Daniel Negreanu reached his third World Series of Poker Online final table in the space of five days, continuing a week of deep runs without converting one into a bracelet victory. The latest opportunity came in the $5,000 High Roller Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha event on GGPoker, a tournament that drew 378 entries. Negreanu began the final session fourth in chips with eight players remaining and 35 big blinds, giving him a workable stack but leaving him well behind the leader.
A third final table extends an impressive but frustrating WSOP Online run
Yigal Papi started the session with a commanding 134-big-blind stack. That gap meant Negreanu did not enter the final table as the favourite by chip count, but PLO is a game in which he has substantial experience and recent success. He won his eighth WSOP bracelet in a PLO event during the summer, and the online tournament offered a chance to add a ninth while also collecting the first online bracelet of his career. Instead, the run ended in sixth place after a sequence of hands that first moved him forward and then quickly reversed the momentum.
The event offered a chance to join the nine-bracelet club
A victory would have carried historical significance beyond the individual tournament. The source says Negreanu was trying to become only the tenth player to win at least nine WSOP bracelets. That group includes Phil Hellmuth and, more recently, Shaun Deeb and Benny Glaser. Because Negreanu had already added bracelet number eight in the summer, the online series created an immediate opportunity to move into that next tier rather than waiting for another live WSOP schedule.
The online part mattered as well. Despite his long WSOP career, Negreanu was still seeking his first bracelet won through an online event. The combination of PLO, a high buy-in and a final table therefore lined up several personal targets at once. He had the recent form, the format experience and a healthy enough stack to compete. What he did not have was the chip lead, and in a bounty tournament the pressure of large pots can move stacks even faster because knocking out opponents carries direct financial value in addition to tournament position.
| Stage | Key hand or position | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Start of final session | 4th in chips, 35 big blinds, eight players left | Negreanu entered with a playable stack behind leader Yigal Papi |
| Early final table | Pocket aces held against Markus Ristola | Ristola eliminated in 7th for $33,074 |
| Next major setback | Negreanu and Anatoly Zlotnikov both held aces; Zlotnikov made a flush | Negreanu lost the pot and fell back toward his starting position |
| Elimination | Negreanu made two pair against Blaz Zerjav, who flopped a set | Negreanu finished 6th for $43,641 plus about $15,000 in bounties |
Pocket aces first moved Negreanu in the right direction
The final table began positively. Negreanu picked up pocket aces against Markus Ristola, who developed a strong draw on the turn but failed to complete it on the river. Ristola lost the rest of his chips and exited in seventh place for $33,074. For Negreanu, the hand provided the kind of early boost needed when starting well behind the chip leader. It also reduced the field and moved him closer to the part of the final table where one large double-up can change the entire tournament.
PLO, however, rarely allows a player to assume that a premium starting hand will remain comfortable through every street. Four-card holdings create many draws and redraws, and the next time Negreanu found aces the result went the other way. The contrast between the two hands became the turning point of his final table. Rather than building steadily from the first elimination, he was pushed back toward the stack size with which he had begun the session.
A second set of aces produced a very different result
Negreanu again received two aces among his four hole cards, but Anatoly Zlotnikov also had a pair of aces. Zlotnikov went on to make a flush and win the pot. The source does not provide every bet size or board card, so the hand should not be reconstructed beyond what is reported. Its importance is strategic rather than cinematic: Negreanu had an opportunity with another premium starting combination, but instead of using it to establish a larger stack he gave back much of the progress from the earlier elimination.
That result illustrates how quickly a PLO final table can change. A player can be strong before the flop and still face a complex equity situation once multiple draws develop. Negreanu’s experience in the game did not protect him from the basic variance built into those spots. After the hand, the source says he was essentially back where he had started. With the field shrinking and the leader still holding a large advantage, the margin for another major loss became much smaller.
Two pair against a set ended the bracelet attempt
The decisive hand came against Blaz Zerjav. Negreanu made two pair, but Zerjav had flopped a set and took the rest of Negreanu’s stack. The sixth-place finish was worth $43,641, and the report adds that Negreanu collected roughly $15,000 in bounties. That payout makes the run financially meaningful, but the main story of the week is the repeated proximity to a bracelet. He has reached three final tables in a very short span without closing any of them.
