Daniel Negreanu has once again claimed victory in a major poker event, just two months after breaking an eight-year winless drought in prominent tournaments. On Sunday, Negreanu took down Event #5 of PokerGO's Poker Masters series, $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
Negreanu's win in this elite 66-player event was worth $178,200. The triumph comes on the heels of his drought-ending win in July in a PokerGO Cup event for $700,000.
Negreanu, a minority owner of PokerGO and a frequent participant in the company's tournaments, also jumped to the top of the Poker Masters' series leaderboard with Sunday's win. The series' leaderboard champion wins the "Purple Jacket," a riff on the green jacket awarded each year to the winner of golf's Masters tournament. Negreanu also won the leaderboard chase in July's PokerGO Cup series.
“It’s huge,” said Negreanu, following his win. “Poker Masters means a lot to me because I remember the first one that they had. I remember it was the first moment that I realized, ‘Oh my god, these guys are just better than me.’ It made me realize that I have to go back to the lab and work.
"Then to see the work pay off in the PokerGO Cup is awesome. To go back to back, with a chance now to come full circle and win the jacket, I really feel strongly not only that I can but I feel like I’m going to win it. I feel like I’m running well and everything’s going good.”
Negreanu comes from behind to top Petrangelo for title
This $10K event was already down to its final five players when Sunday's action began. Nick Petrangelo held the lead early on and stayed there almost until the end, when Negreanu reeled him in. Each player picked up an early knockout, and then Negreanu sent Vikenty Shegal to the rail in third. Negreanu, though, still trailed Petrangelo by a 5:3 margin as their heads-up duel began.
The biggest hand of the final was a cooler of sorts for Petrangelo. Petrangelo raised from the button with Ac-7c, Negreanu re-raised with Ah-Qh from the big blind, and Petrangelo called. A Qd-As-Jh flop put Negreanu well ahead; he led out, and Petrangelo called again. Both players checked the 4h turn, and Negreanu bet again on the 4s river. Petrangelo called with the worse two pair while Negreanu raked the huge pot, worth over 90 percent of the chips in play.
The end came soon after. Negreanu found pocket aces on the button and limped in. Petrangelo had Qs-10s and shoved in his remaining chips. Negreanu quickly called. Petrangelo needed big-time help, but the board ran out 4c-Kd-5h-6c-Kc, never even offering a sweat. The hand and the title were Negreanu's.
Final Results:
- Daniel Negreanu - $178,200
- Nick Petrangelo - $132,000
- Vikenty Shegal - $85,800
- Jake Daniels - $66,000
- Jeffrey Trudeau - $52,800
- Barry Hutter - $39,600
- Justin Saliba - $33,000
- Dylan DeStefano - $26,400
- Cary Katz - $26,400
- Jake Schindler - $19,800
Featured image source: PokerGO
