacy.”
So we will keep going in circles here. Hellmuth will continue declaring himself the best player, others will challenge him to actually prove it by playing the high roller circuit, Hellmuth will refuse to do that, but will keep declaring himself the best player.
Malinowski vs. Burakov
There is a tiny update from another Heads-up challenge that is currently in motion. Wiktor “Limitless” Malinowski and Stefan “Stefan11222” Burakov have played over 5k additional hands in their challenge. They had agreed to play 50k hands, but the public is not really being kept up to date with the progress. There is no official results page of sorts.
It seems like the players are roughly half way through now and Burakov in the lead with $230k. At least we have a graph for this.
Mike Postle string folds
We get to another never-ending story. On 1st April (was this actually intentional?) Mike Postle more or less dropped his $330 million libel suit against Veronica Brill and many others for defamation after calling out to be a cheat.
“Great!” one might think. But no. The story continues. First of all, he now owes many participants of this drama legal fees.
Mike voluntarily dropped the case against me and many others. Now he owes me my legal fees https://t.co/FgiHko57Vp
— Veronica Brill 2.2 (@Angry_Polak) April 2, 2021
And also, he has filed this dismissal motion “without prejudice”, which means that he can at any point be able to re-file this claim or a similar one. So in addition to legal fees the defendants are also looking to turn this motion into a “with prejudice” one so that everyone can finally close this chapter.
Manig Löser buys meeting with Mike Tyson
German poker pro Manig Löser has won a meeting with boxer Mike Tyson in a charity auction. He paid $23,568 to meet Tyson for lunch which will be followed by a sparring session in the ring.
https://twitter.com/swordfish007/status/1376989589039112197?s=20
Löser is very fit, so it will be interesting to see how he does against Tyson. When this meeting will take place, however, is not known.
