Nick Wright Declines High Stakes Duel Rematch Against Phil Hellmuth
Nick Wright has officially conceded defeat in his High Stakes Duel match against Phil Hellmuth. The Fox Sports television personality faced Hellmuth on July 28 at the PokerGO Studio at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for Round 1 of their heads-up battle. He lost.
Unlike his previous matches, Hellmuth came in as the favorite to win his bout against Wright, an amateur player who has no relevant poker record. The 36-year-old is more popular for his sports broadcasting career than his poker endeavors. He co-hosts “First Things First“, a morning sports talk show on Fox Sports.
Wright ran hot during the early stages of the session, adopting an aggressive play style to take the lead. But Hellmuth managed to narrow the gap and dominated the rest of the game. Both American poker players paid $50,000 to engage in the heads-up action, creating a $100,000 prize pool. As per the rules, the loser has the option to call for a rematch, but that won’t be the case for Wright.
PokerGO
The sports broadcaster recently announced on Twitter he won’t pursue a rematch and will instead focus on his show on Fox Sports. Had he decided to proceed, he would need to shell out another $100K for Round 2.
In the two-minute Twitter video, Wright admitted he played poorly during Round 1 which he said could be because of fatigue or lack of experience. He also stated he went into the battle with a plan, but along the way he “strayed from it“.
My announcement on if I’m re-challenging @phil_hellmuth for the 200K Round 2 of #HighStakesDuel3 on @PokerGO pic.twitter.com/tCPYmgkclo
— nick wright (@getnickwright) July 31, 2021
Wright thanked the people behind PokerGO for giving him the opportunity to take part in the popular poker show. His High Stakes Duel match with Hellmuth won’t be the last time that poker players and fans would get to see him playing the game. He is also set to appear on a future episode of Poker After Dark, also with Hellmuth.
Hellmuth Remains Undefeated
Now, who will Hellmuth’s next opponent be? The 15-time WSOP bracelet winner already indicated he’d prefer to take on a more experienced poker pro than an amateur in his future matches. He currently enjoys a 7-0 record on High Stakes Duel.
He scored a three-match sweep against Antonio Esfandiari during the show’s first episode, and then went on to defeat Daniel Negreanu across all of their three sessions. Hellmuth has so far earned $750,000 and has stayed undefeated.
