It was announced as an epic clash, but no one could have predicted the drama that went down in Round 1 of the High Stakes Duel between Phil Hellmuth…
It was announced as an epic clash, but no one could have predicted the drama that went down in Round 1 of the High Stakes Duel between Phil Hellmuth…
It was announced as an epic clash, but no one could have predicted the drama that went down in Round 1 of the High Stakes Duel between Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu on Wednesday evening in Las Vegas.
Having won all three High Stakes Duel rounds against Antonio Esfandiari, Hellmuth went 4-0 in the series as he took down the opening clash against old friend/enemy, Daniel Negreanu.
A lengthy, six-hour battle would see Negreanu go up huge. The needles flew as he pulled out a few props to rub some salt in the wounds he was opening on his longtime rival.
However, he failed to land a killing blow, and “The Poker Brat” clung to life with a few blinds. Slowly, he inched his way back from the edge, and eventually, it was he who held the lead. Unlike Negreanu, he did not give it back up, and when the final card hit the felt, he had earned what was no doubt one of the most satisfying victories in a career full of them.
Hellmuth now holds the $100,000 prize and belt from the match. If Negreanu wants to play again he has to buy-in for $100,000. When Hellmuth wins three in a row he can bow out with his winnings or carry on, but each time the buy-in doubles.
Given Negreanu recently lost $1.2 million against Polk and didn’t seem too tilted about it, we can probably expect to see several more matches soon to come.
The whole thing played out on PokerGO where you can watch it from start to finish. They did release the first 30 minutes of the match for free on YouTube as a teaser.