The last few months have brought plenty of high-stakes heads-up matches for poker fans, and it looks like the trend will continue throughout the summer.
Doug Polk defeated Daniel Negreanu by seven figures when their 25,000 - a hand match ended in early February and Negreanu immediately entered a battle 15 - time World Series of Poker Phil Hellmuth, bracelet winner in a series of high-stakes one-on-one matches at PokerGO. While poker legend Phil Galfond defeated Chance Kornuth in his final game of the "Galfond Challenge" in late January.
Negreanu's coach and Hybrid Poker founder MJ Gonzales has just started with Dan Smith. Smith is currently fifth on the all-time poker list with $ 37.06 million in career tournament earnings.
They're both playing heads-up $ 500 - $ 1, 000 no limit pause in the Ivey Room at Aria Resort & Casino. In two sessions, Gonzales increased $ 42,000.
Smith won the $ 32,000 in their first meeting on Sunday before Gonzales gained an advantage on Monday by reserving a $ with a 72,000 win. According to Gonzales' social media, they will play again in a few days.
With stakes on par with the infamous "Rail Heaven" games at Full Tilt Poker and an arguably slightly lean advantage, two pros could easily spot a swing worth a few small houses. Gonzales said he was stuck at around $ 280,000 in the first session before finally ending the day at around $ 32,000.
On Monday, he posted a picture of his starting stack on Twitter, which is about $ 1 million.
GAME TIME! There will be war @DanSmithHolla pic.twitter.com/PYC1cUDw2h
- Mj Gonzales (@therealmjpoker) May 3, 2021
A few months ago, while his apprentice was fighting on a virtual felt with a Pole, Gonzales jumped on Twitter and searched for his own high-stakes heads-up matches. The only caveat was that it had to be live poker.
Gonzales booked a $ 1 million freezeout for $ 1, $ 2,000 - $ 2,000 non-limit hold'em against stakes with Poland's nose online pro Wiktor Malinowski. He also got action from Isaac Haxton, but the details of this match still need to be fine-tuned.
There is no way to follow the action outside of their social media updates, but both players appear to be lobbying for PokerGO to broadcast the match.
I booked a small win ($ 72k) against
DanSmithHolla
2 sessions down, lots more to come.
We will play again in a few days ...Anyone interested in watching this on PokerGO?
- Mj Gonzales (@therealmjpoker) May 4, 2021
More interest in this match than I would have expected! Hi
PokerGOBuffaloHanks how soon can we get the studio?- Dan Smith (@DanSmithHolla) May 3, 2021