Doug Polk Declines Daniel Negreanu Rematch and All Other Challenge Offers

Doug Polk has publicly stated there will be NO rematch for Daniel Negreanu after the current Grudge Match is over, stating he is “way too burned out” and doesn’t enjoy the game…

Polk came out of poker retirement last year to butt heads with his long-time foe Negreanu, and he is currently up by over $736,000 as the $200/$400 HUNL Grudge Match nears a conclusion, less than 5k hands of the 25k hands match remaining.

The idea of a rematch has been mooted by many fans of the game who have enjoyed seeing the pair battle it out. Polk is the master of highstakes HUNL while Negreanu has learned quickly and given his opponent several frights along the way.

Polk isn’t scared of a rematch, he says, claiming:

“Make no mistake about it I still have an edge,” though he admits, “but it’s much lower than it was at the start. I'm not going to run this back for even less money after winning buyins + sidebets. Not worth the stress of doing something I don’t enjoy doing.”

Negreanu, despite the occasional outburst and meltdown over the past three months and 30+ sessions of play, seems to be enjoying it much more, and Polk would be happy to coach whoever DNegs’ played. Phil Hellmuth, however, might be a step too far…

“If a scenario arose where Daniel wanted to play someone else, I would potentially be interested in heading the coaching the opposing player. There are some people I don’t think it would work though (Imagine trying to explain to Hellmuth he was wrong in a hand. Good luck with that.)”

Unlike Phil Galfond and his numerous PLO Challenge matches, it appears that Polk’s love for the game has disappeared yet again, with the Upswing Poker guru dismissing the idea of taking on other challengers.

In a series of tweets at the weekend, Polk explained:

“Additionally I’m not going to take on other challengers. As tempting as it is to have to lay 20 million vs Dan Bilzerian or pay Bill 22 bb/100 (Great offers guys), I'm not interested in playing either of them. I don’t think I’d play either of them at even money much less pay vig.”

What Polk does next is anyone’s guess, although his 25,000 hands with DNegs look set to play a role for the foreseeable future, though perhaps only for paying customers.

“Finally I have been thinking about what I am going to do with the material from this challenge. At bare minimum I am going to turn it into some content in the @UpswingPoker Lab at the conclusion of this."

There’s no word yet from Negreanu’s camp about what’s in store, Daniel perhaps unwilling to quite give up the ghost yet in the Grudge Match while it is still mathematically possible to win.

Something tells me, though, that there are a few twists and turns yet to come in the Polk-Negreanu saga!