Negreanu’s “Challenge” Record Falls to 1-2

Daniel Negreanu played the third of his heads-up challenge matches Monday and Tuesday, falling to young phenom, Joe Cassidy. The match was a Fixed-Limit Hold’em game for a $200,000 purse.

The contest began around 9:30pm on Monday, after both had been eliminated from the Mirage Poker Showdown. Cassidy asked Negreanu for a short night, as he was tired, and Negreanu obliged, giving Cassidy a lift back to his hotel at 1:30am. The match resumed the next day with Cassidy ahead, and while Negreanu did make a run to take a very slight lead, Cassidy was in control most of the competition, eventually besting Negreanu.

Negreanu was extraordinarily complementary of Cassidy later, when he posted about the match on his website:

“In my opinion, Joe is the best young player poker player (under 25) in the world today. He is mature beyond his years and handles himself with class at and away from the table.”

Cassidy showed that class last year at the US Poker Championships after his friend, John D’Agostino, took a bad beat and lost all but one chip. D’Agostino, the chip leader going into the final table, threw a fit after losing the hand to Hoyt Corkins, a quiet tantrum which included spilling his entire chip stack in front of Corkins instead of politely passing his chips to the winner. When D’Agostino went out on the next hand (another bad beat – his K-K lost to Q-Q and J-J), Cassidy consoled his buddy, calming him down and allowing the remaining competitors to get back to the task at hand. Cassidy went on to take second in the tournament.

Perhaps the ultimate compliment Negreanu offered Cassidy was comparing the young gun to himself, even going so far as to suggest Cassidy as his replacement.

“When we were finished at the bar I drove Joe over to his hotel and we talked about several things. The one thing I wanted to ask him about what whether or not he'd be cool with playing these matches against other people in the future.

He seemed cool with it and since I have so much confidence in his limit hold'em skills I may use him to "sub in" for me if my opponent was cool with that.”

While Negreanu has a losing record in these heads-up challenges, he has still made a $100,000 overall profit.

Related stories: Daniel Negreanu Challenges All Comers; Negreanu Batting .500 in Heads-Up Challenge

Originally published May 25, 2005