The High Stakes Feud between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk reached 25,000 hands and Polk came out on top to the tune of $1.2 million after 36 rounds of two-tabling heads-up $200/$00 NL. In the final session, Negreanu lost $256K. The battle lasted a couple of months and despite the pre-challenge venom, the two gained mutual respect for each other by the end.
After three months of heads-up high-stakes action, that's a wrap! Love him or hate him... but Daniel Negreanu had a big set of balls to take on a heads-up battle against one of the top heads-up cash game specialists in the world. Kid Poker was an underdog at 4-to-1 odds and he knew he was facing an uphill battle, but still had the stones to do it. And when he had an out midway to call it off, he still pressed on. Negreanu dropped $1.2 million over 25K hands, but he gained a lot of respect for his willingness to walk the line and put cash on the line.
"He did a really impressive job. I didn't think he'd play this well. By the end he was doing so many sharp things. it got harder to bluff him," explained Polk.
"He's the better playing going in, made good adjustments throughout, and totally deserved to win," said Negreanu. "He got better and better, and sharper. I was definitely unfortunate. I needed to run above expectations to win the match."
Polk was the more experienced heads-up cash game player, while Negreanu was the more skilled tournament and mixed-games player. At the start of November, Negreanu won the first session, which was 200 hands played live at the Aria in Las Vegas. The match headed online at WSOP.com where they played two tables of $200/$400 NL action. Early on Kid Poker fell behind, but he couldn't stop the bleeding as Polk pulled away and won over a half million. When Polk went on a heater and won over $1 million, Kid Poker slammed on the breaks and stopped the hemorrhaging once it it seven-figures territory. Negreanu finally went on a heater and wiped out over half his deficit after a $390K score. Just when the poker world though that maybe Kid Poker could pull off the impossible and break even during the home stretch, the pendulum sung back Polk's way. He went on another heater and pulled away again. Negreanu's hope of breaking even was long gone. Polk chipped back up over a cool million on the 36 th and final session of their epic, three-month battle.
"By the end he became a solid heads-up player," said Polk. "If you're not a heads-up pro, he's gonna beat you. Outside the class of heads-up pros, you'll have no chance against him."
"I had lot of learning to do in a very short amount of time," said Negreanu. "Disappointed with the result, but not disappointed with my effort. This is the worst run I've ever been on. The last year and a half have been brutal in the card department. I learned that you can have really big swings that seem impossible."
"Impressed with the amount of hours and time and effort D-Negs put in to hang in such a public arena. There's streams, reviews and as public of a challenge as you're going get. You're always in the limelight and every f-ck up will always been seen," said Polk.
"Totally have respect for him. Going forward there will be a civility here. I'm happy to bury the hatchet with my online tormentor," said Negreanu.
"By the way, he pulled off some ridiculous bluffs against me, but he needed to fire more aggressively," said Polk.
In the final session, Negreanu lost $256K during Round 36. Kid Poker jumped out to an early lead, but Polk chipped away to get it back even. During the last couple hours, Polk headed north of $100K and by the time it ended he won a quarter mil.
- Total Hands: 25,000
- Final Results: Polk +$1,200,000
- Round 36 Hands: 1,718
- Results: Polk +$256,000
Now that this heads-up feud is over and has been settled and the two are BFFs forever, Polk will head back into retirement. Negreanu said he needed a long break before he undertakes his next adventure.
