After hours of back and forth between two Poker Hall of Famers, John Hennigan – aka “Johnny World” – landed a knockout punch to defeat Daniel Negreanu in an epic heads-up slugfest for the WSOP $10,000 Seven Card Stud bracelet.
The old-school poker legends traded jabs one after the other in a match that at one point made PokerGo viewers wonder if it would ever end. And, perhaps, many didn’t want it to. Why would they? It was a battle for the ages. Two kings of the felt – two of the best to ever play cards for a living – going at it like a Muhammad Ali and George Foreman fight, minus the literal fighting part.
Johnny World Wins Number 6
Year after year, John Hennigan just keeps on winning. With his victory on Wednesday in the $10k stud tournament for $245,451, “Johnny World” collected his sixth bracelet, four of which have come in non-hold’em events.
Hennigan began the day fourth in chips out of seven remaining players. He continually won crucial pots to stay alive and grow his stack throughout the final session.
Frank Kassela, the 2010 Player of the Year, was first to go in seventh place ($30,817). Chris Tryba was next out the door ($40,066) and was then followed by David Singer, the fifth place finisher ($53,621). Mikhail Semin busted in fourth place ($73,810) and David “ODB” Baker was eliminated in third ($104,416).
That left Negreanu, who held a 2-1 chip lead, and Hennigan to square off for the bracelet. No one could have anticipated the match lasting nearly four hours.
The poker giants went back and forth, repeatedly trading the lead. Each player, at numerous points in the contest, likely felt they were in the driver’s seat to win another bracelet. But then momentum would shift the other way. This went on for almost four hours before Hennigan dwindled Negreanu’s stack down to crumbs before finishing him off.
Will He Ever Win Another Bracelet?
Negreanu earned $151,700 for second place, a nice little consolation prize but not the end result he was looking for when he began Day Three with the chip lead. And especially not considering he hasn’t won a bracelet since 2013, and that was during the WSOP Europe series in a €25,600 No Limit Hold’em tournament.
The recently married and now former PokerStars ambassador hasn’t won a WSOP event in Las Vegas since way back in 2008 when he shipped the $2,000 limit hold’em tournament for $204,874. It’s almost hard to believe it’s been that long.
Kid Poker had a golden opportunity to end the drought Wednesday night but John Hennigan had other plans. Negreanu, who grinds dozens of WSOP tournaments each summer, still has plenty of chances to ship his first bracelet in six years.
He’s already appeared at two final tables this summer, the first right off the bat in $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty ($52,099). And we’ll likely see him at more final tables before wrapping up the 50th annual World Series of Poker. But he has to be wondering when that seventh bracelet will come.
