Daniel Negreanu Kicks Off 2024 On Big Note, Wins PGT Last Chance Event 1

2023 was a rough year for Daniel Negreanu with the GGPoker ambassador losing over $2.2 million in live tournaments, but he has kicked off 2024 on a grand note by shipping the first event of the PGT Last Chance series, which is set to run from January 2-7, 2024 at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.

The Poker Hall of Famer, who recently expressed a strategy shift to run better in 2024, won the PGT Last Chance Event #1: $10,100 no-limit hold’em on Tuesday. The event drew 91 entries and generated a prize pool of $910,000, $218,400 of which went to Negreanu.To secure his latest victory, Kid Poker outlasted a stacked final table featuring the likes of Isaac Haxton, Justin Bonomo, and other pros.

While Negreanu won several hands on the final table, it is the final hand that is making headlines. Shortly after doubling up with a pair of jacks and then snatching the lead with a pair of queens, he needed a little bit of luck in the final hand where he held As Kh against Jd 2d of Daniel Smiljkovic.

Smiljkovic hit trips jacks on the flop Jh Jc 10d, while Negreanu got a straight draw. Chasing the straight draw, the latter went all-in on the turn 4c. With only four outs in the deck for Negreanu to win, he needed a queen and a lucky queen (Qh) landed on the river, completing his straight to win his sixth PGT title and first win of 2024. He banked a hefty $218,400, larger than any cash he earned in 2023.

Plenty of notables attended the opening event of the PGT Last Chance series. Kristen Foxen (13th) was the first to finish in the money. Following her were Lewis Spencer, Justin Saliba, Ping Liu, and Jonathan Little en route to the final table that included the likes of Nick Schulman (8th), Isaac Haxton (7th), David Peters (6th), Jonathan Cohen (5th), Justin Bonomo (4th), and Masashi Oya (3rd).

PGT Last Chance Event #1 FT was streamed on PokerGo’s YouTube Channel. You can watch the replay below.

Final Table Payouts (USD)