Daniel Negreanu Challenges All Comers

On May 1, Daniel Negreanu, the 2004 CardPlayer Player of the Year, created quite a stir when he announced on his website, Full Contact Poker, that he will challenge anyone to a one-on-one poker match, as long as they can put up a sizable buy-in. In a public message on Full Contact's message forum, Negreanu made the proclamation:

“I'll play anyone in the world a heads up freeze out for any amount from $100,000 to $500,000. As for the game of choice- I'll let you pick it from the following list. You can choose just one or any mix of games you want.

Limit Hold'em
Omaha H/L
Stud H/L
Stud
2-7 Triple Draw
A-5 Triple Draw
Pot Limit Omaha
Pot Limit Hold'em
No Limit Hold'em”

While Negreanu stated that he will not turn anybody down, he does reserve the right to put an end to the challenges from a specific player in a specific game if, once he loses, he feels he is “truly outclassed”. That seems fair. If he didn’t put this rule in place, it would be like Mary Lou Retton challenging anybody to any sport and not being able to ever back out if Michael Jordan wanted to continually play basketball against her.

Once the game commences, nobody is allowed to quit. One person has to lose completely for the match to be over.

The challenge has spurred much discussion on Full Contact’s message forum, as well as another popular poker forum by poker book publisher, 2+2. Professional poker player, author, and one of the heads of 2+2, David Sklansky, has (seemingly reluctantly) gotten involved in the discussion, as well. In the Full Contact discussion of the challenge, Negreanu said (after Sklansky suggested a lower buy-in Stud match with no qualifier):

“Sklansky won't play me, that I'm pretty sure of. David is a smart man and knows that the losing won't be good for his image. I've left a long list of possible games to choose from and he picked one that wasn't on the list.”

Sklansky responded on the 2+2 forum to clear up the situation, saying that he thought that Negreanu probably meant to include a qualifier, but he thought he’d throw the “no qualifier” idea out there. He went on to say that because he is not experienced at heads-up play and the stakes are bit too rich for him, he probably would not take Negreanu up on the challenge. Sklansky did propose a counter-offer, however, suggesting a Stud 8/B game, as long as it is not used to publicize a non-MGM hotel, where Negreanu puts up $50,000 to Sklansky’s $40,000.

The reason for the “non-MGM” stipulation is that the Bellagio, an MGM property, put Sklansky’s casino game invention, WPT All-In Hold’em, on its floor for a 90-day trial period. Negreanu is currently the Poker Ambassador for the new Wynn Las Vegas Resort and is hosting the challenge at Wynn’s casino. Sklansky feels it would be disloyal of him to allow himself to be used to help a non-MGM property.

Win or lose, this is potentially fantastic exposure for both Negreanu and Wynn. Some poker fans have speculated that this might be an attempt to lure the “Big Game” (an extraordinarily high-stakes game involving only the elite of the poker world) away from the Bellagio and over to the Wynn, but that remains to be seen.

Related stories:
Negreanu Batting .500 in Heads-Up Challenge
Negreanu’s “Challenge” Record Falls to 1-2

Originally published May 6, 2005