Bad Beats Extend Daniel Negreanu’s Bracelet Drought; Paul Phua Wins WSOPE High Roller

It was the same old story for Daniel Negreanu — bad beats and misfortune in crucial all ins — in his quest to end a nine-year World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet drought.

The Poker Hall of Famer couldn’t close it out, busting in fourth place, at the final table of WSOP Europe’s Event #8: €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Platinum High Roller at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, Tuesday night. Paul Phua, however, could, and took home the €482,433 first place prize, his first bracelet. Gab Yong Kim was the runner up for €298,163.

Crucial Hands Doom Negreanu

One of the most confusing mysteries in poker is Negreanu’s WSOP performance since 2013. Over that span, he’s reached 19 final tables, made millions of dollars, and been an annual contender for WSOP Player of the Year. Outside of perhaps Shaun Deeb, who coincidentally finished third on Tuesday, he’s arguably been the top overall performer in bracelet events during those nine years.

But he simply has not been able to get over the hump at a WSOP final table, and the €25k high roller was sort of a microcosm for how things have gone for him in recent years.

With four players remaining, he held the chip lead but the blinds were at a point where the lead could shift on any given hand. He first lost a preflop all in with pocket 7’s against Deeb’s ace-rag. Then, he flopped a pair of aces against Phua, who turned a set and then was paid off on the river. In the latter hand, the momentum had completely shifted away from the GGPoker ambassador and over to the Triton Poker co-founder.

With the blinds at 200,000/400,000 and a 400,000 big blind ante, Negreanu moved all in with pocket 5’s and was called by Phua, holding pocket 4’s. “DNegs” was in excellent position to get back to 25 big blinds, but his opponent flopped a set and that was all she wrote.

Negreanu was out in fourth place for €146,370, his 19th consecutive WSOP final table appearance without winning a bracelet. Deeb, who was chasing his sixth bracelet, then busted in third place for €205,566. To add insult to injury, his attempt to chase the $2 billion Powerball jackpot was unsuccessful.

Phua and Kim would go on to play a short heads up match that ended with the former winning a 60/40 preflop all in. The champion received €482,433 and the runner up was paid €298,163.

Although he’s still stuck on six bracelets, Negreanu, the Canadian-born poker legend, recently won the $300,000 buy in Super High Roller Bowl for $3.3 million, more than erasing his $1.1 million losses during the summer WSOP in Las Vegas.

WSOP Europe Event #8 Final Table Results

There were 67 entrants in the eighth event of the WSOP Europe series, which included the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, Espen Jorstad, who snuck into the final table but was the first to go in ninth place for €45,242. Here are the full final table results: