Nadal Wins, Negreanu Out of NBC Heads-Up

Rafa Nadal Wins First Poker Tournament

Rafael Nadal, world champion tennis pro, joined Team SportStars on PokerStars last year. He’s been working on his poker game ever since and achieved his first victory.

The amateur poker player competes in low stakes games, as any beginning player should, and he finally won his first €10 freeze-out tournament. Of a field of 48 players, Nadal made the final table, knocked out the last five opponents, and took first place and €152.40.

Daniel Negreanu Withdraws from NBC Heads-Up

First came the news that David Sands, the first alternate at the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, was given the opportunity to play as a previously-confirmed player dropped out. Sands tweeted from @Doc_Sands: “I am thrilled to have this opportunity.”

Daniel Negreanu then tweeted from @RealKidPoker that he was the player replaced by Sands and would explain his decision later in the day. A video was released later, in which Negreanu discussed that he had previous plans to spend time with close friends and chose to honor that commitment. With a great deal of emotion, he said that he often put poker before personal relationships in his life but is choosing the opposite path in this situation.

Negreanu confirmed that he will also miss the L.A. Poker Classic but return to the poker circuit in March with a very full schedule of tournaments around the world.