Daniel Negreanu enters another WSOP day with a twist – diving straight into the Phil Hellmuth and Shaun Deeb debate about the WSOP Player of the Year. Daniel staunchly defends Deeb, explaining that if a player spends the entire year chasing points under known rules, it’s unfair to criticize him just because someone dislikes the scoring system. According to Daniel, Hellmuth’s attacks on Deeb are out of line, especially when he's not genuinely in the POY race.
Daniel’s point is clear. WSOP Player of the Year isn’t about the best storytelling of the summer. It’s a competition governed by rules everyone knows before the series starts. If someone like Shaun Deeb plays numerous tournaments, chases every event, reaches deep runs and final tables, he’s simply playing the system’s game. We can debate if the scoring is ideal, but it’s not fair to continually attack a player who’s maximizing his chances within the rules.
Negreanu also dismisses the idea that high rollers over $25K, except PPC, shouldn’t count toward POY. He thinks it’s absurd to claim these events are easier due to smaller fields. Such tournaments are filled with professionals who can exploit every leak. If anyone claims they're easy, Daniel has a straightforward challenge: go win them.
The harshest words are directed at Hellmuth. Daniel reminds him that if he criticizes easy high rollers, he should compete in them. He questions why we don’t see Hellmuth in $100K or $250K events if they're that simple. In conclusion, he says Hellmuth owes Deeb at least an apology. Not because Deeb needs protection, but because degrading his POY attempts feels unfair and unnecessarily personal.
Family Morning and the Grind Continues
After the sharp poker commentary, the vlog switches to a home comedy. Amanda enters the scene right before school, and Daniel immediately turns the conversation to whether she's in love with him or his money. Daniel smiles, defending her, noting she doesn’t splurge on jewelry, expensive trips, or luxury items, but rather on takeout and now mainly baby stuff.
Then Daniel heads back to the action - today’s tournament is the $1K PLO Mystery Bounty, specifically Day 1B. Daniel enters late, at level seven, still with roughly 50 big blinds. He knows he has two re-entries and sets a plan in his car. The first bullet can be looser, the second more cautious, and the third must be played as the true last shot—always mindful of the 25K Fantasy and Player of the Year scoring.
For the first bullet, he permits himself to play more flops, engage double-suited hands, and not fear multiway all-ins with combinations holding good equity. Not recklessly, but knowing the first shot can be used for stack building. In PLO Mystery Bounty, short progress isn’t the highest value. The highest value is having a stack to hunt and survive on day two.
First Bullet Gone, Second Chance Doesn’t Help Either
The first bullet starts exactly as Daniel planned. He wins a few smaller pots, plays actively, but in the first major spot where real money goes in, the runout goes against him. Daniel falls, left with crumbs he loses in another all-in situation. First bullet gone.
He moves to a new table and immediately buys the second bullet. His mood doesn’t tilt. It’s more about switching on concentration. He reflects that yesterday lacked necessary inner energy. Today, he aims to find it. The second bullet begins well—doubling right in the first hand. Daniel can’t even capture it properly on film because the chips go in on the river, but the stack is back. However, a massive multiway spot emerges, sending him after another bullet. In PLO Mystery Bounty, there’s one last chance, and this time the plan adjusts: it’s no longer just a gamble. Now it’s about surviving and building a stack with what he has.
Third Bullet: Back in Business
The third bullet starts wildly but finally in Daniel's favor. Immediately at the new table, he gets into major all-ins. In one 4-way pot, he has a hand that needs to hit, and the river delivers the card bringing him back into the game. Daniel exclaims that he’s back in business, and suddenly his stack is around 116K.
It's interesting how much this tournament stresses him. He admits he's possibly more nervous than in the Main Event. Not because the buy-in is bigger, but because he wants to advance to Day 2. It’s about points, momentum, and continuing the series. The decisive hand comes in a limped pot. The big blind pots it, Daniel calls, and on the flop, he hits the nuts. He’s got a straight, two pairs, and a spade blocker, adding extra equity against the opponent’s flush draw. Chips go in for around 80 to 90 thousand, and Daniel knows that if the spot holds, he’ll have about 200K. That would be a stack to fight for Day 2 progression and later the mystery bounty dynamics.
But PLO turns the river against him once again. The opponent hits a flush, Daniel loses, and his tournament ends. It’s even more painful because, for Daniel, this was the hand he needed to hold. With 200K, he’d be almost double the average, realistically aiming to advance after three bullets. Instead, he's out and must conclude that it simply wasn’t his event. Yet, Daniel doesn’t sound defeated. More like disappointed. He mentions he’s had quite a bit of luck in PLO this summer; this time, it just didn’t work out.
Next Target: $50K No-Limit Hold'em
Following the bust-out, there isn’t another tournament. Daniel states that he'll head home and tomorrow brings the $50K No-Limit Hold’em. He’ll probably join a bit later. After a PLO day like this, it makes sense to rest, reset, and return to a much clearer discipline, where variance still stings but doesn’t spill over from four cards and multiway all-ins every level.
