Daniel Negreanu is one of the best cash game and tournament players in the world today. 2004 was the brightest year of his career. He won over $4 million in major tournaments and ranked second on the 2004 Money List. He won the World Series of Poker's Player of the Year and collected his third bracelet. He was also named Player of the Year by Card Player Magazine. Going into the last major tournament of 2004, he was ranked 2nd by Card Player Magazine. He had to win the entire event in order to jump ahead of David Pham in the standings. Of course, he won the event and was awarded Player of the Year for his magnificent run in 2004.
Daniel Negreanu - Source: Las Vegas & Poker
Daniel Negreanu was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario by his Romanian parents. He dropped out of school to play poker full time. When he first moved to Las Vegas, he had a difficult transition trying to adapt to his new surroundings. He stuck with it and now Negreanu might be considered the best poker player to come from Canada. He is definitely one of the most entertaining professional players to watch during televised events. He’s a chatty fellow and often thinks out loud during the hands and gives the other players a running commentary on what he’s doing. He also has a reputation of out-playing his opponents after the flop with any two cards. One of his strengths is being able to read his opponents and determine whether or not they missed the flop.
Negreanu has won three World Series of Poker bracelets in his short career. In 2004, he made the final table at five different World Series of Poker events and won his third bracelet in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event. Most recently he added a few tournament titles to his resume, including his first World Poker Tour win at the Borgata in September of 2004. He ended 2004 with a first place finish at the Bellagio’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic for his second WPT victory.
Negreanu is the World Poker Tour’s career money leader with over $4 million collected in prize money. With nine money finishes and five TV appearances, he has a third place finish at the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure (2003), a third place finish at the Jack Binion’s World Poker Open (2005), and a second place finish at the Party Poker Million (2003).
One of my favorite Daniel Negreanu stories is when he and a few other pros played an all night game on a cruise ship on their way back to port. The casino closed at midnight and the players were forced to move the game to the ship's library. They had a rule where Negreanu could play Phil Hellmuth’s mucked cards. He bet using his own money and ended up winning over $7,000 in that game.
Daniel Negreanu is also an established poker writer. Almost a hundred of his excellent articles can be found in Card Player Magazine. He currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and can be seen playing high stakes games regularly at the Bellagio casino with Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, and Jen Harman. When the new Wynn Casino opens in the Spring of 2005, he is supposed to be exclusively playing in their poker room. You can visit his website Full Contact Poker where he hosts a picture gallery, a message forum, and his own poker blog.
