Poker Legends Daniel Negreanu And Phil Hellmuth Will Play High-Stakes Heads-Up Match

Daniel Negreanu’s heads-up match with Doug Polk is over, however he’s already received a second high-profile battle lined up.

Negreanu is ready to battle with 15-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth on PokerGO’s “High Stakes Duel,” in accordance with a tweet from Hellmuth.

“Looks like they are bringing me the GREAT Daniel Negreanu @RealKidPoker, the guy that studied heads-up for months with coaches I respect,” tweeted Hellmuth Saturday afternoon. “So be it. It will be a great challenge for me.”

Despite some sort phrases within the tweet, the gas for the match began after Hellmuth criticized Negreanu’s play in opposition to Polk throughout an interview on PokerGO.

“I was disappointed in the way that Daniel played,” Hellmuth mentioned. “But I know his coaches. His coaches are brilliant. Everything that I had talked about with his coaches… you see, I talked to these guys for a couple of hours and I loved the way they thought about no-limit [hold’em].”

He went on to confess that he wager on Negreanu to win however thought he ought to’ve countered Polk with a special technique.

“I was betting on Daniel’s talent,” mentioned Hellmuth. “I think if Daniel is going to try to play Doug playing pure GTO [game theory optimal] or next-level GTO, then I think that Doug has a lot of fire, so Daniel is going to fight fire with fire. And I think Daniel should’ve fought fire with Daniel.”

Negreanu publicly challenged Hellmuth to a heads-up match shortly after the interview was launched. The Canadian professional mentioned that he would play any stakes and seemingly any format.

Yo @phil_hellmuth you mentioned you watched “zero” of the match however appear to have robust opinions on the play.

I’ll play you a heads up match dwell, on-line, at any stakes you’re feeling comfy with for as many fingers as you desire to.

Wanna play large man? https://t.co/ac9KVpwuaO

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) February 10, 2021

The tweet appeared to indicate a set variety of fingers in a money recreation format, however the format on “High Stakes Duel” is structured as a dwell heads-up sit-n-go format, which is drastically completely different than what Negreanu simply spent months enjoying, but it surely seems to be like the 2 will play regardless.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Negreanu expressed doubt {that a} match in opposition to Hellmuth would truly occur.

“I think he’s chicken, to be honest with you,” mentioned Negreanu. “I think he’s scared. I think he knows he’s going to look bad.”

Hellmuth performed this format final 12 months and defeated Antonio Esfandiari in three straight matches, profitable $400,000 within the course of.