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Daniel Negreanu in Huge Hole to Doug Polk in Grudge Match

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Grudge Match Doug Polk Daniel Negreanu

The grudge match between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk continues on, but Polk has jumped out into a massive lead after a couple of monster session. Through Monday, Polk is up over $578,000 over 6,227 hands.

At this point, Polk looks to be in the driver’s seat, but there is still plenty of poker to be played.

Polk Wins $120k on Uneventful Day

While most people were getting ready for Thanksgiving last Wednesday, Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu decided to play a 416 hand session of their challenge. The session helped Polk to effectively double his lead over Negreanu.

Heading into the match, Polk was up $140,000. Friday’s session wasn’t anything spectacular according to Polk, but he still managed to turn a nice profit of $120,023.59 over 416 hands. According to Polk, the pair did not have an all-in confrontation all day.

However, a lot of small to middling pots went Polk’s way. According to Negreanu, Polk’s radar was in high gear. Negreanu claims that he had aces three times. Two of those times, Polk folded his button. The other time, Polk got out of the way to a pre-flop three-bet.

Polk Dominates Negreanu in $332k Session

On Saturday, Polk had the type of session he needed to have to boost his confidence. Polk crushed Negreanu to the tune of $332,178.14 over 684 hands. According to Polk, he “hit everything.” He said he got every hero call right, and every big bluff worked. He also had every all-in session go his way.

To give an idea of just how bad Negreanu was running. He was all-in with queens against pocket eights for Polk. The fop and turn missed Negreanu, but Polk spiked a river 8 to give him the 80k pot.

After Saturday’s session, Negreanu was down $596,197.89 over 5,751 hands. That is a massive lead for Polk, but things can turn around in an instant. Fortunately for him, Monday’s session didn’t hurt him too badly.

Negreanu Eeks Out a $17.7k Profit On Monday

Monday’s session finally produced a win for Negreanu but was probably a best-case scenario for Polk. Over 476 hands, Negreanu won $17,780.32. According to Polk, Negreanu’s win would have been closer to $100k if not for a late pot that won him 3 buy-ins.

The pot that Polk referred to was a pot that saw him spike a pair of aces on the river. The board was 9s-6s-2d-4d-Ac and Polk bet $33,000 into a $53,000 pot. Negreanu had Jh-9h and eventually made the crying call. The $119k pot got Polk almost back to even.

Negreanu again was bemoaning his bad luck with aces. He called Polk “world class” at folding pre-flop when Negreanu had aces. He said that Polk has folded pre-flop 10 times when Negreanu had aces. Polk folded four times during Monday’s session. These folds are one of many reasons why Negreanu is behind in this match.

Negreanu Has Work to Do to Get Back into This Match

At this point, Negreanu is down $578,417.57 over 6,227 hands. The match is scheduled for 25,000 hands, but the losing player can opt-out of the remainder of the challenge at 12,500 hands. Some would think that Negreanu needs to start thinking about surrendering, but it is still way too early.

All it takes is a couple of good sessions to put Negreanu back into contention. With the stakes these two are playing, a couple of bad runs by Polk will put Negreanu back into the lead. Polk has commented that Negreanu is playing a lot better and making some good moves. The question is whether Polk can counter these moves and run well when necessary.

Let’s see how the next 2,500 hands go before we start crowing an overall winner. We may find that Negreanu is not as far out of this match as some are thinking.

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