Why Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk are the Best of Frenemies
Discussing their history ahead of a legendary match up.
Paul McCartney had John Lennon, Margaret Thatcher had Neil Kinnock and even Tom had Jerry. In life, sometimes we need those rivals we feel most differences with, to be close to us in order to push us forward and define what we ourselves are able to achieve.
Poker often imitates life, more than any other online casino games. And in recent times, the bitter feud between six-time World Series of Poker winner Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk, one of the most popular poker players ever in terms of streaming, YouTube and even at the live and online felt himself, has escalated quicker than Mrs Deagle’s stairlift in Gremlins.
Polk and Negreanu purport to hate each other so often it’s almost hard to believe that they’re not married. But with the pair due to clash in a heads-up match for hundreds of thousands of dollars at the end of this month, the fighting between them is about to come to an end.
The only question is… who’ll emerge victorious?
The heads-up match will be played online which favours Doug Polk, and is in his favourite format (heads-up) too. So, one of the first questions is just what Daniel Negreanu will get out of this match other than money and bragging rights if he wins.
The question of whether he’ll win the battle is not a marginal one either, at least if you believe the odds that are available on poker betting and staking site, Poker Shares, where the Canadian is a 5-to-1 underdog to win. Polk is a massive odds-on favourite and rightly so, but could Negreanu’s value in taking part in a game he could realistically lose a million dollars in be a moralistic one?
Negreanu has thrived in his career when being hungry for success and is a little like the Madonna of the game, constantly reinventing himself to be at the forefront of poker. Whether it’s winning bracelets, becoming poker’s biggest sponsored name, conquering high roller events or beating online series such as this summer’s WSOP 2020 Online Series.
Negreanu will be desperate to win, but happy to be part of the ‘prop bet’ poker era where players bet chunks on the outcome. The Galfond Challenge might be too much for him, but ‘Kid Poker’ will be going all out with regards to heads-up training and pre-game strategies.
Doug Polk may be seen as something of a trash-talker, and in particular to Negreanu. But in reality, the pair could easily have been friends. Both are hungry for success, have worked their way up from nothing and have been pilloried as much as they have been admired in recent years. They could be best pals, except they’re really not.
The match kicks off on November 1st, and Negreanu has already deposited his million on WSOP.com, where the match will be hosted. That equates to 25 buy-ins, so not as much as you might think. Especially if Polk gets his way and “cleans him out” in short order. Would Negreanu reload? He may be in the same situation as Phil Galfond was when down early on against ‘VeniVidi’ in a challenge he eventually came back to win.
For many reasons, Negreanu could do with getting off to a decent start, or at least not losing too much too soon. Polk, meanwhile, will want to make the contest last as long as possible to get as many YouTube views as possible. He’s already declared this battle to be his poker swansong and having already made millions in the game, wants to ‘take out the trash’ as his final task — beating Negreanu.
Negreanu has spoken on social media about the game, which will have no HUD’s (heads-up displays) that assist with information during the game, as well as hand histories, which won’t be able to be collected by technological means. Although don’t put it past either player to have hired ‘spotters’ to do exactly that.
Negreanu, who is also likely to put some terrific YouTube content out during the match, also says that he is ‘open to either allowing or disallowing the use of any RTA, including charts, during play’, a slightly controversial statement given how against any RTA GGPoker are.
“I’m asking WSOP to create some $2-$4 HU tables to use as practice,” Negreanu goes on to state, “[I’m] waiting on approval from gaming. When that happens, I’ll take on some people and possibly stream it (no hole cards) in real time. I’ll be depositing $1 million and pray that’s enough.”
Polk himself has been honest about how he’ll approach his opponent’s tactics, looking at the state of play regularly throughout the series. It is projected to last longer than a month.
“During and after the challenge, I will give an honest opinion [on] Daniels play.” Polk said. “If I think he is actually playing great poker and wins, I am not afraid to say he deserves it. Doesn’t seem likely though.”
With the titanic tussle now in full swing, time has run out for either man to practice their heads-up skills before the cards are in the air. Whoever wins, is it beyond hope that one day the two men who have exchanged angry words across this oddest of years in the game of poker could be friends?
Stranger things have happened in poker… just not too many.
