Daniel Negreanu Has A Lot To Provide In Third Match Against Phil Hellmuth

Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth are set for Round 3 of their heads-up match on PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel, and for some, there’s increasing pressure on “DNegs” to prove that he’s still one of the poker GOAT’s.

Poker fans just like sports fans tend to focus more on a player’s recent accomplishments and failures. So even if you’ve already created a name for yourself by winning multiple titles and capturing major victories in the past, many will still look at your latest record to gauge how good or bad you are in your craft.

For a lot of poker fans, winning titles and topping high-profile competitions matter, so it does not come as a surprise if many now think that Negreanu’s legacy is on the line.

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The Canadian poker pro has fallen short of winning major titles over the past few years. He hasn’t won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet since 2013, despite several attempts each year to end his bracelet drought. His latest recorded tournament victory took place in 2015, when he won nearly $1 million during season 2 of Shark Cage.

He recently lost $1.2 million in his grudge match against Doug Polk. And now, Hellmuth has defeated him twice in their ongoing heads-up battle, despite coming in as a strong favorite to win the match.

But Negreanu’s overall tournament record is one of the best, and that’s why he is considered a legend in the game. He has six WSOP bracelets and two World Poker Titles under his name; he is the only player to win the WSOP POY title twice; he is among the biggest tournament poker winners of all time, with more than $42 million in total live earnings.

Negreanu has also made it big playing cash games and competing in online poker tournaments. He is also a Poker Hall of Famer. So, does “DNegs” really need to prove himself in his third encounter with “The Poker Brat“? With his recent losses, is Negreanu’s poker legacy now at stake?

Negreanu Will Remain A Poker Legend

Polk despite being a long-time critic of the GGPoker Ambassador, doesn’t believe he still needs to prove himself. For one, Negreanu is competing against Hellmuth in a sit-n-go style format, in a relatively smaller sample size, compared to his previous heads-up battles.

Even without winning titles for quite a long time now, Negreanu has still managed to amass almost $23 million in cash and made multiple final tables. It’s safe to say that he is still performing well despite the lack of a major title. Maybe he is just being judged unfairly by many in the poker community, but that’s just how things go in poker and in the world of sports in general.