In recent years, the perception of Daniel Negreanu has gone through as many changes as the man himself. One of poker’s most recent polarizing characters has perhaps never been more popular yet is also lambasted by a fair portion of the poker-watching public. As Kid Poker has recently turned 50, we look back at the first part of the Canadian’s incredible career as well as looking at what might come in the future.
Kid Poker’s Rise to Fame
Over the past 27 years, Daniel Negreanu has gone from being a Canadian rookie to perhaps the biggest name in professional poker. A long-time ambassador of the game – first for PokerStars and now for GGPoker, Negreanu’s rise to prominence was both stark and yet not so sudden. Kid Poker recently admitted that he went broke a number of times when he first started out, but becoming obsessed with the game, he worked harder than anyone at improving.
In 1998, when Scott Nguyen won the WSOP Main Event – baby – a young Negreanu was in the crowd, watching on. While DNegs has never won the Main Event – an 11th place finish being his best in the year Joe McKeehen both knocked him out and became champion – he has since won seven WSOP bracelets, sealing his latest in the $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship.
“I was making a name for myself,” he said of the victory. “In 1999, capping that off with a televised final, I went from the young rookie to the established threat, a real pro on the tour.” With a sponsorship from PokerStars in the post-Moneymaker era of the world’s first ‘poker boom’, Negreanu was a household in any home where poker featured on television and played in some of the best pots ever brought to broadcast.
Where Does Negreanu Rank Among All-Time Rivals?
After the best part of three decades in the game of poker, Daniel Negreanu has become perhaps the best-known poker player on the planet. But is he the best? Behind six players on the official The Hendon Mob All-Time Money List page, Kid Poker looks up to leader Bryn Kenney, American crusher Justin Bonomo, British legend Stephen Chidwick, his former fellow GGPoker player Jason Koon, the Belarussian Mikita Badziakouski and ‘Cowboy’ Dan Smith in the top ten. Negreanu’s tournament success is not the only metric to measure him by, however.
In terms of visual poker players, no-one has seen their image used worldwide more than the most successful Canadian poker player of all time, with his sponsorship packages likely to have been worth additional millions to him over the years. It wouldn’t be a tough argument to suggest that Negreanu’s many deals in the profession outside of his winnings at the felt make him the most successful player of all-time.
In recent years, Negreanu has not only laid his WSOP ghost to rest but added big wins in events such as High Stakes Duel, the Super High Roller Bowl and many other events. Perceived as a monkey on his back, not winning a WSOP bracelet of any kind in 11 years or in 16 years on American soil looked to weigh heavy at times, but Negreanu’s stunning victory in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for over $1.1 million silenced his critics and reminded them just how relevant he continues to be at final tables.
What Does the Future Hold for Canada’s Finest Poker Export?
After the last quarter of a century have seen Daniel Negreanu turn from a rookie in the game of poker into perhaps its greatest-ever export, Canada’s finest could hang up his three-bets, retire to his palatial Las Vegas home with his wife Amanda Negreanu and simply pass comment on the action instead of being at the center of it.
That seems highly unlikely to happen.
Kid Poker still thrives on being at the heart of the action, as evidenced by just how much his recent WSOP bracelet win in the Poker Players Championship meant to him.
Negreanu’s home life away from the poker tables might be his greatest achievement but Kid Poker still clearly has a lot to prove at the felt. His yearly WSOP video blogs are more popular than ever, and Negreanu had sold action to some of the biggest poker events in the world thanks to the PokerStake official staking page.
In the next 25 years, Negreanu will likely participate in his final poker events. Retiring at 75 might be early for someone like Doyle Brunson, but we think Negreanu might hang up his cap before Texas Dolly did. Whether Negreanu sticks around long enough to win double digits in WSOP titles seems like a solid bet to ‘yes’, but with the possibility of a young family on the horizon if the Negreanus decide to have children, perhaps the future for Negreanu may lie closer to home than this December’s WSOP Paradise in association with his sponsor, GGPoker.
A legend of previous High Stakes Poker and Super High Roller Bowl series, Negreanu is even eligible to take part in the WSOP Seniors Event in Las Vegas in 2025. Could that be where and when he wins bracelet number eight?
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This article originally appeared on PokerStake.com
