Daniel Negreanu will not be playing the Million Dollar Game on Hustler Casino Live (HCL) this year. The Million Dollar Game — an annual series of high-stakes games on the HCL stream — started on Monday and resumes on Wednesday night, with the final game set for Friday.
Despite not appearing in any of the build-up or being advertised on any of the lineups to date, there was still speculation that the GGPoker ambassador would be a surprise addition to the stream.
This dates back to March when it was announced that GGPoker had taken a stake in the production company behind HCL and Negreanu was quoted as saying, "You rarely see me playing high-stakes poker on streams anymore, but this is going to get me out of retirement and returning to the felt, playing on the most epic cash game stream poker has ever seen."
As far as HCL goes, it doesn't get more epic than the Million Dollar Game. But it's the format — no-limit hold’em — that’s the issue for Negreanu, not the stakes
PLO is Negreanu's jam
Talking on the latest episode of the MANIA Podcast, Negreanu explained why he wouldn't be playing.
"First of all, I don’t like to travel, even though LA isn’t that far away," Negreanu said. "To go there and play in a million-dollar cash game I don’t give a f*** about at all… If it was PLO, I’d probably go. That’s way more fun for me; I enjoy the game more.
"When you play cash, what are you playing for? Money. Meh. I want to win trophies.
"A lot of people think I’m going to show up last minute. Here’s a secret: no, I’m not playing... I’m not going to be playing; I just don’t care any more. I’m not in a stage of my life now where I need to whip it out. I enjoy tournaments. Tournaments are fun."
Negreanu responds to Alan Keating
Negreanu also responded directly to Alan Keating, who has been the biggest name to play so far in this year's Million Dollar Game.
Keating called out Negreanu in a post on X a couple of weeks ago, claiming he'd love to play with "last-gen players," and many people thought this was part of a publicity stunt that would end with Negreanu being unveiled on the stream.
Instead, Negreanu said Keating was just doing it for clout.
"You were literally calling me out of all people," Negreanu said. "Why me? Because you want to get the most amount of eyeballs on this.
"This is the only time I’ve even acknowledged it. And I like the guy, by the way. I like him [Keating] a lot. I think he's really cool... He’s doing a lot of really good things with his vlog and he’s trying to do some really great content, but it’s not my bag. It’s like me calling him out and saying, you know what, I think it’s time we played stud 8 or better heads-up. Anyway, I was proud of myself for… you know, I just didn’t care."
Keating was at the center of the biggest pot on Day 1 of the Million Dollar Game, which you can watch play out below.
The Million Dollar Game continues on Wednesday at 6.30pm ET, but after a day off on Tuesday, it's been announced that the buy-in has been reduced to $500K. You can watch it on the HCL YouTube channel.
