Daniel Negreanu Offers Phil Hellmuth 800-1 Odds to Win WSOP Players Championship

Daniel Negreanu is always among the first in line to provoke poker brat Phil Hellmuth. The PokerStars Team Pro took another hearty shot at Hellmuth this week at the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star event in San Jose, California, making Hellmuth a rather humorous offer for the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP) Players Championship.

The two poker superstars were seated at the same table during Day 2 of the event when the topic of the $50,000 Player’s Championship at this year’s World Series of Poker came up. The event, which will replace the $50,000 HORSE event that was introduced in 2006, will feature the same games as HORSE plus No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Hold’em, and 2-7 Triple Draw. Negreanu told Hellmuth he’s probably an 800-1 favorite to win the event, which instigated a heated discussion between the two players. Suddenly talks of a serious prop bet were in motion.

During a break in play at Bay 101, Tournament Director Matt Savage spoke with Negreanu about the bet: “In mixed games, obviously he doesn’t spend a lot of time on it and he’s not very good at a lot of the Limit games,” said Negreanu. “So I was needling him, because that’s what we do, so I said ‘you’re about 800-1 to win that event.’ So now he wants me to book action on 800-1.”

Negreanu expects there to be around 150 players in the inaugural Players Championship. He admitted that the original offer was just to get a rise out of Hellmuth, but a bet will likely be in place before the WSOP kicks off in May. “Laying 800-1 is no fun on anything,” Negreanu told Savage. “So instead I told him I’d lay him a price on a crossbook. He’s down to 250-1… so now we’re getting close.”

Savage also spoke with Hellmuth regarding the prop bet, and in typical fashion Hellmuth outlined a lengthy explanation for his side. “At 800-1 I like my father (to win),” joked Hellmuth. “You could pick an internet player off the rail who you could teach for a year and he’s probably 800-1. I haven’t played a lot of those games but recently I’ve been playing a ton of mixed games on the internet and it’s been helping my game a ton. Right now I’m trying to improve and get better at every game because the Hold’em tournaments are so deep that I think it’s more difficult these days.”

Hellmuth never cashed in the brief four-year history of the $50,000 HORSE Championship at the WSOP. Each of his 11 bracelets came in Hold’em games, but he has reached final tables in HORSE, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Seven-Card Stud events. Last year, the $50,000 HORSE Championship attracted only 94 players as the event was taken off the ESPN televised lineup. David Bach was crowned champion, beating John Hanson heads up to collect the $1,276,802 first-place prize and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. Other previous winners were Scotty Nguyen, Freddy Deeb, and Chip Reese.

The Players Championship wager talks have likely been put on hold as Hellmuth prepares for the final table of the WPT Bay 101 event on Friday. Hellmuth, who held the overall chip lead going into Day 3, will enter the final day second in chips behind Andy “BKiCe” Seth. Hellmuth is playing for his first ever WPT title as well as the $878,000 top prize.

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Useful poker information:

DOOR [CARD] - A player's first upcard in stud games.
TURN - The fourth community card in Hold'em.
POCKET ROCKETS - In Hold'em, a pair of aces for hole cards.
IMPLIED ODDS - A refinement to POT ODDS which includes money not yet in the pot. Considers the potential extra bets and winnings made when a player forms a very good hand.
KICKER - In hands containing pairs and trips, the highest card not matched. In draw games, sometimes a card kept for deception purposes.
HOOK - A Jack. So named because the "J" resembles a hook.

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