It seems that fourth time's the charm for Daniel Negreanu after winning Round 1 of High Stakes Duel 4 last night. Negreanu's past outings on the show, against Phil Hellmuth, did not go so well.
But it was a different story on Monday. Inside the PokerGO Studio at Aria Las Vegas, Negreanu bested opponent Eric Persson in a heads-up match for $100,000.
In the pre-match Weigh In, hosted by Ali Nejad, there was a lighthearted atmosphere. That may have had something to do with the cartoonish padded muscle suit Negreanu revealed when asked about his preparations for the match. Negreanu completed the outfit with some Persson-inspired props: an ultra-tight tank top and two double bird foam fingers.
“I thought it was fun,” Negreanu said on his costume and props once the match concluded. “I’m trying to create some entertainment.”
Round 1 action
The early goings of the match saw small pots go back and forth between the players, along with plenty of friendly banter. The first big pot of the night saw Negreanu flop a set against Persson's straight draw. The turn and river supplied Persson not with a straight, but with two-pair, just enough to lose a chunk of his stack.
Persson would not go down easy, though, as he chipped back up to nearly a full starting stack. The next half hour of play went all Negreanu, however, and Persson fell back down to fumes. The final hand saw four bets go in pre-flop in a bit of a cooler situation. Negreanu picked up ace-king against Persson's ace-queen and all the money wound up in the middle. The board ran out clean for Negreanu, securing his first-ever victory on High Stakes Duel.
“Relieved more than anything,” Negreanu said after winning Round 1. ”I just had all the hands. I had so many big hands, and he never really had much going on. He bluffed me a few times. I didn’t really do anything special. I just ran better than he did.”
Persson took to Twitter to congratulate his opponent on a well-fought match.
Unfortunately, plans for a rematch between the two are no longer in the works due to scheduling conflicts on Persson's end. This leaves Negreanu with no opponent for Round 2...yet.
The seat is now open for thirty days to any challenger willing to put up $100,000 against Negreanu.
