This week’s poker news gets us up to speed on the Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk head-to-head showdown. A lot of people were expecting fireworks given the previous bad blood between the two but it’s been mostly fine so far.
Negreanu Wins Live Portion Of Heads-Up Grudge Match
The grudge match between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu kicked off a few days ago with Negreanu winning $117,000 throughout the live portion of the poker match. However, the battle was more of a friendly competition than a grudge match as the two parties seemed like longtime friends. So far, they were only able to get through the first 200 hands out of the 25,000 that they are supposed to play.
It was a shocking twist for two people that have had a long history with one another leading up to this match. Given their history, this was quite a surprise as many expected more trash talk and fireworks. With Polk wearing a “More Rake Is Better” t-shirt back at the 2017 WSOP One Drop as well as the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl. It was a shot at the then PokerStars sponsored Negreanu who had defended the site’s rake increase.
During both of those events, there was a clear hostility to one another but in this week’s event, there was none of that. Negreanu event tweeted out that he was happy they were able to put on a show while being civil with one another.
Lone Star Poker Series Ends As Zuniga Wins Main Event
The Lone Star Poker Series has now come and gone after an incredible show at the Prime Social Club in Houston, Texas and Oziel Zuniga has claimed the top prize. The series had guaranteed over $300,000 in prize pools that would be spread out over 16 different tournaments. With so much money on the line, the tournaments were able to attract many notable players including WSOP bracelet winners Rep Porter and Anthony Zinno.
However, neither of them was able to come away with first place in the series main event. That title went to Zuniga as he was able to bring home $45,960 from the $330,000 prize pool. He had outlasted 660 total entries en route to his victory. Along with the money, Zuniga received an engraved money clip and a silver trophy belt buckle from Max Lang Belts and Buckles.
Zuniga claimed that the only reason he was able to win this event was coffee. He said that he was partying too late the night before and had to drink coffee to get him through the exhaustion he felt the day he won the poker event.
The Venetian To Host Pair Of MSPT Main Events Later This Month
It is apparent that live poker is starting to make a return all around the world. Las Vegas has already been leading the way on that front with multiple properties holding in person events. The most notable recent announcement is The Venetian as they have already started their DeepStack Extravaganza that will run through November 29th. The series will have more than $1.6 million in guarantees.
In that series, there will be a number of premier mid-major stops including the Mid-States Poker Tour. On November 13th-15th there will be a $1,100 buy-in, $200K GTD Main Event. Shortly afterwards on November 19th-23rd, there will be a $1,600 buy-in, $400K GTD Main Event.]