Poker fans got a treat as the two skilled players met at the felt
Daniel Negreanu still has an uphill climb to break even against former rival Doug Polk but got a little closer on Thursday. Kid Poker took home the $200,000 prize in the highly anticipated Round 2 of High Stakes Duel 4 battle at the PokerGo Studio in Las Vegas. Negreanu also got a little payback after Polk took him for $1.2 million in an online heads-up match.
“The hard thing about playing against Doug is that he isn’t one of those people that are afraid to put you in a really tough spot,” Negreanu revealed to PokerGO. “Sometimes you’re going to have to dig deep and make the call with marginal hands like that last hand.” During their years-long feud, Polk was one of Negreanu’s biggest critics, which peaked when they played heads-up in a $200/$400 No-limit Hold’em match that endured for three months.
The match started in November 2020, with Polk, widely recognized as one of the world’s top heads-up online cash players, taking the win. They finally buried the hatchet after the match’s conclusion and were friendly rivals on Thursday. “People are like, ‘Why are you playing him again?’ and it’s because I have no choice,” said Negreanu.
Negreanu fell behind early in the match but flopped a flush to take a big pot and move into the lead midway through. He never trailed after that and took the final hand after a fearless call holding a pair of aces. Polk bluffed to go all-in with his last 54,100 chips, representing a flush, but Negreanu thought for a minute before recognizing the bluff and making the call.
Negreanu took the option to cash out after winning his second straight High Stakes Duel 4 match. He was victorious over Eric Persson in Round 1.
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