Daniel Negreanu became just the third player in poker history to exceed $45 million in career earnings thanks to a win in the 2022 Wynn Millions $15,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller. The 47-year-old Poker Hall of Fame member defeated a field of 40 entries to earn $216,000 and the title, increasing his lifetime total to $45,100,233 in the process. The six-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner remains in third place on poker’s all-time money list, behind only Justin Bonomo ($59,182,835) and Bryn Kenney ($57,450,921).
Back to my winning ways and it feels good! 3am finish with all the chips in the $15k for $216,000 and 216 points towards the PGT leaderboard.
I’ll be in the Wynn Millions tomorrow after a late reg! Weee pic.twitter.com/ZDjmL31rep— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) March 3, 2022
As Negreanu mentioned in the above tweet, he was also awarded plenty of rankings points for the win along with the title and the money. The 360 CardPlayer Player of the Year points he secured for his second title and fifth POY-qualified final-table finish of the year were enough to move him into 20th place in the 2022 POY standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker. He also secured 216 PokerGO Tour points, which moved him into seventh place on that leaderboard. He has already cashed for more than $760,000 since the new year began.
The top six finishers made the money in this event, with Sergio Aido being eliminated on the bubble. Reigning Card Player and PokerGO Tour Player of the Year Ali Imsirovic was the next to fall, with his KK failing to hold up against the AK of Negreanu. An ace on the flop left Imsirovic in rough shape, and he warned $30,000 as the sixth-place finisher when the turn and river brought no help. The 120 POY points he earned for his eighth final-table finish of the year were enough to see him climb into second place in this year’s standings. He now sits in third on the PGT leaderboard as well, having already cashed for more than $1.2 million this year, with three titles won along the way.
Sean Winter was the next to fall, with the last of his extreme short stack being committed with Q-5. He ran into pocket aces for Sergi Reixach, which held to narrow the field to four. Winter earned $48,000 for his seventh POY-qualified final table of the year, moving into 18th in the POY race as a result.
Brock Wilson had also navigated his way into the money on a short stack. He got all-in with 10-5 sited and was up against the pocket sevens of Ren Lin. The pocket pair held up and Wilson was sent to the rail with $66,000. He now sits inside the top ten in both the Card Player and PokerGO Tour points races.
The lead changed hands between Negreanu and Lin a few times during three-handed play. Negreanu spiked an ace on the river with A-8 against Lin’s pocket tens to double into the lead. Roughly half an hour later Lin got all-in with A6 against Negreanu’s 99. The pocket nines remained best by the river and Lin was eliminated in third place ($96,000).
With that Negreanu took roughly a 5:3 chip lead into heads-up play against Reixach. he was able to extend that advantage in time for the final hand. He shoved from the button for just under 8.5 big blinds effective with 98 and Reixach called with 44. The board ran out 9325K to lock up the pot and the title for Negreanu. Reixach was awarded $144,000 as the runner-up, increasing his career earnings to more than $8.9 million.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points | PGT Points |
1 | Daniel Negreanu | $216,000 | 360 | 216 |
2 | Sergi Reixach | $144,000 | 300 | 144 |
3 | Ren Lin | $96,000 | 240 | 96 |
4 | Brock Wilson | $66,000 | 180 | 66 |
5 | Sean Winter | $48,000 | 150 | 48 |
6 | Ali Imsirovic | $30,000 | 120 | 30 |
Photo credit: Daniel Negreanu’s Twitter account.