While the status of the 2020 World Series of Poker is up in the air, Daniel Negreanu is ready to draw some attention to it. In a Tweet on Friday, the Poker Hall of Famer put a challenge out that he would win a bracelet in 2020. He also stated that it didn’t matter if it were the online version of the event or, if it happens, the physical version in Las Vegas.
Betting Up to $1 Million on His Success
In that Tweet, Negreanu laid out the guidelines for the bet. “I’ll take 2.5 to 1 that I win a WSOP bracelet in 2020,” he flatly stated, meaning that if someone put up a $50 bet that, should Negreanu lose, he would have to pay $20. This includes the upcoming “online” WSOP in Nevada and New Jersey or during the run that will be held on GGPoker. Negreanu also includes a caveat that, if there are tournaments held this fall in Las Vegas under the WSOP banner (still a possibility), that those too would be included in the bet. “Tough to win against huge online fields,” Negreanu teased as he looked for action.
Perhaps surprisingly, there were plenty of people who are willing to take Negreanu up on the bet. Former November Niner Eoghan O’Dea, who always enjoys some action on the game (like his father Donnacha), got on Twitter quickly to offer a $5000 wager (Negreanu seems to have accepted this bet with a “DM me” response). Plenty of others suggested wagers that went from $50 on up.
It is an intriguing bet, at first glance. Some would say that betting against Negreanu is ludicrous, as he came up just short of winning the WSOP Player of the Year in 2019 and won the POY award in 2018. But Negreanu has not won a bracelet event since 2013, the longest time span he has gone without winning a bracelet since his first win in 1998 (Negreanu has won six bracelets officially, four in Vegas, one is Australia (the only WSOP Asia/Pacific Main Event in history to this point) and one in France at the WSOP Europe).
Negreanu may be cutting himself a bit short on opportunities to win on this bet also. The Nevada/New Jersey segment of the “online” WSOP will run from July 1 through the end of the month (31 events), while the GGPoker (of which Negreanu is a sponsored pro) segment will run from July 19 through September. Thus, one side or the other is going to lose Negreanu’s action from July 19-31.
Long History Behind “Bracelet Bets”
There have been many lucrative bets made regarding the WSOP bracelet and by some of the most legendary names in the game. In 2007, Eli Elezra bet $100,000 and got 5-1 against Phil Ivey winning a bracelet. Players such as Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese and Barry Greenstein (among others) took a bite of that apple, making wagers that eventually totaled up to three-quarters worth of a million dollars. Ivey didn’t win a bracelet that year, earning Elezra a nice payoff.
Justin Bonomo made two bets, one in 2009 and the other in 2010, that a player from the place he was living in, the Panorama Towers, would take down a bracelet. Bonomo knew that other residents of the Towers included Isaac Haxton, Shaun Deeb and others but, with the number of events going and the size of the fields, the odds might have been against him. Bonomo came through in both years, however, with Greg Mueller winning in 2009 and David Baker in 2010 taking care of Bonomo’s action. (Kudos go to Barry Carter, for compiling this information and the “other stories.”)
With the bets in the books, it is now up to “Kid Poker” to get active. Will he be able to pick up some extra cash with his first bracelet win in seven years? Or will he be paying out to a bunch of people? The action – on the bet and on the virtual felt – starts on July 1.