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Poker Pro Daniel Negreanu Accepts Heads-Up Grudge Match Against Doug Polk

Negreanu Agreed To Play Between 10,000-25,000 Hands Over Two Tables Of $200-$400 No-Limit Hold'em

by Steve Schult  |  Published: Jul 30, 2020

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The poker world will get the heads-up grudge match between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu after the two agreed to the challenge Wednesday afternoon.

Polk initially offered to play four tables of online heads-up no-limit hold’em Wednesday, however, Negreanu pushed back since heads-up online no-limit hold’em is Polk’s specialty. Polk had countered with a mix format with one game picked by each player, but Negreanu eventually decided to play two tables of $200-$400 heads-up no-limit hold’em.

Polk agreed. The only details left to iron out are which site to play on, how many hands they will play, and the exact dates of the match. Negreanu stated that he would be willing to play between 10,000 and 25,000 hands.

Both players agreed to live stream their battle, with Polk offering to expose hole cards on a delay to increase fan engagement. The match will take place sometime in the fall after the conclusion of the online World Series of Poker.

In a blog post released on Thursday, Negeranu said that exposing hole cards would give an even bigger edge to Polk, who is already listed as a favorite by the betting site PokerShares.

“As far as showing my hole cards goes, he is already a big enough favorite and that would only increase his advantage allowing him and his team to dissect my play,” said Negreanu in the post.

In the post, Negreanu admitted himself that he was not a favorite in the current format, but that he was willing to battle anyway.

“He will try to tell you he hasn’t played in a couple years so that somehow evens the playing field, but I haven’t played this format in about 10 years, and when I did, it was for approximately a six-week period,” wrote Negreanu. “It was shortly before Black Friday. So let’s not kid ourselves that this is a level playing field.”

He went on to use the comparison that this challenge was “akin to Steph Curry challenging Shaquille O’Neal to a 3-point shooting contest to decide who is the better basketball player.”

During the public twitter negotiations surrounding the match, Negreanu offered to use the match to help raise money for charity. Polk declined to publicly do anything for a specific charity, citing his disdain for using charitable donations for publicity.

Towards the end of Negreanu’s post, he laid out why exactly he is taking the worst of this match. In short, he says it’s for the benefit of the poker world. That the fans want the match and he’s willing to give it to them.

He also said that the entire feud is based around Polk attacking him through Polk’s popular YouTube channel. Polk trolled Negreanu on multiple occasions with his “More Rake is Better” campaign and more recently with a now-deleted YouTube video that trolls Negreanu’s now infamous Twitch tirade during a WSOP event stream.

“For many years now this man has made a living off of trashing me on a regular basis, well past an unhealthy obsession, regurgitating the same attack lines over and over,” wrote Negreanu. “Not because he truly believes I’m an evil monster, but purely for personal gain disguised as standing for some noble cause.”

The two continued the debate over this point on Twitter Thursday afternoon. There are still some details that need to be finalized, but based on the social media interaction, this is definitely personal.

 
 
Tags: Daniel Negreanu,   Doug Polk,   Poker Feuds,   Heads-Up Poker,   Poker,   Online Poker
 
 
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