It was a wild week for well-known poker player Daniel Negreanu who won and then lost the World Series of Poker Player of the Year honors. We’ll start with that bizarre story as we recap this week’s poker news.
Negreanu Loses WSOP Player Of The Year Title After Clerical Error
A week ago, Daniel Negreanu celebrated a 2019 World Series of Poker Player of the Year title after the WSOP social media account put out a message congratulating him for winning the award. Negreanu celebrated in style following his third ever WSOP POY title and first since 2013. The six-time bracelet winner had also secured WSOP POY honors all the way back in 2004.
However, it didn’t take long for Negreanu’s celebrations to turn into shock and dismay. Russian poker writer Alex Elenskiy noticed that Negreanu had received WSOP POY points for an event that he didn’t cash in, prompting the poker community to rally together in an effort to figure out whether Negreanu was the legitimate POY award winner. As it turns out, Negreanu had been awarded additional points that he technically didn’t earn based on a clerical error. After that mistake was corrected, it left Australian poker player Robert Campbell as the undisputed WSOP POY winner.
The WSOP made the necessary apologies and handed the award to Campbell. The Australian mixed-games specialist, who had already won two bracelets during the summer, edged out both Negreanu and Shaun Deeb for the award. While Negreanu was gracious throughout the process, he did note a couple of ways in which the WSOP could improve its process of determining the POY winner, so hopefully they heed his advice. It was a cruel twist of fate for Negreanu. However, at the end of the day they got it right as the true champion won the award.
Cashen Wins 2019 CPPT Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland Main Event
The winner of the 2019 Card Player Poker Tour Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland $200,000 guaranteed $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event is none other than Joe Cashen. The 60-year-old contractor outlasted a field of 192 entries to cash out with the $50,680 main prize. It was the largest tournament cash of the veteran poker player’s career to date and he also took home 336 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion at this event.
Rounding out the top three spots, Richard Smith took home $34,572 for his runner-up finish, while Mukharji Uppalapati won $20,500 for his third-place result. It was Cashen’s fourth POY-qualified score of 2019.
Martini Clinches 2019 Poker Masters $10,000 Big Bet Mix Title
Julien Martini is the big winner of this year’s Poker Masters $10,000 Big Bet Mix Title event. The Frenchman outlasted the other 51 players in the field to cash in on the $166,400 main prize. Martini, who beat out the other five opponents that made it to the final day of tournament action, has now made more than $4.5 million in live poker event winnings over the course of his career.
Runner-up Kahle Burns took home $109,200, while third-place finisher Jorryt van Hoof won $72,800. Stephen Chidwick, who started the final table with about 65-percent of the total remaining chips, ended up getting rocked on the final day en route to settling for a fifth-place result and $41,600.