Daniel Negreanu defeats former rival for $200K in ‘High Stakes Duel’

Daniel Negreanu still has a long way to go until he’s even against Doug Polk.

But he got a little back Thursday from his former rival.

Negreanu won his highly anticipated match against Polk on “High Stakes Duel 4” on Thursday at the PokerGO studio near the Aria, taking home the $200,000 prize from Round 2 of the event.

In addition, Negreanu earned a small measure of payback after losing $1.2 million to Polk during their well-publicized online heads-up match.

“The hard thing about playing against Doug is that he isn’t one of those people that are afraid to put you in really tough spot,” Negreanu told PokerGO. “Sometimes you’re going to have to dig deep and make the call with marginal hands like that last hand.”

Polk was one of Negreanu’s most vocal critics, and their yearslong feud culminated with a heads-up No-limit Hold’em match at stakes of $200-$400 that lasted three months.

Starting in November 2020, the two played 25,000 hands, and Polk, widely regarded as one of the world’s best heads-up online cash players, came out on top. After the match, the two finally buried the hatchet and were more than friendly Thursday.

“People are like, ‘Why are you playing him again?’ and it’s because I have no choice,” Negreanu said.

After falling behind early in this match against Polk, Negreanu flopped a flush and took down a big pot to grab the chip lead midway through the three-hour match.

Negreanu never trailed again and made a gutsy call with a pair of aces on the final hand. Polk represented the flush and moved all-in for his final 54,100 chips, but Negreanu sniffed out the bluff and made the call after thinking for one minute.

By winning his second consecutive match in “High Stakes Duel 4,” Negreanu had the option to cash out and did so. He defeated Eric Persson in Round 1.

PokerGO did not announce whether “High Stakes Duel 5” will take place.

“I’m done,” Negreanu said. “I win the belt, right? I don’t want to put the belt on the line. But they can come back and get it in Round 1 if they want it, and I defend it that way.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.