Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu
Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu
After beefing for years, Doug and Daniel squared off at $200/$400 on WSOP.com for 25,000 hands.
The challenge was streamed live session on Doug's YouTube channel and Upswing Poker's Twitch channel. Replays are available on YouTube (links are below).
Check out the graph and recaps below for a recap of the challenge.
Doug's Graph vs Daniel

Doug is currently +$1,201,807
Hands Played: 25,000
Note: Doug just released an in-depth analysis video going over hands from the challenge with hole cards shown. Click below to sign up for free access.
Day #36 - Doug Closes It Out Strong, Crosses A Million Again
2/3/2021
A swingy session saw Daniel lead by nearly $200k, but Doug bounced back to win over a quarter million, bringing him well over the million dollar mark for the challenge. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 25,000
Overall hands: 1,694
Result: Doug +$255,722
Overall: Doug +$1,201,807
Day #35 - 7 Hours
2/1/2021
Doug and Daniel settled in for a long session in this one. Doug alternated between being +$200k and ~even for the bulk of the session, and he joined the stream mid-session to commentate while playing. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 2,000
Overall hands: 23,306
Result: Doug +$209,281.23
Overall: Doug +$946,085.32
Day #34 - Big Swings, Small Win for Doug
1/29/2021
Doug hopped out to a big 200k lead in the first few hours of this session, but Daniel made a nice comeback, briefly retaking the lead. But Doug retook the lead with a big pot in the last few minutes to book a win of a little less than 1 buy-in. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 1,384
Overall hands: 21,306
Result: Doug +$34,855
Overall: Doug +$736,804
Day #33 - Doug Books a Solid Win Through D-R-A-M-A
1/27/2021
In response to Doug's decision to limp some hands preflop, Daniel decided to tank as much as possible for each decision during session #33, even trivial ones. Doug was not happy about this and sat out to discuss the situation with the agreed upon arbiter of the match (Phil Galfond). Play resumed after 20 or 30 minutes, and Doug ran up a couple of stacks to book a solid win. No official ruling was made, but Doug stopped limping to pacify Daniel and speed up the pace of play, which had slowed to a crawl in the first part of the session.
Hands played: 560
Overall hands: 19,922
Result: Doug +$136,239
Overall: Doug +$701,948
Day #32 - Daniel Wins Small
1/25/2021
The shortest session in weeks saw Daniel pick up a little over a buy-in. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 438
Overall hands: 19,362
Result: Daniel +$46,854
Overall: Doug +$565,708
Day #31 - Daniel Books The Biggest Win Yet
1/22/2021
This was the antithesis of the last session, with everything going Daniel's way on both tables. Daniel flirted with a half a million dollar win, but will have to settle for a monster 8.5 buy-in win. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 1,046
Overall hands: 18,924
Result: Daniel +$390,032
Overall: Doug +$617,000
Day #30 - Doug Crushes, Crosses A Million
1/20/2021
Doug had his luckiest day of the challenge (his words) as he hit big hands and ran huge bluffs. Despite losing the biggest pot of the challenge yet -- a $187k monster in which Doug bluffed into the nuts -- he was able to book a 7.5 buy-in victory. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 770
Overall hands: 17,878
Result: Doug +$298,984
Overall: Doug +$1,002,595
Day #29 - Doug Books a Solid Win
1/18/2021
The wildest session yet saw huge stacks and massive bets, including a $100,000+ overbet on the river from Doug that did not go to showdown. If you watch one session from the challenge, this is it. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 608 (approx)
Overall hands: 17,108 (approx)
Result: Doug +$73,728
Overall: Doug +$703,610
Day #28 - Swingy Day, Doug Wins Small
1/15/2021
A super swingy match (with guest commentator Mike "Timex" McDonald) resulted in a small win for Doug. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 650
Overall hands: 16,500
Result: Doug +$26,198
Overall: Doug +$629,882
Day #27 - Doug Breaks Daniel's Streak
1/13/2020
Daniel was going for his sixth straight win, but this session came up all Doug who quickly ran up big stacks. Daniel brought it back to roughly even briefly, but Doug ran it up again to book a 3 buy-in win. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 600 (approx)
Overall hands: 15,850
Result: Doug +$119,609
Overall: Doug +$603,683
Day #26 - Big Win, Five Straight Wins for DNegs
1/11/2021
Everything went Daniel's way in this session and he booked a juicy win (his 5th in a row). Watch the session here.
