Daniel Negreanu is in contention for his eighth gold bracelet and the second of the year. On Friday night at the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise, the GGPoker Ambassador took a break from live play and instead took time to play chess, stock up on groceries – he was still steaming from paying room service $25 for four small tomatoes the day before – and to play some online poker from the comfort of his hotel bed.
He entered a flight of GGPoker’s $2,700 buy-in Event #11: $5,000,000 GTD Mystery Millions Online, and after three hours of play, he finished first out of 28 entrants, thus punching his ticket to Day 2 at 13:00 on Sunday, December 15! Players should be in the money at that point as each starting flight plays down to when only 10% of the field remains, and at the “ITM Stage,” the mystery bounties kick in including two $500,000 top bounties!
Negreanu advanced with 726,897 (60.6 BB), while the only other player to make it through was Mexico’s Ignacio Moron with 673,103. As of this writing, only 97 players of 1,257 entries have made it to Day 2, though there are still plenty of flights left to go. Even so, at the current time, there is a more than $1.8 million overlay in the event.
Negreanu documented it all on Day 7 of his popular vlog:
Others who have advanced to Day 2 already are Sami Kelopuro, Corey Thompson, Jesse Lonis, Joao Simao, Paul Hong, and Ren Lin.
Two recognizable players at Negreanu’s virtual table were poker pro Mike Watson and his fellow GGPoker Ambassador Alexandra Botez. Regarding the latter, there was one big hand where there was 16.6 BB in the pot with the board reading A♠K♣9♥2♣6♥. Negreanu had top two pair with the A♥K♦and went for the overbet firing out 24.4 BB, which got paid off by the A♦8♦of Botez.
“Alright, DNegs, off to the races with the overbet on the river,” said Negreanu, who chipped up to 82.4 BB. “That’s the one we needed … LFG. LFG. I’m going to say sorry. Sorry, I had to charge you maximum."
In what would be the final hand of the flight, Ukraine’s Dmytro Shubenok got their stack all in preflop holding the A♥K♣and was flipping against Negreanu’s 8♠8♥. The board ran out Q♠J♥6♦5♦5♠and Negreanu’s pocket pair held to send an excited Negreanu on to Day 2.
“Alright peeps, we did it,” Negreanu told the camera. “Mystery Millions, we’ll be in there.”
Negreanu, who according to his latest vlog is stuck $944,750 at the 2024 WSOP Paradise, will at least be walking away with one cash this trip, though how much won’t be known until Sunday.
PokerNewswill offer a recap of the 2024 WSOP Paradise Event #11: Mystery Millions Online after a winner is crowned, but in the meantime, you can follow all our live updates from The Bahamas here.
