Daniel Negreanu Offers $50k Bet with ‘Special Offer’ for Phil Hellmuth

It was a super-confident Daniel Negreanu who took to Twitter yesterday to lay down a $50,000 wager to anyone who fancies taking it on, the Canadian setting himself the target of taking down the upcoming and inaugural US Poker Open trophy – with old rival Phil Hellmuth being offered a special deal…

Kicking off tomorrow at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas, the US Poker Open will see a series of eight tournaments with buy-ins running from $10,000 to $50,000 – the overall biggest casher from the series lifting the trophy, with Negreanu willing to put his money where his mouth is – although so far only Bryn Kenney and Benjamin Pollak have risen to the bait.

Last year saw Negreanu offer a similar bet at the Poker Masters…

…with a host of players including Brian Rast, Bill Perkins and Jason Mercier taking him up on the offer, although it was big Phil Hellmuth’s tweet which had most players and fans’ eyes popping out…

As it transpired, Negreanu didn’t get that Purple Jacket – Steffen Sontheimer going on a week-long heater – but it did lead the Canadian PokerStars’ legend to re-evaluate his game…

 …while Hellmuth decided to evaluate pretty much everyone else in what became a petty spat between the two erstwhile friends…

A new year brought a new Negreanu to the table, his 2018 resolutions including at number 7: - ‘Win Poker Masters or US Poker Open’ stating:

“I’m a sucker for any best all around player award and there will be a new one to shoot for this year in the US Poker Open which incorporates PLO and a mixed game event.”

Surgery concerns seemingly put aside, Negreanu is geared up for his run at the new series and couldn’t resist his dig at old foe Hellmuth this time around either, his ‘Nice Guy. Loves the Game. Tries Hard.’ a clear attempt to draw Hellmuth out of his shell, or his wallet out of his pocket, or both.

It seems that despite having many more difficult opponents looking to take his all-time number one spot away from him, a team of German high-rollers among them, it’s Hellmuth who holds a special place in Negreanu’s poker world, his 3rd resolution also related to the ‘Poker Brat’.

‘Get to 115 WSOP cashes and/or close gap on PH- This shouldn’t be that difficult if I play a full WSOP schedule including maybe adding a few large field events I don’t typically play. It would either require 12 cashes, or just one more than Hellmuth gets.’

First things first, of course, and the action offered by Negreanu for the US Poker Open should ensure an already tough competition now has a little added spice to it… the more so should Hellmuth actually rise to the $¼million bet!

The series starts tomorrow, the full schedule of events looking like this: