Phil Hellmuth is the early favorite in what could be an epic heads-up poker match against Daniel Negreanu, assuming they actually play. But neither player has yet to agree to the match.
Negreanu recently finished off a losing heads-up battle against Doug Polk in which he dumped $1.2 million to his long-time rival. But he showed off some surprising heads-up skills against arguably the best heads-up player ever. He was more competitive than many expected.
Hellmuth, however, wasn’t so impressed with the GGPoker ambassador’s game. He criticized the strategy implemented by Negreanu’s coaches. After hearing the critical comments, Negreanu offered up a challenge to the 15-time WSOP bracelet winner.
“Yo @phil_hellmuth you said you watched “zero” of the match but seem to have strong opinions on the play. I’ll play you a heads up match live, online, at any stakes you feel comfortable with for as many hands as you would like. Wanna play big guy?” Negreanu wrote in response on Twitter.
Doug Polk isn’t Buying Phil Hellmuth as the Favorite
Hellmuth never publicly responded to Negreanu’s tweet. But many poker fans began anticipating what could become the biggest heads-up match in poker history, even surpassing any “Durrrr Challenge” or Polk vs. Negreanu. If the match does take place, one bookmaker has it handicapped differently than many on poker Twitter.
Phil Hellmuth vs Daniel Negreanu Heads-Up Match Odds@phil_hellmuth -150@RealKidPoker +110 pic.twitter.com/VSNsoEwS2X
— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) February 13, 2021
According to BetOnline.ag, Phil Hellmuth opens as the -150 favorite and “DNegs” the +150 underdog. Polk, who complimented Negreanu’s play considering he doesn’t have extensive heads-up experience, might be ready to put down some of that $1.2 million he recently won on his former heads-up opponent.
“Is there a place I can bet all the money?” Polk asked in response to the BetOnline tweet. Well, he could always bet online, at BetOnline.
“Isn’t dnegs going to totally destroy Phil having had the sessions with you and dnegs good at exploitative adjusts and evolves reasonably quickly in general?” Twitter user @plevchen asked the Upswing Poker founder.
Polk gave a simple response: “Yes.” Most who commented on the tweet argued that Negreanu is the far superior player and would mop the floor with Phil Hellmuth. But there were a few on the “Poker Brat’s” side.
“Phil is the far superior holdem player. Even with the recent challenge, Daniel wouldn’t be able to win a 10k plus hand hu match even once out of a hundred,” @Matthew68599086 claims.
There’s only way way to settle all of this and find out who really is the superior heads-up no-limit hold’em player, and that is for them to agree to the terms and battle it out on the felt.
