Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk are still in the early phase of their heads-up poker grudge match. But we’ve learned a few things about each player, their styles of play, and what to expect from them going forward.

Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk both have unique styles of play. (Image: Poker Central)

Through four sessions — 1,372 hands, Polk holds a $180,865 profit, but lost over $80,000 on Wednesday. Thus far, the match is going exactly how many projected. Negreanu, a live tournament specialist, is a heavy underdog against his opponent, who is considered one of the top heads-up no-limit hold’em players ever.

So, few poker players are surprised to see the Upswing Poker founder out in front early on by 6.5 buy-ins. But the match is still in its infancy stages. They’ve agreed to play at least 12,500 hands of $200/$400 NLH on WSOP.com. At this point, they’re only 11% to completion, although the losing player at 12,500 hands can require they play a full 25,000-hand match.

Daniel Negreanu finally won some big pots and was on his way to scoring a huge profit on Day 4 of his challenge against Doug Polk. But a brutal bad beat on the final hand of the day put a damper on the GGPoker ambassador’s impressive session.

Daniel Negreanu put on an impressive performance against Doug Polk on Day 4. (Image: WSOP.com)

Polk entered Wednesday’s session with more than a $260,000 profit in three days — just over 1,000 hands. They’ve agreed to play at least 12,500 hands of $200/$400 stakes on WSOP.com. So, a big lead this early in the match doesn’t guarantee victory by any stretch of the imagination.

But it was crucial for Negreanu to get on the winning track before it’s too late, and before he’s down the cost of a mansion in Beverly Hills. He stopped the bleeding on Day 4 before taking a severe kick to the stones on the last hand.

Daniel Negreanu got off to a strong start against Doug Polk during the first and only live poker session they’ll play in their heads-up challenge. But the Upswing Poker founder bounced back nicely with a dominating performance in the first online session.

Doug Polk clobbered Daniel Negreanu throughout the first online session. (Image: WSOP.com)

The long-time feuding poker pros will play as many as 25,000 hands of $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em. They’re playing all but the first 200 hands on the WSOP.com poker site in Nevada.

On Friday, they began the online portion of the challenge, and played for almost exactly two hours. Playing two tables at a time, the poker pros completed 424 hands during the session for a total of 624 hands overall. Negreanu opened the match with a $116,500 victory Wednesday at the PokerGo Studio in Las Vegas.

Phil Galfond still trails by a sizeable amount in the third Galfond Challenge against the challenger, poker coach Chance Kornuth. But the competition is moving at a snail’s pace, and still isn’t even close to reaching the halfway point.

Phil Galfond and Chance Kornuth may never end their competition. (Image: Twitter)

The high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha challenge began more than a month ago. At this pace, it may not finish before the Daniel Negreanu-Doug Polk match, which has just begun. Kornuth and Galfond agreed to play 35,000 hands at $100/$200 stakes on WSOP.com in Nevada.

Due to travel issues and not wanting to be outside the US for so long, the match isn’t taking place on Run it Once, the poker site owned by Galfond. And thus far, the change in scenery hasn’t been kind to the poker site founder.

GGPoker’s High Rollers Week has begun, with the popular online site offering players a chance to compete in 20 high-stakes tournaments offering $20 million in guaranteed prize money from Nov.8 – 15.

Get in on the high-stakes action at GGPoker. (Image: GGPoker.com)

The poker site, represented by Daniel Negreanu, has grown in terms of popularity in recent months. A big part of that growth is due to the WSOP Online Bracelet Series the site hosted this past summer.

From July to September, the poker site hosted more than 50 gold bracelet events, including the $5,000 Main Event, which generated the largest prize pool in online poker history (over $27 million). Now, GGPoker is taking another step toward competing with the likes of Partypoker and PokerStars.

David Laka etched his name in the history books on Sunday, becoming the first-ever European Poker Tour Online champion.

David Laka became the first EPT Online champion in history after winning Event #3 for $143,567. (Image: WPT)

With Events #1 and #2 ongoing, the Spaniard sailed to victory in Event #3, the $5,200 High Roller, on Nov. 8.

In addition to becoming the first EPT Online champion in history, Laka added to his $1.6 million career earnings by securing a $143,567 payday.

The poker industry will always look back and be thankful that Sammy Farha didn’t beat Chris Moneymaker at the 2003 WSOP Main Event final table. By losing heads-up, Farha allowed the amateur to win and novices around the world believe they too could become the next world champion.

Phil Ivey has opened up about the hand that cost him a WSOP title, but helped start the poker boom. (Image: BBC/Reuters)

For that reason, Farha will also be a part of poker folklore. However, people forget that Phil Ivey played his part in shaping the industry.

In his latest video interview with Barry Greenstein, Ivey talks us through his emotions after “that” hand against Moneymaker.

Small ball doesn’t seem to be working well for Daniel Negreanu, who is getting thoroughly thrashed by his rival Doug Polk in their heads-up match.

Daniel Negreanu is now down the cost of a nice Las Vegas home. (Image: WSOP.com)

If the current trends continue, Negreanu is about to be far less wealthy than he’s accustomed to. He’s said on Twitter that he can afford to play this match, but he hasn’t even been competitive since play shifted online.

The GGPoker ambassador got off to a strong start last week, winning the only live session — 200 hands — by $116,500. But the feuding poker pros have now played two online sessions, and to say Polk has dominated would be an understatement.

Nate Silver forecasted Joe Biden’s chances at winning the presidency at nearly 90%, but the former online poker pro’s FiveThirtyEight polling model, on the whole, was far from accurate … again.

Nate Silver might want to return to poker now that his credibility as a polling expert is in question. (Image: YouTube)

FiveThirtyEight, Silver’s website, gave Donald Trump a 30% chance at defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016. Those odds were higher than any other mainstream media outlet, but his polling model was still off in most swing states.

Silver claimed pollsters adjusted their methods this year following Trump’s stunning victory four years ago. He expressed confidence in the pre-election polls that showed Biden with a huge lead nationally and, more importantly, in swing states. As such, his forecasting model at FiveThirtyEight accounted for Biden’s polling favorability versus Trump and gave the incumbent candidate about the same odds to win as cracking pocket aces with a smaller pair.

Another EPT Online champion has been crowned following an impressive comeback in the $10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller.

Ka Kwan Lau won the second EPT Online title of 2020 after an epic comeback in the $10,300 PLO High Roller. (Image: Twitter/WPT)

A day after David Laka won the first title, Ka Kwan Lau came through a tough final table to win Event #2.

When the final table started on Monday, Norway’s Andreas Torbergsen was at the top of the chip counts. That made the high-stakes PLO pro the favorite on paper. However, Lau clearly hadn’t read the script, as he put in the session of his life to score the upset.

Unibet Poker continues to prove that focusing on casual players and the lighter side of gaming is a winning strategy.

Unibet Poker achieved another quarterly high in 2020 with revenue far beyond what it was last year. (Image: Unibet)

Proof that you don’t always have to offer high-stakes tournaments and pro-friendly features came courtesy of the Kindred Group’s latest quarterly report.

The parent company of Unibet Poker reported year-on-year growth of 24%. Fueling another season of growth was the group’s poker vertical.