Negreanu vs. Polk: How to lose $300,000 in 3 hours?

Author: Vargoso Published: 01.12.20

The last two sessions of the duel between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk before Thanksgiving Day had a huge impact on the overall results. The American won both, set a profit record ($332,178 in one day), and increased his advantage over his opponent to $596,198 (15 buy-ins).

Negreanu vs. Polk: How to lose $300,000 in 3 hours?

Doug Polk takes the lead

Only three days have passed since our last report on the Polk vs. Negreanu HU Challenge ($200/$400 stake), but it was enough to change the course of the match, despite ten sessions being played before.

The eleventh session, although it ended in favor of Polk ($120,023 in 416 hands), was described by Doug as very calm and it passed with no all-ins. Something that cannot be said about the twelfth session:

Doug Polk wins over $300,000 to Daniel Negranu

Of course, Doug clarified later that it was a heads-up match, and everything could dramatically change at any moment; for example, in the same 12th session when the stacks summed over $700k, Daniel lost to a full house and a set, having top and overpairs in his hands.

Will Doug Polk have two more HU challenges?

The popularity of the Negreanu vs. Polk challenge reflects not only on its several broadcasts, discussions on poker sites, forums, and social networks, but also "went sideways" to Doug Polk. Judging from his Twitter account, Doug could have two more HU battles after ending the match with the Canadian:

Doug Polk vs. Bill Perkins

The first one is against Bill Perkins. Moreover, Polk is ready to give him a $500k:$1 side bet, as the businessman complained that his skills were too low, and he needs to learn a lot. Although we know that Perkins likes to announce his participation in some big poker projects and then "forgets" about it, the assessment is quite objective.
The second is against the live legend Doyle Brunson. Although the American called himself a very old-fashioned player and admitted that he won't be able to play HUNLH against modern players, he is ready to play against Doug in other poker variants. To this, his young colleague suggested the following:

Doug Polk vs. Doyle Brunson

The details are being settled as we write, but if they reach an agreement, the poker world will face the most unusual HU challenge ever, which of course, has mega popularity guaranteed.

What about Negreanu?

He, as always, was short of a word and posted the following message:

Daniel Negreanu on his challenge

Hence, Daniel thinks that a record loss is due to bad luck. The further course of the match will show how true this is. However, we cannot say that after the 12th session, Daniel was not hurt at all. For the first time in the last week, he posted a video on his channel with a caption that needs no explanation: How to lose $300,000 in 3 hours?