World Series of Poker: Daniel Negreanu hangs tough

One of the biggest names in poker - maybe even the biggest name in poker - Daniel Negreanu continued to play strong with the World Series of Poker resuming Friday.  Negreanu, who has won nearly $8 million throughout his poker career, ranked #3 in chip count Wednesday night.

Negreanu has enjoyed an interesting life and an equally interesting poker career.

Daniel Negreanu's parents, Annie and Constantin, moved to Canada from Romania in 1967. With just one credit short of graduation, Daniel dropped out of high school and began his life as a rounder playing at the local charity casinos and looking for illegal games around the city. After building up his bankroll, he left for Las Vegas at the age of 21 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional poker player. However, "The Strip" got the better of him and he was forced to move back home to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll.

His luck began to change starting in 1997 when he won two events at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, earning himself $133,600 as well as being named the tournament's best all-around player. Negreanu followed this triumph in the 1998 World Series of Poker by winning $169,460 at the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event 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 in history, winning two World Poker Tour (WPT) events, another two World Series bracelets, and appearing at 11 final tables. He was also named the World Series of Poker player of the year in 2004.

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. However, 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 plays at his cardroom under the screen name "^KidPoker". In 2006 he used Full Contact Poker to launch a campaign for a Protege, who Daniel would attempt to mold into a world-class live tournament poker player. In addition, he would buy the Protege in to four $10,000 buy-in events. Daniel's first Protege was Brian Fidler.

Negreanu is known for his ability to "read" other players. This means that he can gather information about his opponent's hand by studying their betting patterns and physical expressions, although it is difficult to assess how well he, or any other player, is able to do this. He has written over 100 articles for CardPlayer Magazine and contributed to Doyle Brunson's "bible" of poker sequel Super System II. He has tutored on the web as part of Poker School Online and also personally given lessons to celebrities like Tobey Maguire.

In addition, it was announced in early 2006 that Negreanu had assembled a team of "Superstar Contributors" to write a book called "Daniel Negreanu's Power Hold'em Strategy". Modeled after Brunson's "Super/System", the book delves into every aspect of hold'em, and is due to be released in 2006.

Negreanu's other televised poker appearances include Late Night Poker, High Stakes Poker and Ultimate Poker Challenge (as a commentator and stand-in host.) He will also be appearing in the third season of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament.

Negreanu was named "Favorite Poker Player" at the Card Player, Player of the Year Awards Gala in February 2006.

Negreanu is also featured in the 2006 poker video game "Stacked with Daniel Negreanu," providing tips and hints as to how to play effectively.

As for the rest of the bunch: Last year's winner, Joseph Hachem, ranked #30 entering Friday's play.  Gambling911.com favorite, Cyndy Violette was still going strong, ranking in at 60th place. 

Josh Arieh, who yesterday dropped the "F" bomb and was punished for a period of time, bounces back and sat at the #62 spot in terms of chip count. 

Minh Nguyen, Kathy Liebert, Barny Boatman, were a few other big names hanging on.

Play resumes Friday at 3:00 pm EDT.

You can follow all the latest poker news including exclusive party photos, Jenny Woo and the Crew interviews with players and more here
 

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Gambling911.com News Wire

Originally published August 4, 2006 12:53 am EDT