Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu have a long, bitter history together. The feuding poker pros will face off Wednesday in what could be the most anticipated heads-up match in poker history. And, out of nowhere, one of the competitors had something unusually positive to say about his opponent.
The no-limit hold'em greats have agreed to play at least 12,500 hands (likely 25,000 total) of $200/$400 NLH cash game on the WSOP.com poker site in Nevada. But the first 200 hands are set to take place live at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas (right outside the Aria Resort and Casino on the Strip).
Those hands will air live on the PokerGO app (and free on the Poker Central YouTube and Facebook pages) November 4. After that, the match is going to the internet for the rest of the hands. You can expect the entire challenge to last about two months before completion. They're expected to play for at least 2-3 hours each day until completion, and they're playing multi-handed.
Brief moment of respect from Polk
Polk and Negreanu have a tenuous past. There's no secret that they don't like each other. And there haven't been many instances where either of them had anything nice to say about the other. But Polk did recently give some praise to his upcoming heads-up challenger.
"I have to say, I am impressed that Negreanu has actually stepped up to the plate here and is playing a HUNL challenge taking the worst of it. Not many people have the balls to do that. Its a very complex game for a lot of money and he is willing to put it on the line," Polk wrote on Twitter.
But, as you may have guessed, Doug couldn't be friendly towards his rival for long. His next comment was, "I do think he will get buried though." To which Negreanu joked, "Well, if that’s the case maybe we should just forget the whole thing?" and then signed it "#ReNegs," a play on his nickname, "DNegs."
Of course, Negreanu is only kidding. His reputation would be shattered if he backed out of this challenge at the last moment. He wouldn't do such a thing to his fans.
Polk and Negreanu have been feuding since around 2014. It all started when Negreanu claimed he could beat the $25/$50 online cash games with just two weeks of study. Polk took that offensively and has since found numerous issues with the six-time WSOP bracelet winner.
During Negreanu's 12 years as an ambassador at PokerStars, Polk ripped on him multiple times for defending non-pro player friendly changes and rake increases on the poker site. That feud has reached it's tipping point and the two poker pros, both highly accomplished players, will finally settle the dispute in a high-stakes heads-up match, which is Polk's specialty.
Featured image source: Twitter
