Daniel Negreanu has a shot at defending PokerGO Cup after winning Event #6

Daniel Negreanu won the PokerGO Cup's Event #6: $25,000 today, putting himself back into the race to defend his hold on the PokerGO Cup.

Negreanu's victory puts him at 8th on the PokerGO Cup leaderboard, and within 200 points of first place. Another win would give him enough points for victory... just so long as no one else in the top ten cashes too high.

The 2021 PokerGO Cup champion has been trying to get his feet under him since the first event in the 2022 PokerGO Cup series. A series of deep runs frustrated near the money bubble almost had Negreanu giving up. It was only a word from Jeff Platt — who pointed out that Negreanu was still just two solid cashes away from the title — persuaded the Poker Kid to buy back in.

Twice, in fact — it took both his bullets to eke out this win. With his and everyone else's entries, there were 35 starting stacks on the tables and $875,000 in the pot.

Negreanu thanked Platt personally in his post-match interview and on Twitter after the event.

“I’m not gonna lie, I actually genuinely have to thank Jeff Platt because after the tournament, Event #5, I was so frustrated that I was building chip stacks and dominating the early levels but didn’t have a single cash to show for it, so I was just done,” Negreanu explained to PokerGO News.

“I didn’t know if I could take it anymore. I’m in the gym and Jeff texts me and says, ‘You know if you win one of these [$25Ks] and the $50K that you can still win the PokerGO Cup.’ In my head, I was like, ‘So, you’re saying there’s a chance?’ As soon as I heard that, I thought, ‘All right, let’s do this. Let’s give it one more shot,’ and I did. It was a very different Event #6 than the first five. I had no chips and I had to rebuy, the whole deal."

"Who knows," Negreanu added. "The poker gods are weird.”

It's been a fairly staid series, even with Nick Petrangelo adding his puppy to the pantheon of cute dogs that play poker in Event #5, the series still needed a bit of drama.

Now that Negreanu's back in the race we've got something to root for (or against, if you feel that way). It will be exciting to see how he does in the final two events.

PokerGO Cup Event #6: $25,000 No Limit Hold 'em complete results

PokerGO Cup points leaderboard

Featured image source: PokerGO