Daniel Negreanu foiled again in quest for 7th WSOP bracelet

Daniel Negreanu has endured multiple close calls in his quest for his seventh career World Series of Poker bracelet.

Add another one to the list.

Negreanu, a Las Vegas resident and the winningest tournament player in poker history, finished second Wednesday in the WSOP’s $10,000 buy-in Omaha Hi-Low/8 or better event at the Rio Convention Center.

Professional poker player Abe Mosseri won his second career bracelet and the $388,795 first prize.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s a long Series, right?” Negreanu said. “If you get caught up on one or two (tournaments) that went bad, you’re doomed. You’ve got to really be focused every day.”

Negreanu was seeking to tie Men Nguyen for seventh on the all-time WSOP bracelet list.

Since winning the €25,600 No-limit Hold’em High Roller event at WSOP Europe in 2013, Negreanu has finished second on three occasions (including Wednesday) and was third in last week’s $10,000 buy-in Tag Team tournament.

He also has a fourth- and sixth-place finish in that span. Negreanu’s last win in a WSOP Las Vegas event came in 2008.

Negreanu pocketed $240,290 for his latest deep run.

“I’ve always been pretty much a streaky player, so having an early result usually breeds other results that come behind it,” Negreanu said. “But I did all my prep work before the World Series started. I did a lot of study on all the different formats and just really worked on getting better at all the games. So I felt really confident going into the Omaha 8.”

Mosseri and Negreanu battled heads-up until almost 2:45 a.m. Wednesday before the action was halted. When the players returned, Mosseri held a 2-to-1 chip advantage and won all four hands that were played after the restart.

“Last night, there was a lot more back-and-forth stuff going on,” Mosseri said. “Today, I just pounded him, I guess.”

Mosseri’s previous bracelet came in 2008 in Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw, and he now has more than $1.75 million in career WSOP earnings.

Mosseri is a regular at Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio and said he only played the tournament because there was no action in the high-stakes cash games.

“It’s always good to beat a great player, so it’s a little bit more satisfying,” Mosseri said. “I’m happy. I just like to win the events. I don’t know if it’s better that I beat Daniel, but it’s nice.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.