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Daniel Negreanu Defeats Eric Persson For His First High Stakes Duel Win

The Six-Time Bracelet Winner Is Now 1-3 On The Show, Will Face A New Challenger In The $200,000 Round

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Daniel Negreanu was swept by Phil Hellmuth in the first-ever High Stakes Duel match, going 0-3. The six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner finally got a win on PokerGO’s heads-up no-limit hold’em show on Monday, when he defeated Eric Persson in round 1 of High Stakes Duel 4.

The match, which saw Negreanu and Persson each put up $50,000 to enter, was held inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Before cards got in the air, Ali Nejad hosted The Weigh-In which saw Negreanu reveal a costume imitating Persson’s appearance during his infamous streaming debut on PokerGO Heads-Up Showdown last spring. Negreanu’s blue muscle shirt and giant bird-flipping hands were a callback to when Persson defeated Hellmuth in a contentious first-round match.

Negreanu made a wardrobe change midway through the match, with the Poker Hall of Famer shedding the costume to reveal some more typical attire. The first half hour of action resulted in a slight lead for Negreanu. After an hour of one-on-one battle, a big pot developed that saw Negreanu begin to pull away.

Negreanu hit middle set with 5Heart Suit5Club Suit, while Persson’s 4Diamond Suit2Club Suit that he raised from the button improved to an open-ended straight draw on a JDiamond Suit5Diamond Suit2Diamond Suit flop. Negreanu check-called a continuation bet and the turn brought the 2Diamond Suit to give Persson a pair and a low flush draw to go with his outs to a straight. Negreanu checked again and Persson fired 5,000 into the pot of 8,800. Negreanu called again and the 4Heart Suit completed the board, giving Persson two pair while putting four to a straight on the board. The action checked through and Negreanu’s set earned him the pot. He chipped up to 63,200 while Persson slid to 36,800 after the hand.

Check out the hand below, with commentary from Nejad and three-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman.

Negreanu held the lead over the next hour, then extended it after winning a healthy pot with pocket sevens after withstanding a turn bluff raise from Persson. The action went check-check on the river and Negreanu’s pocket pair earned him the pot and nearly a 4:1 chip lead.

Not long after that, all of the chips went in with Negreanu’s ASpade SuitKDiamond Suit leading the ADiamond SuitQDiamond Suit of Persson. Negreanu raised from the button then four-bet shoved over Persson’s three-bet. Persson called and the board ran out JHeart Suit10Heart Suit7Spade SuitJDiamond Suit6Spade Suit and Negreanu’s A-K high won him the match.

It was originally slated that Persson and Negreanu would face off a second time just a day after this round 1 match, but Persson later shared a video post on social media that indicated that he was declining the rematch. Check out the embedded Twitter post below for his comments.

With Persson stepping down, any potential challenger now has 30 days to step in and post the $100,000 buy-in for a round 2 match with Negreanu. The new contender will then square off against the Poekr Hall of Famer with $49.9 million in recorded tournament earnings for the $200,000 purse on a to-be-determined date.

Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.