Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk recently began their highly anticipated heads-up grudge match. The reason they’re even playing in the first place is due to a long-standing feud that surfaced years ago. Part of that feud stems from the 2018 WSOP and one of the most memorable troll jobs in poker history.
In 2017, Negreanu defended rake increases at PokerStars, the poker site he then represented. He suggested that increased rake was good for recreational players because it scared away the pros. Polk took that a bit out of context and began the “More Rake is Better” campaign to mock the six-time WSOP bracelet winner.
At the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl, a $300,000 buy-in tournament, Polk decided to troll “DNegs.” With the two players seated next to each other at the live-streamed feature table, the Upswing Poker founder wore a shirt that read, “More Rake is Better.” That was just the start of his trolling efforts.
Polk is a Master Troll
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Polk is an exceptional troll. He’s almost as good at trolling people he doesn’t like as he is at heads-up No-Limit Hold’em.
A few days after the Super High Roller Bowl, where Negreanu had the last laugh with a second-place finish for $3 million, the 2018 World Series of Poker began. Polk used that as an opportunity to take his trolling game one step further.
The YouTube personality took space on a billboard outside the Rio in Las Vegas, home to the WSOP, mocking Negreanu’s supposed belief that higher rake is good for online poker. In red and white letters, the billboard stated, “MoreRakeIsBetter.com.”
Negreanu mostly ignored the jab and didn’t address the billboard during his daily WSOP vlogs in 2018. But many in the poker community got a kick out of the troll job.
Polk has since continued his verbal attacks on Negreanu. They’re now settling their long-standing feud with a 25,000-hand heads-up match on WSOP.com. The competition will last about a month after which, maybe, they’ll put this petty feud to bed once and for all.