Hands played: 750 (approx)
Overall hands: 15,350
Result: Daniel +$132,648
Overall: Doug +$484,073
Day #25 - Four Straight Wins for Daniel
1/8/2021
Daniel picked up his fourth straight win, bringing his win-loss on the challenge to 14-11. That’s despite being down a little over 15 buy-ins overall — interesting stuff! Watch the session here.
Hands played: 750
Overall hands: 14,750
Result: Daniel +$27,945
Overall: Doug +$616,722
Day #24 - Daniel Chips Away
1/6/2021
In a solid-length session, Daniel took an early lead and expanded it to nearly $200,000 in the first couple of hours. But Doug battled back in the last hour or so to lose "only" a two and a half buy-ins. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 750
Overall hands: 13,750
Result: Daniel +$98,579
Overall: Doug +$644,668
Day #23 - Another Small Win for Daniel
1/4/2021
In an action-packed ~3 hour session, Doug and Daniel traded big blows fairly evenly. A crucial AA vs KK cooler in Daniel's favor toward the end of the day put him just enough in the black. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 500
Overall hands: 13,050
Result: Daniel +$27,005
Overall: Doug +$743,248
Day #22 - Daniel Takes Back, Halfway Point Reached
12/28/2020
In the shortest session yet, Doug and Daniel played the final 279 hands needed to reach the 12,500 hand mark. Doug held a six-figure lead for a large portion of the session, but Daniel picked off a few huge bluffs in the last couple dozen hands to book a small win. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 279
Overall hands: 12,500
Result: Daniel +$35,000
Overall: Doug +$775,468
Day #21 - Marathon Before the Holiday
12/23/2020
Doug and Daniel traded blows in a marathon 5 hour session. Doug held a solid lead for the majority of the day with his win settling at just under 3 buy-ins. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 904
Overall hands: 12,221
Result: Doug +$114,140
Overall: Doug +$810,468
Day #20 - Daniel Takes Back More
12/21/2020
After a week-long break, Daniel ran hot and played well to pick up around 3 buy-ins. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 600 (approx)
Overall hands: 11,317
Result: Daniel +$120,000
Overall: Doug +$694,290
Day #19 - Daniel Takes Back Going Into Break
12/12/2020
A wild session with loads of coolers and big bluffs concluded with Daniel booking a solid win. The players will be taking next week off (next session: December 21st). Watch the session here.
Hands played: 834
Overall hands: 10,784
Result: Daniel +$143,642
Overall: Doug +$814,290
Day #18 - A Beautiful Day
12/10/2020
Doug was the beneficiary of big pots and 5-bet misclicks, booking a third solid win in a row. Watch the session here.
(The following numbers are approximations.)
Hands played: 700
Overall hands: 8,500
Result: Doug +$175,000
Overall: Doug +$957,932
Day #17 - Over Three-Quarters of a Million
12/9/2020
Doug booked another nice win. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 662
Overall hands: 8,800 (approx)
Result: Doug +$101,713
Overall: Doug +$784,560
Day #16 - All Doug
12/7/2020
This session was all Doug as the heads-up specialist took a big lead early. He gave back about a third of his winnings from peak, but still booked a solid win on the day. Watch the session here.
(The following numbers are approximations.)
Hands played: 824
Overall hands: 7,921
Result: Doug +$160,348.99
Overall: Doug +$674,417
Day #15 - Doug Streams a Buy-In Loss
12/4/2020
Doug streamed for the first time in the match with hole cards (mostly) covered. The session included myriad big pots and when the dust settled, Daniel had booked a win of about one $40,000 buy-in. Watch the session with Doug here.
(The following numbers are close approximations.)
