It was billed as the battle between a poker legend and the self-styled King of LA. Airball said he was “coming for Negreanu’s f*****g head” in a post on X last week.
But Daniel Negreanu and Nik Airball ended up as two of the three biggest losers on a fun Friday-night livestream.
It was Negreanu’s much-anticipated debut on Hustler Casino Live, and he admitted afterward that he’d enjoyed it enough to come back.
Hustler would love to see him.
Brandon Steven was the big cash winner on the night. The other winner was Hustler Casino Live. The eight-and-a-half-hour livestream already has over 313K views at the time of writing. The previous High Stakes Friday stream got 95K views.
You have to go back to June 27 for another Friday-night stream that got over 100K views. Rampage brought the eyeballs on that occasion. He joined this game halfway through.
The only stream that got more views this year was the Million Dollar Game from the WSOP this summer with Alan Keating, Texas Mike and Martin Kabrhel. That’s sitting at 374K views.
Negreanu is still box office.
Negreanu shows the bluff
In his pre-game interview, Negreanu said he thought he would win $242,000 in the session. “That was just a premonition," he said. "Sometimes I do what’s called clear intention and I just saw a number in my head, $242,000.”
His premonition was off by $315,800. He lost $73,800, but it looked like it might have been worse early on as he found himself down $100K in the first hour. He dropped as low as $50K from his starting stack of $200K before rallying.
He picked up aces in a pot against Airball. Negreanu moved all-in on the river for his last $46,600 after he’d turned a set. Airball decided to call him with just third pair.
“Alright, so you play aces and A-K,” someone at the table said. Negreanu ignored the jab and saw his stack climb back to $150K.
In an interview with PokerOrg ahead of the game, Negreanu said he didn’t feel the need to play cash and “whip it out anymore.”
He couldn’t resist showing a big bluff in a hand with Sam Kiki.
Negreanu limped preflop with 
before Kiki raised to $6,000 with 
. Negreanu called and Dr. H called with 
.
The 
flop gave Negreanu the nut flush draw, but Kiki had top pair. Action checked to the 
turn, where Negreanu bet $6,000. Kiki called and Dr. H folded.
The 
river gave Kiki two pair and Negreanu check-raised his $20,000 bet to $75,000. Kiki agonized over a call but eventually folded.
After being told to show the bluff, Negreanu asked, “What’s better for the game?” He got the answer he expected and showed the , which led to pursed lips from Kiki.
Loss for Negreanu on his HCL debut
That put Negreanu back in profit and he hit a high-water mark of $300K before dipping back down.
He made a late bid for more action, adding another $200K after opening a bottle of red at the table, tipping his bag onto the table and inadvertently splashing the pot with the pocket-sized ‘Ultimate Baby Guide for New Dads’. “I was reading it on the plane!” Negreanu said, laughing. Thirty minutes later he was finishing with a $73,800 loss.
Speaking afterward, he said, “I would say fun-wise it was a 10. Cards-wise it was a six-and-a-half. The game’s fun the way they play it. There are no nits and lots of action… Everybody plays super fast. It’s friendly, it's goofy.”
Will he be back?
“To be honest, I had fun and that would make me want to come back.”
Ryan Feldman, owner of the HCL stream, will certainly be putting a request in.
High Stakes Friday results
- Brandon Steven: $171,600
- 3Coin: $157,400
- Sam Kiki: $114,000
- Andy Stacks: $110,100
- Dr. H: $48,600
- Francisco: $21,900
- Rampage: -$9,900
- Big Mike: -$17,100
- Steve: -$52,700
- Daniel Negreanu: -$73,800
- Nik Airball: -$179,400
- Jellyfish: -$295,000
