Daniel Negreanu has been dragged into a 2020 WSOP argument after this summer’s ‘Main Event’ winner took to Twitter with a tricky question, and an arch-rival stepped in to point the finger at DNegs…
It's interesting that @RealKidPoker signed this. He knows how it feels to win a title and have it taken away. (2019 POY) https://t.co/XyFwUaNGBI
— Thomas Keeling (@SrslySirius) November 15, 2020
2020 WSOP Main Event Controversy
With the annual summer series forced online in 2020, Stoyan Madandzhiev lifted the $5k Main Event and pocketed $3,904,686, recently discussing his life-changing win with VIP Grinders.
However, news this week that there would be another Main Event this December – an online/live hybrid version across two sites and two live venues – had everyone confused. Or at least one person…
You can do all the mental gymnastics you like to deny this, but @WSOP already announced that Stoyan Madanzhiev won the Main Event of the 51st Annual World Series of Poker.
He's the 2020 WSOP Champion. It's too late to change that.
— Thomas Keeling (@SrslySirius) November 16, 2020
As sharp-eyed readers will remember, Thomas Keeling, aka ‘srslysirius’, was the man behind Doug Polk’s infamous Negreanu dildo-sucking video, now deleted…
That reignited the Polk-Negreanu feud and led to their current Grudge Match for Rollz, but it seems Keeling couldn’t resist dragging DNegs into MadandzhievWSOP Main Event discussion.
Negreanu, who has stated he will play the WSOP.com version of the new double-headed December Main Event, was happy to explain his side of things.
He won the $5k reentry main event for the summer and millions of dollars! Congrats to him.
You can check, and I’m sure you will, I have always been consistent in every interview that this event wasn’t replacing the WSOP $10k freezeout main event.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 15, 2020
Keeling wasn’t giving up, though, stating: “The thing you signed says he won the Main Event of the 51st Annual WSOP. The only way I can think of for that to make any kind of sense is if there is some way to have multiple Main Events for one series lol.”
Another WSOP Main Event?
He followed up with a couple of sarcastic jabs, tweeting: “lol so this was all according to plan? Have a fake Main Event, but just call it the Main Event, and then have a real one later?”
Again Negreanu wouldn’t be drawn into a barbed response, admitting the wording wasn’t ideal but sticking to his guns…
I totally get why people are frustrated by the wording, it’s a bizarre year.
Every series has a “main event” and ours had a $5k with $25 million GTD with two reentry.
It was always important to me to clearly state it wasn’t a replacement for the ME.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 15, 2020
For those who haven’t caught up with the latest plan for the WSOP to hold their ‘real Main Event’, it will start with GGPoker and WSOP.com both running $10k freezeout events online.
Each will play down to a final table of nine, which will take place live – GG’s international version at Leon Tsoukernik’s Kings casino in Rozvadov, while the US version is scheduled for the Rio.
The winner of each live final table will then meet in a December 30thheads-up showdown – at stake one gold bracelet and an extra $1million.
WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart entered the debate, demanding: “There must be a World Champion in 2020. Poker’s history is too important. It’s a unique format for the Main Event, but this is a unique year.”
The discussion over who the real 2020 WSOP Main Event champ is will rage on of course, but Joey Ingram had a solution to the problem…
I think Stoyan should get to play a 3 handed match with the winners from the US and GG events if they plan to continue with another WSOP “Main Event” @WSOP https://t.co/1R7JyWLI4Q
— Joey Ingram 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽 (@Joeingram1) November 15, 2020
…but there are still a few problems to overcome before we see anyone crowned ‘world champion’, not least of which is the fact that the Rio is yet to re-open, although December 22nd has been mooted as an opening date.
The other big issue is that should either winner of the qualifying events test positive for Covid-19 (players will be required to undergo medical tests) we could see everything called off or postponed until 2021.
For the time being, Stoyan Madandzhiev can hopefully enjoy his title.
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