Hands played: 452
Overall hands: 7,469
Result: Daniel +$46,581.88
Overall: Doug +$514,417
Day #14 - Huge Swings, Little Blood
12/2/2020
A roller coaster session saw both players hold solid leads, with Doug peaking around +$120k. But the biggest pot of the challenge yet ($180k) went Daniel's way in a flush over flush situation and he booked a small win. Watch the session here.
(The following numbers are close approximations.)
Hands played: 788
Overall hands: 7,015
Result: Daniel +$13,000
Overall: Doug +$565,417
Day #13 - Daniel Gets a Bit Back
11/30/2020
Another fairly uneventful session saw Daniel pick up about half of a buy-in. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 476
Overall hands: 6,227
Result: Daniel +$17,780
Overall: Doug +$578,417
Day #12 - Doug Demolishes
11/28/2020
Everything went Doug's way in this one. The heads-up juggernaut ran hot and demonstrated his mastery of the game, winning over 8 buy-ins in a roughly 3 and a half hour session. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 684
Overall hands: 5,751
Result: Doug +$332,178
Overall: Doug +$596,197
Day #11 - Doug Wins With Zero All-Ins
11/25/2020
Doug and Daniel played a short pre-Thanksgiving session. Somehow, some way, they played zero all-in pots, with the biggest being just over $53k and going in Doug’s direction. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 386
Overall hands: 5,067
Result: Doug +$120,023
Overall: Doug +$264,019
Day #10 - Long Session, Doug Extends
11/23/2020
Doug and Daniel logged their longest online session yet at just over 4 hours. Doug booked a resounding win. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 852
Overall hands: 4,651
Result: Doug +$117,624.38
Overall: Doug +$143,996
Day #9 - Doug Backs It Up...Into The Lead
11/20/2020
Doug backed up the truck to take Daniel for more than 5 buy-ins. With that, he's back in the lead by less than 1 buy-in. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 377
Overall hands: 3,799
Result: Doug +$205,521.74
Overall: Doug +$26,371.78
Day #8 - Big Pots, But Not Much Blood
11/19/2020
Doug and Daniel had a back and forth session with several big pots, but the results looked more like a stagnant session. Watch it here.
Hands played: 457
Overall hands: 3,422
Result: Daniel +$24,156
Overall: Daniel +$179,363
Day #7 - Daniel Dominates
11/18/2020
Daniel Negreanu booked the biggest win yet with a crushing victory over Doug. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 591
Overall hands: 2,965
Result: Daniel +$222,832
Overall: Daniel +$155,206
Day #6 - Doug Retakes
11/16/2020
Doug fired back with a solid win in the first longer session (~3.5 hours) of the online portion of the challenge. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 637
Overall hands: 2,374
Result: Doug +$93,542
Overall: Doug +$67,625
Day #5 - Big Win for Negreanu
11/13/2020
Negreanu more than doubled his previous win to take the overall lead by a bit under one buy-in. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 365
Overall hands: 1,737
Result: Daniel +$206,994
Overall: Daniel +$25,916
Day #4 - Dnegs Roars Back
11/11/2020
Negreanu booked his first online win of the match, which could have been more if his jacks held up against Doug's tens after getting all-in late in the match. He'll have to settle for the two buy-in win. Watch the session here.
Hands played: 366 hands
Overall hands: 1,372
Result: Daniel +$87,166
Overall: Doug +$180,865
Day #3 - Doug Extends
11/9/2020
Doug got his hand caught in the cookie jar to go down around $40,000 early, but roared back with some huge pots to extend his lead to over a quarter million bucks. Watch the match here.
Hands played: 382
Overall hands: 1,006
Result: Doug +$166,239
Overall: Doug +$268,031
Day #2 - Doug Roars Back
11/6/2020
Doug backed the truck up in the first online session. The match is available to watch here.
Hands played: 424
Overall hands: 624
Result: Doug +$218,292
Overall: Doug +$101,792
Day #1 - Dnegs Takes The Early Lead Live
11/4/2020
Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu squared off for the first time in a surprisingly cordial match in the PokerGO studio. The match is available to watch here.
Hands played: 200
Result: Negreanu +$116,500
Overall: Negreanu +$116,500
Day #0 - Ramping Up
The most-anticipated heads-up challenge in recent memory will begin in early November.