At long last, one of poker’s all time greats — Daniel Negreanu — has ended an 11-year World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet drought by taking down Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
In doing so, the Poker Hall of Famer captured his seventh gold bracelet and the $1,178,703 cash prize that came with it. He beat out 89 of the top mixed game players in the world to secure the most prestigious win of his illustrious career — his first WSOP title in Las Vegas since 2008.
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WSOP Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship Final Table Results
Winner’s Reaction
A relieved Daniel Negreanu spoke to PokerNews immediately after his victory, explaining how special his victory was, especially coming in such a prestigious event.
“I’ve had so many second-place finishes, it was just nice to really feel like things went my way.”
“I’ve had so many second-place finishes,” Negreanu told PokerNews. “It was just nice to really feel like things went my way.
“If there’s one event I want to play more than any, and want to win more than any, it’s this one. This is the one. Obviously, the Main Event is special, but this one has all the best players in the world.”
“To come out on top? You can’t fluke that.”
Much has been made of Negreanu’s insatiable desire for a seventh WSOP title, but the Canadian reiterated how proud he was of it coming in the PPC.
“Imagine if I won a $1,000 turbo online and got my seventh. It’s like, okay whatever. This is a five-day marathon against all professional players playing nine different games for 12 hours a day.”
“You got Phil Ivey on your left, you got John Hennigan on your right. There’s no soft spot. So to come out on top in this, that’s a real win I’m sure.”
The first person Negreanu celebrated with was his wife Amanda, who he married in 2019. Negreanu explained that this was the first time his wife had joined to rail him at the World Series of Poker.
“She was always going to come for when I win, and I haven’t been winning!” joked Negreanu. “So it was nice to have [her] here for the moment, for sure.”
A seventh WSOP bracelet is now his – only nine others have as many as him – but Negreanu now has his sights set on a third WSOP Player of the Year title.
“I was always going to chase Player of the Year, you know, undercover,” he joked. “I knew I needed a win or two, so. And the way that it works now is you only need to like count ten cashes. I think I have nine. Another win, you know, that’ll put me up there.”
Early Action Goes Negreanu’s Way
Negreanu came back for Day 5 on Thursday second in chips out of five, trailing only Chris Brewer, a two-time bracelet winner. Brewer spent much of Day 4 coasting atop the leaderboard, but the cards didn’t come his way during the final session.
David Benyamine, the shortest stack entering Day 5, was first to go, losing a Razz pot to Yockey. Fifth place paid $265,054, but he’ll have to wait for another day to win his second bracelet.
Dylan Smith would bust in fourth place ($363,914), setting up a star-studded three-handed chase to win the second most prestigious tournament of the summer.
Early in three-handed play, Brewer had faded to around 13 big bets, the smallest stack at the table. He’d fight back, but ultimately succumbed to Yockey rivering a flush to crack his aces and went out in third place for $519,158.
Yockey opened up a heads up lead at one point as wide as 2-1, only for Negreanu to double in a crucial pot-limit Omaha hand. From there he took over a massive chip lead. Yockey would mount a small comeback, but then his run came to an end in PLO when Negreanu turned a full house to end the tournament. Runner-up paid $768,467, and the winner took home $1,178,703.
Negreanu immediately hugged his wife Amanda after finishing off the bracelet in front of a boisterous crowd inside the Horseshoe Events Center. For the first time in over a decade, one of poker’s greatest ambassadors exited a World Series of Poker event as a champion, and he did it in his favorite tournament.
Full final table recap to follow.