Poker Player Profiles: Daniel Negreanu Greatest

Daniel Negreanu is a ubiquitous presence on televised poker tournaments and one of the most accomplished tournament poker players ever. Daniel earned his first WSOP bracelet in 1998 for pot limit Texas hold’em at the tender age of 23, the youngest player to win a WSOP bracelet at that time. Daniel’s most accomplished year to date, however, had to be 2004, when he was named Cardplayer’s Player of the Year as well as the World Series of Poker Player of the Year and the World Poker Tour Player of the Year. The excitement for Daniel started in January, when he made the final table of the World Poker Tour’s PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure. Although World Poker Tour standout Gus Hansen won the event, Daniel’s performance was good enough for third place and nearly two hundred thousand dollars. In keeping with the World Poker Tour and online texas holdem site sponsored tournament themes, Daniel then made the final table of the WPT Party Poker Million tournament. This time it was Erick Lindgren who took the title away from Daniel, but the over $675,000 Daniel collected for second place probably took the sting out of the loss a bit. By the time September rolled around, Daniel was possibly the most recognized face on the World Poker Tour, but as a born competitor, the young Canadian nicknamed “Kid Poker,” who found cards after hustling pool as a kid in Toronto, was probably getting a little tired of being a bridesmaid. When Daniel arrived at the Borgata Poker Open, he was ready to solve that problem. Although up against some of the toughest players on the circuit, including Phil Ivey and David Williams, Negreanu was finally able to take home the top spot, and over a million dollars. To prove his first place finish was no fluke, he then went on to win the World Poker Tour’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic, adding nearly two million dollars to his bankroll and cementing his place as one of the best World Poker Tour performers of all time. Of course, in between these World Poker Tour successes came the World Series of Poker, which provided Daniel no shortage of accomplishments in itself. Daniel finished third in the $1000 no limit texas hold’em event, made the final table of the $2500 limit hold’em event, collected his third WSOP bracelet for $2000 limit hold’em, and made the final tables of the $1500 no limit texas holdem shootout and $5000 pot limit Omaha events. Daniel capped his WSOP success by winning the Championship Poker at the Plaza event, in a dramatic, exciting heads up battle with Kassem “Freddy” Deeb which was captured on camera for a multi-part television series. Stay tuned to your local poker shows on television, as you are bound to see many more Daniel Negreanu accomplishments if you do.