Doug Polk won nearly two buy-ins on Monday against Daniel Negreanu thanks to numerous lucky hands, but he'll certainly take it. He's now an even bigger favorite and appears destined to win this challenge.
The 29th session was arguably the most exciting one to date. Both players won and lost numerous monster pots. And each player held the lead multiple times. The back-and-forth action may have put Negreanu on tilt as he melted down once again following the losing session.
In his post-match interview with Brent Hanks and "Barstool Smitty" on GGPoker's YouTube channel, the Poker Hall of Famer nearly accused the WSOP.com poker site of being rigged.
"I have that online poker thing, you know, where you start to wonder what's going on here," Negreanu said to begin the interview. "The last two hands there in a three-bet pot, I had ace-king of spades, the flop is two spades, he has queen-d**k, and the queen-d**k holds. Just before that, it came jack-high with two clubs, I have ace-king of clubs, it comes jack on the turn, and what do I got on the river? D**k again."
"I can't tell you how many f*****g draws I've missed," he continued. "This is insane. I don't even f*****g believe what I saw. It literally has me speechless how many spots where I have like a flush draw with all this extra s**t or whatever, and end up literally with my f*****g sausage in my hand, my f*****g beefy sausage just sitting in my hand and that's all I got, a f*****g d**k in my hands by the river."
He then went on to suggest something fishy may be going on at WSOP.com. The GGPoker ambassador said: "I'm not suggesting that the software is rigged, but man, it feels like it. It just doesn't feel real."
Rough session causes delusional thoughts?
Negreanu certainly wouldn't have melted down in his post-game interview if he won Monday's session. He's typically calm and cheerful after winning sessions.
On Day 29, however, the poker pros played a wild and crazy back-and-forth battle full of numerous monster pots. Each player won multiple lucky big hands, and also lost some. It wasn't just Polk catching cards.
Day 29 also featured one of the most interesting hands thus far in the challenge. On the turn of a 10-6-6-2 (three spades) board, Negreanu bet $3,000 on the button. Polk check-raised massively to $27,000. It's important to note that a few hands earlier, Polk check-raised a $3,000 bet to $65,000 and we never saw the cards because Negreanu folded to the raise. But he was clearly setting up that play.
Back to the intriguing hand. Negreanu this time made the call — he said afterwards he had Q-J of spades for a flush. The river was the A of spades, putting four to a flush on board. Both players still had over $100,000 behind, and Polk shoved $133,999 all-in into a $60,000 pot.
Negreanu tanked before folding. Was Polk bluffing in that spot or did he have a full house and put his opponent on a monster hand, hoping to win the biggest pot of the challenge? We may never know, as he didn't show his cards or disclose his holding afterwards.
Polk ended up winning the three-hour match by $73,728 over 608 hands, his third straight winning session. He now leads the overall match by $703,610 with 17,108 hands. They still have 7,809 hands remaining, but time is beginning to run out for Negreanu, who needs to make up 17.5 buy-ins.
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