Somewhere inside the PokerGO Studio is a dragon with a sword through its heart. Not in the literal sense, but after dropping 13 consecutive heads-up duels, Daniel Negreanu defeated David Coleman in Event #7 ($50,000 NLHE) of the PokerGO Cup to win $700,000 and slay the figurative dragon that has haunted him since his last tournament victory in the 2013 WSOP Europe $25,000 High Roller.
All five players had made final tables in earlier PokerGO Cup events and chip leader Ali Imsirovic was in position to put a wrap on the PokerGO Cup leaderboard with a win. Instead, two other distinct narratives developed over the five hours of play.
In the first, Coleman, sitting at his fourth PokerGO Cup final table, put on a big stack clinic and made his arrival on the high stakes tournament scene officially official. The second was Negreanu finally getting a victory after months of frustration dating back to his heads up battle with Doug Polk and three consecutive High Stakes Duel II losses to Phil Hellmuth.
Ali Imsirovic, who already has two PokerGO Cup titles after emerging victorious in Event #2 ($10,000 NLHE) and Event #4 ($15,000 NLHE), started the final table with the chip lead. Nothing went right for Imsirovic on Tuesday night, however. Nearly 90 minutes after play began, Imsirovic was headed to the exit. Down to just 520,000, Imsirovic raised to 220,000 from UTG with 
. From his direct left, Negreanu moved all in for 665,000 with 
and Imsirovic called all in. The board ran out 
to give Negreanu an unneeded full house as Imsirovic was unable to find any help and was out in fifth place.
Just 13 minutes later, Sergi Reixach saw his run end in brutal fashion. Reixach moved all in for 275,000 with 
and Negreanu called with 
. Reixach was safe through the 
flop but the 
turn gave Negreanu top set and left Reixach down to two outs on the river. The 
was not one of those outs and Reixach was eliminated in fourth.
On the very next hand, Coleman folded the button, Negreanu moved all in from the small blind with 
and Alex Foxen called off his last 620,000 with 
. The 
flop made Negreanu a slight favorite even though he was still behind. The turn was a blank, but the river gave Negreanu second pair and eliminated Foxen in third place.
Coleman held 56% of the chips when heads up play began and while it took just under two hours to go from five players to two, neither Negreanu nor Coleman was willing to give an inch. Over the next two hours, each player took multiple turns in the driver seat with the chip lead before Negreanu took the lead for the final time. After sparring with Coleman for an hour, Negreanu finally put the former #1-ranked American online poker player away.
Down to 1,900,000 with blinds of 50,000/100,000 (100,000 BBA), Coleman shoved with 
. Negreanu took a full minute, using one of his allotted time banks, before calling with . Negreanu whiffed on the 
flop, but began talking about the backdoor flush draw possibility. The 
turn kept the flush draw alive. The river gave Negreanu a pair of tens to eliminate Coleman in second place and give Negreanu the win and a $700,000 score.
Coleman has finished fourth, third, sixth, and now second in his four PokerGO Cup final table appearances and has $710,000 in earnings. He sits just 27 points behind Imsirovic for the leaderboard title. Prior to the start of the PokerGO Cup, Coleman had just $176,000 in live earnings with his largest score being $ 26,563.
Negreanu meanwhile had made the final table of Event #5 ($25,000 NLHE) and now sits third on the leaderboard, trailing Imsirovic by 29 points.
The winner of the leaderboard will be determined by Event #8 ($100,000 NLHE), which wraps up on Wednesday beginning at 4 PM ET on PokerGO.
PokerGO Cup Event #7 Payouts
- Daniel Negreanu – $700,000
- David Coleman – $455,000
- Alex Foxen – $280,000
- Sergi Reixach – $192,500
- Ali Imsirovic – $122,500
