Down $770K, Daniel Negreanu will finish match vs. Doug Polk

Despite being down nearly $800,000 after 12,500 hands, Negreanu announced on Twitter on Friday that he would play the final 12,500 hands of the challenge. The rules of the match allowed the losing player to bow out at the midpoint.

Polk is ahead $770,254.08 in the No-limit Hold’em match being played at stakes of $200-$400 (a $40,000 initial buy-in for each session). The match is being played online on WSOP.com after the first 200 hands were played live at the PokerGO studio by the Aria.

“As agreed upon in the rules I have the option to quit,” Negreanu tweeted. “That is not going to happen.”

Negreanu and Polk have a long-standing feud, with Polk attacking Negreanu for his actions while an ambassador for the online poker site PokerStars as well as some of his personal behavior.

Negreanu, a 46-year-old Las Vegas resident, is a six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner with $42 million in live tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.

Polk, a 31-year-old Henderson resident, is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner with more than $9 million in tournament earnings, but he made his name in poker by beating the best players in the world in heads-up No-limit Hold’em online, while Negreanu is known primarily as a live multitable tournament player.

Before the match, Polk was a -556 favorite to win on pokershares.com (Negreanu +410).

Negreanu’s decision to continue was welcomed by Polk on Twitter.

“Lets gooooooooooo,” he tweeted.

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