The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a popped hood, a set of brass knuckles and a right turn into the darkest afternoon poker news alley, ready to rumble.
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Today in the 3-Bet we find a budding superstar rising at the Poker Masters, Daniel Negreanu goes to the street and it's finally Phil Gruissem's turn.
1) Everybody After Go0se
At the beginning of 2017 Fedor Holz tweeted this out about friend/stablemate Steffen 'Go0se.core!' Sontheimer:
Predicting the breakout year of @RunGo0seRun. Best player in the game right now.
— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) January 26, 2017
When the de facto #1 tournament poker player over the last few years calls you the best player in the world, that's "high praise."
But despite cashing for over $4m already this year Sontheimer has still gone under the radar - at least until this past week's Poker Masters.
Sontheimer has been a tear. He's been on the final table of three of the $50k prelims this week and bubbled the other.
He won Event #2 for $900,000 - defeating none other than Holz heads-up to do it. And with $1,221,000 in combined earnings he leads the chase for the Purple Jacket heading into the $100k Challenge today.
He's got 3 more days to prove himself but if he makes, say, a top 4 finish (and the winner's cut isn't over $1.6m) he just might find himself the first-ever Poker Master. Here's how the Top 12 stand heading into today:
Steffen Sontheimer $1,221,000
Bryn Kenney $1,085,000
Nick Schulman $918,000
Brandon Adams $819,000
Doug Polk $612,000
Erik Seidel $576,000
Matt Hyman $561,000
Fedor Holz $550,000
Jake Schindler $409,500
Stefan Schillhabel $306,000
Tom Marchese $300,000
Adrian Mateos $277,500
Watch all the action live on the PokerGO app starting at 5:30 local time in Vegas.
2) Don't Count Out DNegs
The biggest story heading into the Poker Masters was Daniel Negreanu and his side bets.
Putting himself up against 23 of the game's best pros Negreanu stands to win over $1.1m if he wins the Purple Jacket and pay out just $50,000 if one of those others wins.
Sontheimer is on that list so if he does continue his dominance DNegs will be out an extra $50k.
After a solid min-cash (bounced on a bad beat) in Event #1 Negreanu has been shut out of the past 3 events to leave him at just $102,000 coming into the $100k.
That said, don't count DNegs out. A win in the $100k, given how big it should be, should still grab him the jacket. He also says he's playing the best NLH he's ever played:
I'm quite certain I've played the best NLH poker I've ever played this week. No luck in races,but the big one starts tomorrow! #PokerMasters
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 18, 2017
We wouldn't bet against him. Check his latest Vlogs about playing some poker "in the streets:"
3) Phil Gruissem Wins His First WCOOP!
While we're trumpeting the praises of next-gen German superstars like Sontheimer, Holz, Christner and Kempe let's not forget about one of the OGs (Original Germans), Phil Gruissem, who finally, after 12 years, won his first WCOOP title:
After 12years tryin hard i made it👍👍just needed to win 14 allins in a row on day 2...i guess it was #myturn https://t.co/87qRNEAfLX
— Philipp Gruissem (@TheRealPhilbort) September 18, 2017
Congrats to the Philbort!
