Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu have recently confirmed that they will battle it out on PokerGo’s show High Stakes Feud. It will be another exciting heads-up battle to look forward to, given both player’s elite status in the game.
How It Started
The poker world isn’t running short of high-profile HU matches. Just less than a month ago, the grudge match between Doug Polk and Negreanu, the biggest ever in recent history, ended after a grueling three-month action, with Polk taking home $1.2 million. It was also the main reason why the Hellmuth vs. Negreanu battle came about.
The “Poker Brat” took a swipe at Negreanu over his poor performance during his match against Polk. The Canadian hit back by issuing a challenge to the “big guy” on Twitter. So now, that battle is finally happening, but we cannot expect the same structure as the Polk vs Negreanu grudge match.
Hellmuth and Negreanu will battle it out on High Stakes Feud, hosted by the PokerGo studio in Las Vegas. That’s a stark contrast to the Polk vs Negreanu match where all but one of the 35 sessions took place online.
As part of the High Stakes Feud format, hole cards will be displayed for the viewers to see. The game will be played as sit n go, meaning Hellmuth and Negreanu will only play up to a couple hundred hands, contrary to the 25,000 hands played by Polk and Negreanu. A final date for the high stakes match has yet to be determined, but the excitement is already building up within the poker community.
Hellmuth Must Prove He Is the Better Player
The result of the Polk vs. Negreanu grudge match came as no surprise. Polk’s victory was highly expected considering his significant edge over Negreanu. But the Canadian also put up a good fight, even earning praises from the experts and some players and fans for going that far.
Polk even commended his opponent on a few occasions, but Hellmuth who was betting on Negreanu to win, wasn’t impressed with how the former all-time money leader played. The Poker Brat said he was disappointed. He was the only prominent name who went on record to criticize Negreanu’s performance.
Hellmuth probably felt he could have done better than Negreanu if it was him who fought against Polk. Now, the American poker pro will have every chance to prove that he is better than Negreanu when it comes to heads-up poker, but what are his chances of winning the match?
On a recent No Gamble No Future podcast on Poker Central, Negreanu announced that he will compete against Hellmuth on High Stakes Feud, but he also said he doesn’t need to prepare for the match.
Based on his statements, it’s clear that the GGPoker Ambassador isn’t giving utmost importance to the upcoming match, unlike his recent battle against Doug Polk. Looking at Hellmuth’s HU background, we cannot say that he is one of the best. His heads-up battles were only small sample sizes, so even if Negreanu ultimately beats him, it wouldn’t have much of an impact on how people think about the Canadian’s heads-up skills.
Negreanu, a six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, doesn’t think the Poker Brat will ever make it, unless he wins “three or four flips in a row”. But even so, the former all-time money leader also admitted he isn’t the greatest player in the world.
On the contrary, Hellmuth is very proud of his heads-up abilities. He claimed he won all but one of his recent heads-up battles; he also triumphed in some heads-up events in the past, including the King of the Hill on Poker Night in America about four years ago. The Poker Brat needs to outclass Negreanu in their upcoming match or his reputation will take a blow!