Daniel Negreanu’s hope of defending last year’s PokerGO Cup overall title looked a little brighter after he won Event #6 ($25,000 NLHE) of the 2022 PokerGO Cup and picked up the $350,000 first-place prize.
Prior to his win, Negreanu’s 2022 PokerGO Cup journey had proven to be a frustrating one. Throughout many of the early events, Negreanu had been building large chip stacks on a single bullet during the late registration period, only to be eliminated just before making the money. With only eight events in the series and with no results through five events, it looked to him like he didn’t have much chance of a repeat performance. But with a win in Event #6, Negreanu is back in the race. He picked up 210 points, good for the eighth spot on the leaderboard and trailing Jeremy Ausmus who has 407 points in first. However, should Negreanu do well in the final two events he’s got a shot to get back to the top.
“I feel great right now. Now I’m back in it and the key is that I knew the $50K is where it’s at,” Negreanu said. “So today’s event is important, obviously, but it’s really going to be about the $50K.”
After the victory, Negreanu spoke with PokerGO and talked about what it was like to turn his fortunes around during the series.
“It feels really good. People who play tournament poker get this, especially live…you go through periods where you just feel like the poker gods are spitting on you because they’ll beat you in hands in such ways, like on the river, where it’s the most emotional. And I’m an emotional guy, I don’t hide it very well.”
Brock Wilson started the final table in the middle of the pack, third in chips. And just when it looked like the PocketFives Staking favorite was going to jump into the chip lead, a brutal break sent him out the door.
With the blinds at 15,000/25,000 (25,000 bb ante), Sean Winter picked up 
in the cutoff. With more than 1.7 million in chips and all three of the short stacks to his left, Winter open-ripped putting max pressure on the table. Negreanu folded the 
on the button and Stephen Chidwick let go of his small blind. But when came to Wilson in the big blind, he looked down at the 
and quickly snap-called his 900K stack. Winter was dominated, but when the flop came 
, he found new life, slapping the table and said “What do you think about that, papa?!”. The turn was the 
, bringing Winter the flush and a huge hold on the hand. With Negreanu folded the other ace, only one of two nines would have saved Wilson. The river came the 
and Wilson stood, put his backpack on, and went to the cage to collect his $61,250 for fifth place and enter Event #7.
During four-handed play, Negreanu picked up key hands against Chidwick and Winter, taking the chip lead for the first time. With the blinds at 20,000/40,000 (40,000 bb ante) Chidwick was sitting on six big blinds when he moved all-in from the button with the 
. In the big blind, Winter quickly called holding the 
leaving Chidwick dominated and needing help. The 
flop left the door open for a backdoor flush, with Chidwick holding the only club. The turn came the 
and all of a sudden Chidwick was 25% to win heading into the river. However, the 
was the right color, wrong suit, and Chidwick was forced to settle for fourth place and a $96,250 payday.
Negreanu expanded his chip lead during three-handed play, sparing with Winter and avoiding major all-ins. The blinds were at 25,000/50,000 (50,000 bb ante) when Negreanu picked up 
on the button and made it 125,000 to go. Vikenty Shegal was sitting with roughly thirty big blinds, a stack in between Negreanu and Winter, and he looked down at the and announced he was all-in. Winter folded his 
big blind and Negreanu snap-called putting Shegal at risk. The flop came 
, keeping Negreanu way ahead. The turn came the and Shegal was needing a ten to continue. The river came the 
, ending Shegal’s event in third place for $140,000 and giving Negreanu roughly 80% of the chips in play.
With a better than four-to-one chip lead and the blinds at 30,000/60,000 (60,000 bb ante), Negreanu called on the button with the 
. In the small blind with 900,000 in his stack, Winter made it 180,000 to go with the . Back on Negreanu and he moved all-in and Winter made the call. The flop came 
, giving Negreanu top pair and leaving Winter looking for running cards or a jack to make a straight. The turn was the , leaving Winter just three outs. When the river came the , it was all over. Winter ended up as the runner-up for $227,500 and Negreanu picked up his second PokerGO Cup career victory and the $350,000 first-place prize.
PokerGO Cup Event #6 Final Table Results
- Daniel Negreanu – $350,000
- Sean Winter – $227,500
- Vikenty Shegal – $140,000
- Stephen Chidwick – $96,250
- Brock Wilson – $61,250