Daniel Negreanu’s long-awaited Hustler Casino Live debut ended with a $73,800 loss, but the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner still gave viewers plenty to watch during a wild eight-and-a-half-hour cash game session.
Negreanu battled back from being almost $160,000 down, briefly moved into six-figure profit and pulled off one of the best bluffs of the night before eventually finishing in the red.
Nik Airball, who had spent the build-up promising to test Negreanu in the cash game streets, fared considerably worse. He finished down $179,400.
The biggest winner may have been Hustler Casino Live itself.
More than 313,000 views had been recorded on the stream by Saturday, more than three times the 95,000 generated by the previous High Stakes Friday broadcast.
Negreanu Finally Makes His Hustler Casino Live Debut
Negreanu has been a familiar face on televised poker for more than two decades, but his appearance at Hustler Casino in Los Angeles was his first on Hustler Casino Live.
The $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em game marked a rare return to high-stakes cash poker for a player now seen far more regularly in tournaments.
Negreanu’s history in cash games goes back much further.
Before becoming one of tournament poker’s biggest stars, he played high-stakes cash games in Las Vegas and later became one of the defining personalities of the original High Stakes Poker era.
His focus in recent years has shifted heavily towards tournaments.
That has worked out rather well. Negreanu won his eighth WSOP bracelet this summer and is now heading back to Canada for the first WSOP Super Circuit festival.
First, he had some unfinished business in Los Angeles.
Nik Airball Promised to Test Negreanu
Negreanu’s appearance came with a ready-made storyline.
Nik Airball had spent the build-up questioning how one of poker’s greatest tournament players would handle a modern high-stakes cash game.
Airball is almost the opposite of Negreanu in that respect.
While Negreanu has spent much of his recent career travelling between major tournaments, Airball has become closely associated with livestreamed cash poker and Hustler Casino Live in particular.
He predicted Negreanu would either play too tightly or run into trouble if he opened his game up.
For a while, the prediction looked pretty good.
Negreanu was soon staring at a six-figure hole.
Negreanu Falls Almost $160,000 Behind
The opening couple of hours were brutal for Kid Poker.
Brandon Steven took a $99,000 pot from him after Negreanu called a preflop three-bet with ten-nine suited and made middle pair on the flop.
Steven held ace-king and eventually hit a king on the river.
Sam “Senor Tilt” Kiki then won another significant pot before Airball got involved.
Negreanu held ace-seven of diamonds on a 4-7-6 flop, giving him top pair and a flush draw.
Airball had king-three.
A king arrived on the turn and Airball extracted another $25,000 of value on the river.
Things got worse when Negreanu found pocket jacks in a three-way pot against Randy “3Coin” Sadler’s pocket queens and Jellyfish’s ten-nine.
The money went in on a 9-8-3 flop.
Negreanu failed to improve and his deficit approached $160,000.
For a player making a rare return to televised high-stakes cash poker, it was a rough welcome.
Negreanu Turns the Session Around
Then the comeback started.
Negreanu picked up pocket aces against Airball and finally found a major pot going in his direction.
Airball flopped middle pair and eventually called Negreanu’s $46,000 all-in bet, giving the Canadian a much-needed win.
Negreanu continued climbing.
From almost $160,000 down, he eventually moved to nearly $120,000 in profit.
A swing of around $280,000 had completely changed the complexion of his debut.
And one hand in particular showed that Negreanu was prepared to do considerably more than sit back and survive.
Huge River Bluff Becomes Negreanu’s Highlight
Sam Kiki opened to $6,000 with king-jack and Negreanu called with ace-queen.
The flop came 3-2-K with all three cards diamonds.
Negreanu held the ace of diamonds.
The flop checked through before Negreanu bet $6,000 on the seven of clubs turn. Kiki called.
A jack on the river gave Kiki two pair.
Negreanu checked and Kiki bet $20,000.
Instead of surrendering the pot, Negreanu turned the nut-flush blocker into a bluff and check-raised to $75,000.
Kiki had a decision to make with two pair on a dangerous board.
He eventually folded.
Negreanu showed the bluff.
It was vintage Kid Poker and arguably his most memorable hand of the session.
The Comeback Doesn’t Last
For all the entertainment, Negreanu could not turn the comeback into a winning session.
His six-figure profit disappeared during the latter stages of the game.
He continued looking for action, even adding another $200,000 to his stack late in the night, but ultimately finished $73,800 down.
The result put him among the three biggest losers of the session.
Airball had even less reason to celebrate.
The Hustler Casino Live regular lost $179,400, despite getting the better of Negreanu in some of their earlier confrontations.
Jellyfish suffered the biggest loss of the night at $295,000.
At the other end of the results, Brandon Steven finished as the biggest winner with a $171,600 profit.
Randy “3Coin” Sadler won $157,400, while Kiki ended $114,000 ahead despite being on the receiving end of Negreanu’s big river bluff.
Hustler Casino Live Gets the Result It Wanted
Negreanu may have lost money, but his debut delivered something considerably more important for Hustler Casino Live: viewers.
The eight-and-a-half-hour broadcast had already passed 313,000 views by the following day.
For comparison, the previous High Stakes Friday stream attracted around 95,000.
That makes Negreanu’s debut another reminder of the appetite for high-stakes cash poker when the right personalities are involved.
Poker Type saw another example this week when more than $9 million hit the table during High Stakes Poker LIVE, with Texas Mike somehow winning a $1.5 million pot before finishing the session more than $1 million down.
The games are different, but the appeal is similar.
Big money matters. So do the players sitting behind it.
Negreanu remains one of the few poker personalities capable of attracting an audience far beyond the regular high-stakes cash game crowd.
Will Daniel Negreanu Return to Hustler Casino Live?
The $73,800 loss does not appear to have put Negreanu off.
After the session, he rated the experience a 10 out of 10 for fun and praised the speed and atmosphere of the game.
More importantly for anyone who enjoyed watching him back in a high-stakes cash game, he indicated that the experience made him want to return.
Hustler Casino Live is unlikely to need much convincing.
More than 300,000 views, an eight-time bracelet winner, six-figure swings and a huge river bluff made Negreanu’s first appearance one of its biggest Friday streams in months.
The only thing missing was a winning session.
