Daniel Negreanu wins Poker Masters event, eyes purple jacket

Negreanu won a $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em event at the Poker Masters on Sunday at the PokerGO studio, defeating a field of 66 entries to earn $178,200.

This marks his second tournament victory in two months after a winless streak that dated to 2013.

Negreanu also claimed the overall PokerGO Cup points title in July after he ended his tournament drought, and he is the leader to claim the overall Poker Masters title — and the purple jacket that comes with it — after five of 12 events.

Negreanu, a 46-year-old Las Vegas resident, has more than $43 million in career tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database, and six World Series of Poker titles.

But he said the first Poker Masters in 2017 made him realize that he needed to work on his poker game to keep up with today’s young players.

“I remember it was the first moment that I realized, ‘Oh my god, these guys are just better than me.’” Negreanu told PokerGO. “It made me realize that I have to go back to the lab and work. Then to see the work pay off in the PokerGO Cup is awesome.

“To go back to back, with a chance now to come full circle and win the jacket, I really feel strongly not only that I can, but I feel like I’m going to win it. I feel like I’m running well and everything’s going good.”

Negreanu won heads-up Sunday against Nick Petrangelo. In the final hand, Negreanu, holding a big chip lead, just called with pocket aces. Petrangelo shoved his short stack with queen-ten suited, and Negreanu called. Petrangelo got no help on the flop and was drawing dead on the turn. He earned $132,000.

Negreanu leads the Poker Masters leaderboard with 281 points after also finishing third in another $10,000 No-limit Hold’em event. Brock Wilson is second with 272 points, and Sean Perry is third with 239.

The Poker Masters runs through Saturday, finishing with a $100,000 No-limit Hold’em event. Final tables can be watched live with a subscription to PokerGO.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.