A battle between two of poker’s greatest living legends could be on the cards after Phil Hellmuth stated that he was disappointed with how DNegs played in his Grudge Match against Doug Polk.
By: Andrew Burnett
Negreanu was naturally unimpressed with his old buddy’s public comments and called Hellmuth out for a heads-up match to see if the Poker Brat’s ‘White Magic’ could withstand Kid Poker’s new GTO brand of play…
Yo @phil_hellmuth you said you watched “zero” of the match but seem to have strong opinions on the play.I’ll play you a heads up match live, online, at any stakes you feel comfortable with for as many hands as you would like.
Wanna play big guy? https://t.co/ac9KVpwuaO
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) February 10, 2021
Negreanu recently lost his $200/$400 HUNL Grudge Match Polk to the tune of $1.million, and Hellmuth thinks it’s because he tried to “fight fire with fire” rather than “fight fire with Daniel.”
Hellmuth told commentators and podcast hosts, Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks, “I was betting on Daniel’s talent,” and disagreed with DNeg’s approach to counter Polk’s “pure GTO or next-level GTO.”
The Poker Brat claims he offered to play Polk himself to show how to deal with the Upswing upstart, reminding everyone in his usual ego-stroking style: “I have won 29 of my last 30 heads-up matches. I won the last heads-up tournament I played in.”
“I told Doug I’d play him next – and I’m ready!” stated Hellmuth, who defeated Polk heads-up in the King of the Hill tournament three years ago, though Polk has already said he has no interest in playing another match.
Hellmuth also recently took $350,000 from Antonio Esfandiari after defeating “The Magician” three-times at increasing stakes in a live highstakes heads-up duel.
The prospect of a Hellmuth-Negreanu showdown, however, had poker-playing drooling, poker Twitter soon offering up their views on who would win, and why…
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“Not a big DNegs fan. But as far as play goes, DNegs would beat PH HU over a sample. DNegs improved a lot HU. Doug is one of the best, PH would need white magic in steroids!” -
“If this match happens would Daniel be a bigger favorite vs Phil than Doug was vs Daniel.” -
“OMG please do this !!! The rants from both players would be epic.” -
“I was team Doug during the challenge, but I’m all for DNegs against others. Phil would get wrecked IMO.” -
“Dnegs lost to Polk at ONLY 9bb/100 I think over 25k cash hands he could beat Hellmuth at probably near double to that.”
If the match-up of the legends does go ahead, you can be sure it will be quite a spectacle, regardless of the winner, and we’ll bring you all the latest heads-up challenge showdown news and gossip right here on HSDB. You can also check the odds here.
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