Negreanu Bags Final Table Chip Lead in Event #9: $26,000 NLH

Daniel Negreanu played 18 holes of golf on Wednesday morning, but he had no problem switching games as he bagged the final table chip lead in Event #9: $26,000 NLH at the 2026 Poker Masters.

The lively and banter-fuelled Day 1 of of the penultimate Poker Masters event drew 50 runners for a prize pool of $1,250,000. Alongside Negreanu, the seven-handed final table includes top high-stakes pros Jesse Lonis, Brandon Wilson, and Matthew Wantman, sports betting personality Sean Perry, and bracelet winners Nicholas Seward and Daniyal Gheba.

The final table doesn't include Adrian Mateos, who went out in ninth as he bubbled his fifth event of the series.

Event #9: $26,000 NLH Final Table Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Daniel Negreanu	Canada	2,205,000	88
2	Nicholas Seward	United States	1,700,000	68
3	Daniyal Gheba	United States	1,120,000	45
4	Brandon Wilson	United States	755,000	30
5	Sean Perry	United States	570,000	23
6	Matthew Wantman	United States	530,000	21
7	Jesse Lonis	United States	525,000	21

Negreanu Lets Loose

Negreanu was lying about his hand on the river against an opponent he dubbed "the Mike Matusow of your generation." That opponent, Nicholas Palma, later called Negreanu "Rasta man" after he spoke in a Jamaican accent at the feature table.

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It was fitting that the friendly rivalry ended with Negreanu busting Palma on the soft bubble.

Negreanu wasn't the only one catching heat from Palma. The Event #2 winner got into a spat with poker villain Sean Perry, who at one point reminded the New Yorker that he was "once the third ranked player in the world" and that he has "14 f***ing Ferraris."

A string of doubles saw short stacks Lonis and David Coleman survive the money bubble, and it seemed like fate that Mateos would be the one to fall as he bubbled his fifth Poker Masters event.

The Spanish crusher still leads the series leaderboard, but a cash would have pushed him over the top.

Coleman couldn't further spin up his short stack and went out soon after in eighth place at the hands of Wilson to end the day and set the final table. Nobody was happier than Perry, who pulled out his phone and took a video for his social media followers.

Day 2 action will kick off at noon local time with ten minutes left in Level 15 with blinds of 15,000/25,000/25,000. PokerNews will report on a delay alongside the PokerGO stream to avoid any spoilers.

Each returning player is guaranteed $50,000, while a top prize of $412,500 awaits the eventual champion.