Poker pro Daniel Negreanu experiences immense financial loss.
Getting Close but Not the Victory: Daniel Negreanu's $25K Fantasy Draft
In a year filled with competition, Jerry Wong and Josh Kay's team made history, boasting the most impressive result in Daniel Negreanu's annual fantasy draft since it started in 2011.
Their achievement? A dominating victory, although it required a near-perfect performance from their seven-member squad, with Wong serving as the team's potential weak link. If the top four performances alone were considered, they'd have claimed the title.
Josh Kay expressed his excitement, saying, "With fantasy, the World Series became interesting again for me." In an unexpected turn of events, these organizers announced their results and Kay appreciated Negreanu, David Baker, PokerNews, and others in the community for reviving his interest in the tournaments.
The winning team walked away with a hefty $225,000 prize.
Jeremy Osmus, the most valuable player in the draft, scored an impressive 388 points, beating more than half of Mike Numi's team's total. Despite Osmus' stellar performance, he fell just short of the prizes, but not without a close call – his main hurdle came on draft day when he was pitted against Michael Rocco.
In the Main Event, controversial news emerged as one participant played with a solver during the final day, and other fascinating stories unfolded in Las Vegas. Daniel Negreanu, for one, didn't fare well, finishing 16th out of 19 participants, resulting in a six-figure loss, although the exact amount remained undisclosed.
Notably, Sergey Rybachenko and his "humble consultant" (who penned this piece) saw success in their side bets, with Team Lucky performing exceptionally well. Even though they were narrowly edged out by Negreanu's team, with a mere eleven-point difference in the final tally, Adrian Mateos' performance in the $10k 6-max tournament sealed the deal for Rybachenko's team.
Sean Deeb, a vital team member, admitted to facing a tough run of bad luck during the series. One of the main factors behind the team's poor results was Dylan Lindquist, who had high expectations placed upon him. Shortly before the World Series, he found a new love, which made poker less appealing to him.
Interestingly, the champions and second-place teams in the main draft, NobelLaureate, shared no common players. Both teams relied on players making it to the bonus zone in the main tournament, but they made different choices – Kristen Foxen and Brian Rast, respectively. Both teams effectively played with six members.
MVP Jeremy Osmus was an unusual choice for the winning team, with only 12 out of 923 teams selecting him. Among the winners, only Unabomber238 had faith in Osmus, who was also the top scorer in the entire draft.
Close calls and heartbreaking bad beats marked the competition for the last place, which came with a special $2,500 prize – five buy-ins! A total of 709 teams participated in the ODB draft, and it went down to the wire. In the end, Matthew Vaxman snatched the victory by a narrow margin in the final moments. Special thanks go to the legendary trio of Brian Rast, Sean Buckley, and Ari Engel, who secured the top spot for the team despite their friends' absence at the WSOP. Their updates on the players' progress were indispensable.
Two teams from Gipsy and Alexander Elensky's trio, GT2 and GT3, made it to the top 10 of the competition, with GT2 maintaining its chances of winning until the final day of the series. To clinch victory, Sean Deeb needed to reach the final table in the $3k PLO tournament and finish a few spots ahead of Engel. However, Sean led most of the tournament but ultimately finished 13th, while Engel struggled but managed to finish 8th.
Michael Semin entered six teams, with one of them placing in the top 10. The last team in the ODB draft, Bonus Player Carries, received a consolation prize of $2,500 for their 709th place and a score of 319 points.
- I'm not sure if Jared congratulates the winning team of the tournament, as the text doesn't mention any direct communication between them.
- In the casino-and-gambling world, pannylanny might find the sports-betting aspect of Daniel Negreanu's fantasy draft decent, depending on their interest in both poker and sports.
- During the tournament, Jerry Wong, despite being the potential weak link of his team, managed to perform well, contributing to their dominating victory in the sports tournaments.
- In addition to the $225,000 prize, it would be interesting to see if Jared or other participants offered congratulations to Sergey Rybachenko and his team for their success in side bets beyond the main tournament.
