The latest on the Polk vs. Negreanu heads-up challenge

Geoff Fisk
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Posted on: September 27, 2020 9:43 am EDT

Players have discussed terms for heads-up match within the last week

The heads-up poker dream match between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk is still going through the planning stages. It does look like the challenge is still on, however, as the longtime rivals publicly discussed the matter on Twitter last week.

Negreanu stated in a Sept. 18 Twitter post that he and Polk had already agreed on some of the conditions for the match:

The first part of the tweet laid out what appears to be terms the two players have already agreed on.

@DougPolkVids agreed upon so far: 25,000 hand match, losing player can quit after 12,500 hands. If both parties agree, we can raise the stakes on second half. 2 Tables $200-$400 NLH. 100 bbs starting stacks with auto top up 1/2,” wrote Negreanu in the tweet (punctuation added for clarity).

Negreanu goes on to add a second tweet that provides a few more, not yet agreed upon, stipulations.

“New: Match will be played on GGPoker Private Play Money table. No rake (insert jokes here). Legally from home in Las Vegas. Is that agreeable to you sir? A very important detail obviously,” writes Negreanu in the tweet.

Polk responded with his preference on using WSOP.com for the match, as the real-money tables on the online platform can be accessed by Polk and Negreanu, both of whom live in Las Vegas. WSOP.com offers real-money games for players in Nevada and New Jersey.

I would prefer to play on real money tables on a neutral legal site. I think WSOP.COM makes the most sense for this. Obviously no rake is fine,” wrote Polk.

In a subsequent reply, Polk suggests each player have the ability to have a neutral judge watch the other player during the match.

“Im fine playing it from home. I think we should have a caveat that either player can have a neutral judge come watch the other player play for some kind of penalty (1 bb/hour?) for game integrity,” wrote Polk.

Negreanu agreed to that condition, but there’s been no other public interaction between Polk and Negreanu since.

Match appears to be on, date TBA

PokerShares still has the match listed on its betting menu, with Polk installed as a 1.16/-625 favorite. Those odds convert to PokerShares giving Polk around an 86% implied chance of victory. Negreanu currently stands as a 5.60/+460 underdog.

Polk’s latest public comment on the match came through on Twitter Thursday, in the form of a poll:

As of Friday PDT, “Falls through somehow” had the lead in the poll, with 32.3% of nearly 8,500 votes. “Very close match” came in at a close second, with 30.2% of votes.

Negreanu has been putting up some polls of his own, asking followers to chime in on heads-up poker quiz questions like the following:

That poll is the latest of several heads-up strategy questions posted by Negreanu in the past week, as the mental games between Polk and Negreanu continue to unfold on social media.

Featured image source: Twitter