Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. The independent poker ranking service Global Poker Index (GPI) has recognised Negreanu as the best poker player of the past decade.
Since his second place in the Big One For One Drop 2014 tournament, he is the biggest live tournament poker winner of all time, having accumulated over $29,750,000 in prize money. He was named the WSOP Player of the Year in 2004 and again in 2013, making him the first player in WSOP history to win the accolade more than once. He was also the 2004-05 WPT Player of the Year. He is the first player to make a final table at each of the three WSOP bracelet-awarding locations (Las Vegas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific) and the first to win a bracelet at each. In 2014, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. He is ranked second in the all-time career earnings list behind Phil Ivey and is also currently the star of poker game show Million Dollar Challenge.
In 1997, he won two events at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, earning $55,064 as well as being named the tournament's best all-around player. Negreanu followed this triumph by winning $169,460 at the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event in the 1998 World Series of Poker and becoming the youngest WSOP bracelet winner in history — a record he held until 2004. Over the next few years, he became one of the most successful poker tournament players, winning two World Poker Tour (WPT) events, another three World Series bracelets, and appearing at 12 final tables. He was also named the World Series of Poker player of the year in 2004 and World Poker Tour player of the year in 2005.
Upon opening, the Wynn Las Vegas resort recruited him as their "Poker Ambassador" to play for any stake in their poker room. The arrangement lasted until October 2005, when he opted out because it was restricting his ability to play for high stakes outside the Wynn. In December 2005, he started his own online poker cardroom "skin" site on his official site, Full Contact Poker, which also includes his blog and a variety of poker forums. He played at his cardroom under the screen name "KidPoker". In 2006, he used Full Contact Poker to launch a competition to select a protege, whom Daniel would attempt to mold into a world-class live tournament poker player. In addition, he agreed to pay the protege's entry fee into four $10,000 buy-in events. Daniel's first protege was Brian Fidler. In 2007, Daniel ran a second protege promotion, which was won by Anthony Mak.
In June 2007 Negreanu signed with PokerStars, joining Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and many other professional poker players as a member of Team PokerStars. His Full Contact Poker site has since returned to being a forum and informational site. Daniel has been a regular at the big game in Bobby's Room, in the Bellagio casino, Las Vegas, for several years. He is a self-admitted action junkie who always seeks new challenges and sets high goals for himself, not only at the poker table but also on the golf course. Unlike many other players, he is very outspoken about his poker results and regularly posts updates in the forums at the Full Contact Poker website. Some of Negreanu’s success is attributed to his ability to read opponents. When asked about this, Negreanu explained that the most important skill he employs is observing what hands his opponents play and how capable they are of playing them.
As of 2015, his total live tournament winnings exceed $29,825,000. His 78 cashes at the WSOP account for $14,641,383 of those winnings.
Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. The independent poker ranking service Global Poker Index (GPI) has recognised Negreanu as the best poker player of the past decade.
