Back on Track: Daniel Negreanu Wins Second Career PokerGO Cup Tournament
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There must be something in the air during the PokerGO Cup series for Daniel Negreanu. On Tuesday, the GGPoker ambassador took down Event #6: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $350,000, beating out 35 entrants.
In doing so, he claimed his second career PokerGO Cup tournament title, but he is still in a deep hole in his quest to repeat as series champion. Last year during the inaugural PokerGO Cup, "KidPoker" won his first live tournament in eight years.
Still, after failing to cash in the 2022 edition, he made a big splash.
“I’m not gonna lie, I actually genuinely have to thank Jeff Platt because after the tournament, Event #5, I was so frustrated that I was building chip stacks and dominating the early levels but didn’t have a single cash to show for it, so I was just done,” Negreanu said. “I didn’t know if I could take it anymore. I’m in the gym and Jeff texts me and says, ‘You know if you win one of these [$25Ks] and the $50K that you can still win the PokerGO Cup.’ In my head, I was like, ‘So, you’re saying there’s a chance?’ As soon as I heard that, I thought, ‘All right, let’s do this. Let’s give it one more shot,’ and I did. It was a very different Event #6 than the first five. I had no chips and I had to rebuy, the whole deal. But who knows, the poker gods are weird.”
He added: “It feels really good. People who play tournament poker get this, especially live. You go through periods where you just feel like the poker gods are spitting on you, because they’ll beat you in hands in such ways, like on the river, where it’s the most emotional – and I’m an emotional guy, I don’t hide it very well. So it’s been a rough couple of years in terms of all-ins. But in these all-ins? I did great. I won with ace-eight, which was key, and you gotta do that sometimes. You see all the great players and think they’re all fantastic, but they also occasionally have to hit a three-outer in order to win.”
PokerGO Cup Event #6 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Negreanu | $350,000 |
| 2 | Sean Winter | $227,500 |
| 3 | Vikenty Shegal | $140,000 |
| 4 | Stephen Chidwick | $96,250 |
| 5 | Brock Wilson | $61,250 |
Negreanu Benefits from PokerNews Mojo
Earlier today, PokerNews explained why hiring Negreanu was the best move GGPoker has ever made. Less than an hour later and the Poker Hall of Famer won a poker tournament. The karma is real.
Negreanu entered Tuesday's final table with about one-third the stack of chip leader Sean Winter. But the six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner would go on to dominate the final table.
With the blinds at 25,000/50,000 (50,000 big blind ante) and three players remaining, big stacked Negreanu looked down at K♥K♣ under-the-gun and raised to 125,000. Vikenty Shegal, who was second in chips, woke up with 10♥10♣ in the small blind and jammed for 1.36 million. He found out the bad news when his opponent snap-called and turned over his cards, and then things got even worse for him when the board ran out 7♦Q♠4♣A♣2♠.
Shegal was out in third for $140,000 thanks to the cooler spot. Negreanu, with 85% of all chips in play, was then heads-up for the title against Winter.
Find out why hiring Negreanu was a great move for GGPoker!
As expected, the talented underdog didn't go down without a fight, but he never could get it closer than a 4:1 deficit. On the final hand, he moved all-in with Q♣10♣ but ran into A♣J♣. The board came out 9♠8♦A♦K♥10♥ and the two-day $25k came to an end. Winter received $227,500 as a consolation prize and the champ took home $350,000.
Jeremy Ausmus, who won Event #4 and finished runner-up in Event #3, holds strong atop the overall PokerGO Cup standings at 407 points. Brock Wilson, the only player with four cashes during the series, is in second at 320 points. Cary Katz (294), Winter (269), and Bill Klein (246) round out the top five. Negreanu picked up his first points of the series (210) on Tuesday.
2022 PokerGO Cup Schedule and Updated Results
| Date | Buy-In | Entries | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb. 2 | Event #1: $10,000 NLH | 77 | Daniel Colpoys | $200,200 |
| Feb. 3 | Event #2: $10,000 NLH | 80 | Sean Perry | $200,000 |
| Feb. 4 | Event #3: $10,000 NLH | 80 | Jake Daniels | $200,000 |
| Feb. 5 | Event #4: $15,000 NLH | 65 | Jeremy Ausmus | $263,250 |
| Feb. 6 | Event #5: $25,000 NLH | 41 | Nick Petrangelo | $369,000 |
| Feb. 7 | Event #6: $25,000 NLH | 35 | Daniel Negreanu | $350,000 |
| Feb. 8 | Event #7: $25,000 NLH | |||
| Feb. 9 | Event #8: $50,000 NLH |
PokerGO Cup Event #7: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em also kicked off Tuesday. Both Negreanu and Winter were among the 40 entrants who registered for the second-to-last tournament of the series. The final table begin on the PokerGO app at 1 p.m. PT on Wednesday.
*Images courtesy of PokerGO.
