Alan Keating had a possibility to show to the high-stakes event grinders — notably, Daniel Negreanu — that he can dangle of their enviornment. However the Hustler On line casino Reside fan favourite bowed out within the second spherical of Occasion #7: $25,000 Heads-Up Championship on Friday on the 2025 World Sequence of Poker (WSOP).
Keating, recognized primarily for his high-stakes money sport appearances, has over $200,000 in profession WSOP earnings however hasn’t recorded a WSOP money since 2013. Just lately, he’s been publicly challenged by a number of high-stakes professionals—together with Negreanu — to step exterior the consolation of the personal money sport scene and compete towards the sport’s elites.
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It appears Negreanu was on Keating’s thoughts when he registered for the occasion. When PokerNews caught up with him and requested about his motivation for taking part in, Keating mentioned, “It’s a heads-up event, and I noticed Negreanu was on the listing,” including that he thought to himself, “Alright, right here’s my probability to seek out him in his streets.”
Alan Keating Wins Largest Pot in Excessive Stakes Poker Historical past
“He Provided Me a Horrible Deal”
Keating shared extra ideas on Negreanu, saying, “He supplied me a horrible deal. I supplied him an opportunity to play towards guys like me—guys he says can hardly play poker—and he got here again with a suggestion to play all of the superstars.” He added, “I don’t actually know what he’s pondering, however it doesn’t imply I’m afraid to return right here and play them.”
Though Negreanu inevitably didn’t enter the sphere, as he was nonetheless enjoying the $5,000 PLO, Keating did step out of his consolation zone to hitch a discipline stacked with among the greatest gamers within the sport, which included 22 draftees from the 25K Fantasy Draft.
In Spherical 1, he was matched up towards a kind of draftees, Andrew Lichtenberger. Keating wasted little time, wounding “LuckyChewy” after calling a river wager with second pair, then ending him off in typical Keating trend.
Keating Falls in Second Spherical
In Spherical 2, Keating confronted off towards David Chen and bought off to a scorching begin, taking a commanding lead within the early ranges. Chen, nonetheless, battled again to even the stacks earlier than pulling forward and creating distance.
As one of many few matches nonetheless remaining within the Paris Ballroom, Keating discovered himself down to simply beneath 10 huge blinds and moved all in blind from the button. Chen referred to as, and when the playing cards have been tabled, Keating was dominated and couldn’t enhance, bringing his Heads-Up run to an finish in Spherical 2.
Keating humbly accepted defeat, noting after the match, “I simply bought outplayed mainly on each degree.” He added, “I had him at first, he bought down fairly far, however he bought out of it, stayed centered, and I misplaced my focus.” He wrapped up by saying, “It is smart he gained. He performed higher, and he’s an excellent participant.”
Though his Heads-Up run ended sooner than he hoped, Keating says he intends to play each the $250,000 and $100,000 Excessive Rollers on the WSOP, a possibility to show he can compete with one of the best of one of the best, and doubtlessly arrange a showdown together with his new rival, Negreanu.
There are 16 gamers left within the Heads-Up occasion and there’s yet another match to play earlier than gamers attain the cash. Observe together with PokerNews forward of the subsequent Heads-Up champion being topped.
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