In tournament poker, that combination can be both encouraging and frustrating. Reaching final tables repeatedly suggests strong form and deep-run consistency. At the same time, bracelets are decided in the final few positions, where stack sizes, matchups and individual all-ins carry enormous weight. Negreanu’s week has therefore produced evidence that he is getting into winning positions without the result that would make the run feel complete. The PLO event was the clearest example: he arrived with a legitimate chance, won an early confrontation, and then lost the critical pots that followed.
The PLO finish followed two other near misses
This was not a standalone final-table appearance. Negreanu had already made two other WSOP Online final tables during the same week. His best chance, according to the source, came in the $25,000 High Roller Championship, a No-Limit Hold’em event. With five players remaining, he lost a huge all-in pot to the chip leader after a severe bad beat. That result denied him the strongest opportunity of the three to secure a bracelet and added context to the later PLO finish.
The details of the third deep run are less important than the pattern. In five days, Negreanu repeatedly reached the stage where one or two hands could determine whether the session became another cash or a new bracelet. Players can go long periods without reaching a single final table in fields of this quality. Making three in a week is therefore a notable performance even without a win. The source frames the story around that tension rather than treating sixth place as a failure in isolation.
Negreanu is broadcasting the entire bracelet chase from Vancouver
Another unusual feature of the run is that Negreanu has been livestreaming his WSOP Online play while in Vancouver, Canada. That gives viewers access to the emotional rhythm of the series in real time: long stretches of tournament play, deep runs, high-pressure decisions and the disappointment of finishing short of a title. It also means the three final tables have not occurred quietly. They have become part of a public bracelet chase in which each new event immediately creates another chance to end the streak.
Streaming does not change the cards, but it changes the way the run is experienced by the audience. A conventional tournament report arrives after the result is known. A livestream lets viewers watch the possibility develop and disappear hand by hand. For a player as well known as Negreanu, that can turn even a sixth-place finish into an ongoing narrative. The next event does not begin from zero because the audience is already aware that he has been close several times.
Papi still held the lead when the report was published
At the time of publication, Yigal Papi remained in a strong position with a sizable chip lead. First place was scheduled to pay $132,297 plus bounties and the WSOP bracelet. Because the supplied article was published before the tournament concluded, it does not provide the eventual winner. That timing matters for a rewrite. The focus should remain on Negreanu’s elimination and the state of play at that moment rather than filling in a later result that is not part of the source.
The unfinished tournament also keeps the scale of Negreanu’s missed opportunity clear. He did not simply lose a chance at the bracelet; he also left behind the largest remaining share of a payout structure that rewarded both finishing position and knockouts. His approximately $15,000 in bounties added value to the sixth-place result, but the title would have delivered a much larger combined return as well as the historical significance of bracelet number nine.
Three final tables still point to strong online form
It would be easy to frame three missed final tables as a run of failure, but that would ignore how difficult it is to reach the final stage repeatedly. The results show that Negreanu is finding deep runs across more than one format and buy-in level. The PLO event was particularly relevant because it came in a game where he has just won a live bracelet. Reaching another final table suggests that the summer victory was not an isolated success in the format, even though the online title did not follow this time.
The frustration comes from the standard Negreanu has set for himself. With eight bracelets already, another final table is not the same achievement it would be for a player seeking a first major result. The meaningful benchmark is winning. That is why the week can be described as both excellent and incomplete. He has repeatedly put himself in position to add to his record and has repeatedly been stopped before the final step.
The next opportunity remains part of the same chase
Negreanu’s online series is not defined by one elimination hand. The livestream format and the concentration of deep runs mean each event becomes another chapter in the same attempt to win an online bracelet and reach nine overall. The PLO final table showed both sides of that chase: an early premium hand that worked, another premium hand that failed, and a final confrontation where two pair could not overcome a set. Nothing in the source suggests he is changing course after the result.
For now, the supported takeaway is straightforward. Negreanu has made three WSOP Online final tables in five days, including a sixth-place finish in the $5,000 High Roller Bounty PLO worth $43,641 plus roughly $15,000 in bounties. The bracelet has not arrived, but the volume of deep runs keeps him close to the opportunity. In tournament poker that distinction matters: the final result is binary, while the route to it can still reveal a player repeatedly performing at the sharp end of difficult fields.