Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Peter Fryers
Poker Expert

Negreanu and Hellmuth in Twitter spat

In a row on Twitter, the two heavyweights argued about talent and teased a mega bet which has so far failed to materialise.





daniel_negreanu_and_phil_hellmuth It started with an act of humility on the part of Daniel Negreanu as he admitted he couldn’t keep pace with some of today’s best players, chiefly from Germany.

He is of course talking about, among others, Steffen Sontheimer and Fedor Holz, one currently leading the Poker Masters Purple Jacket race, the other the overnight chip leader in the $100k Poker Masters #Event 2, with a day still to play.

But it was Hellmuth struggling in day one that really set the ball rolling after the Poker Brat typically tangled with Steffen Sontheimer.

As Negreanu put it;

“There’s nothing more fun than when Phil Hellmuth picks a guy. He’s had many guys he goes back and forth with, but he’s never had a German [Sontheimer] give Phil “Phil” in German – he gives it right back to him and it’s hilarious. Phil kind of lives in his own world and the difference between him and I is that I have a deep respect for these players and think they’re amazing. I know that they are – I don’t assume.”

Come day two, not long after Hellmuth exited, Negreanu was also forced out as Sontheimer went on to make his fourth final table of series in third place behind countrymen, Christian Christner and Fedor Holz and one place ahead of another, Stefan Schillhabel, in fourth, demonstrating the strength of German poker right now.

At this point KidPoker took to Twitter to share his throughts on these young stars some more.

Making the point on Twitter

Needless to say, the Poker Brat was not so humble, calling out his lower buy-in, higher win rate ROI as proof that he is the greatest of all time.

After a heated back and forth between the two in which Negreanu accused Hellmuth of disrespecting the youth and berating other players - a charge the Poker Brat was happy to admit to - Hellmuth called for Negreanu to produce a list of players better than him.

After which Negreanu hurriedly obliged.

But as soon as betting was bought into the equation, things cooled.

Now, it seems as though it was a trap all along, at least that’s according to Phil.

While it was an entertaining way to spend the morning, the deliberate nature of the exchange has left many wondering if this was a publicity stunt between the two mega stars of poker, possibly to promote an upcoming event.

Was this a serious row or was it the poker equivalent to a hyped up boxing weigh in for something else? Let us know in the comments:

Peter Fryers
Poker Expert