How Old Is Daniel Negreanu
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Daniel Negreanu is no ordinary poker player. Not only has he won the World Series of Poker six times, and two World Poker Tour championship titles, but – according to Global Poker Index – he is also the best poker player of the last decade. The Canadian star is on top of the Poker world, but here are a few things away from his skills at the poker table that you may not already know.
It’s been one of the biggest talking points of a bizarre 2020, and now that Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk have reached the halfway of a hoped-for 25,000-hand Grudge Match, and today we are going to review the past two months of their heads-up battle! But firstbreaking news that Daniel Negreanu will NOT be taking the escape clause that would allow him to quit the match right. Daniel Negreanu is, without a doubt, one of the most recognised players of modern day poker. He was born in Toronto, Canada on July 26th 1974, and started learning poker when he was 15 years old. Negreanu often speaks fondly of the old style of poker grinding, no online, just pure live poker at his local casino. He would grind there like a.
#1 Negreanu is of Romanian decent
Whilst “Kid Poker” was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1974, his parents had actually emigrated from Romania seven years earlier. Per his blog Full Contact Poker, Negreanu says that his father’s favorite place in the world was beside his pool, claiming that he spent so much time in the sun that he “looked Indian.”
But the star poker also says that his parents earned their more relaxed lifestyle in Canada due to the hardships that they endured in Romania.
They grew up in communist Romania, and his father got his first job when he was just 4-years-old – carrying water down a hill for $1 a week – whilst his mother was in hospital, and his father (Daniel’s grandfather) had already passed on. As for the “Kid Poker’s” mother, she was the youngest of ten children, in a family that lived in a house smaller than a typical kitchen. She would have to steal eggs from the neighbours as a source of food.
#2 Negreanu’s father killed a Nazi
In his own blog on FCP Daniel Negreanu told of how rough his parents had it as kids in 1930’s Romania, which included encounters with Nazis. The poker champion tells of how, when his father was just 6-years-old, a drunken Nazi soldier held a gun in his father’s mouth when he was “having some fun” with the youngster.
His father saw the whisky bottle in the Nazi’s hand so, with the gun still in his mouth, the six-year-old smashed the bottle and drove it into the drunken Nazi’s throat. He then bolted, and doesn’t know if the Nazi survived.
#3 Negreanu was chewed up and spat out by Las Vegas
That’s right, the greatest poker player of the last decade actually failed in his first attempt to conquer the Las Vegas strip.
After dropping out of education at the end of high school, due to not earning enough credits to graduate, Daniel Negreanu started as a rounder, playing at his local casinos, whilst looking for illegal games to participate in around Toronto – according to Poker Listings.
Once he had built up his fund, Negreanu, aged 22, hit The Strip, aiming to commence his career as a professional poker player. He played all the casinos but was ultimately sent back to Toronto with his tail between his legs, and with an empty bank account. So he moved back to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll.
#4 Negreanu is a Philanthro-maniac
The star poker player, with all his millions of dollars in winnings, is a well known charity man, with many organizations and events to his name.
Alongside his regular attendance to charity events – such as the Darfur crisis charity Ante Up for Africa – Negreanu is also the founder of his own money raising events.
The Big Swing is an annual charity golf event, founded by “Big Poker”, in which poker players and celebrities team up for a doubles golf tournament. All participants donate $3,000 to the Lili Claire Foundation – a Las Vegas based charity that helps the families of children who are born with special needs, and the children themselves – with the event taking place at the Harrah’s Rio Golf Club.
#5 Negreanu has two protégés
Using his website Full Contact Poker, Daniel Negreanu launched the search for his first protégé, in 2006. The search involved an online poker competition, in which he would select a player whom he would attempt to forge into a world-class live tournament poker player. The prize also included Negreanu footing the bill for four events that required a $10,000 buy-in.
The tournament received hundreds of bidding poker stars, but in the end the winner of the first competition was Brian Fidler. Fidler found success in the same year of winning Negreanu’s protégé search, by coming second in the World Series of Poker circuit event, amongst a set of 110 players. Fidler took home $206,800 from that event.
“Kid Poker” found another protégé at the end of 2006, once again via Full Contact Poker, with Anthony Mak being taken under the world-star’s wing. Card Player records Mak’s most recent, and highest earning, win coming in April, 2012, where he raked in £18,900 in Jacksonville.
#6 Negreanu was Player of the Year without a first place finish
Given the record of the world class poker star, and the fact that he’s rated as the greatest player of the last decade, that fact that he has only been awarded Poker Player of the Year just once is quite peculiar.
The award is given out by ALL IN Magazine, with Daniel Negreanu being deemed worthy of the award in 2013. To earn the award and title of Poker Player of the Year, the Toronto native pulled in $1,837,344 in cash from 16 different events, in which he failed to win any.
His highest finishes came in Event24 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller Eight Max in Monte Carlo on May 1st, where he placed second and cashed $791,649; and SCOOP-06-H: $1050 No-Limit Hold’em Draw on May 8th, where he also placed second but pulled in $15,330.
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#7 Negreanu loves Warcraft
Poker Player Daniel Negreanu Wife
But not the World of Warcraft computer game that last recorded having about 5.5 million subscribers. No, Daniel Negreanu instead fills his Warcraft cravings on the Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft app. According to Forbes, the poker hero started playing in 2015 and began to stream his play on Twitch, whilst playing poker.
At BlizzCon 2015, in Anaheim – a convention hosted developers Blizzard to showcase their games and host tournaments – Daniel Negreanu played in a show match, for the Hearthstone World Championship, against Bertrand “ElkY” Grospeillier – who’s a fellow World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour champion.
The poker star match-up ended with Negreanu beating Grospeillier on Hearthstone by 3-1.
If you liked this, check out Negreanu’s tips on how to ace every poker hand…
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The most high-profile sponsorship in the poker world has ended.
Daniel Negreanu will no longer sport the red spade, representing PokerStars everywhere he goes. He and the world's leading online poker provider have come to an agreement on what 'Kid Poker' called an 'amicable split.'
Negreanu had been the most visible member of PokerStars Team Pro since 2007, which he called 'an incredible run.'
'It was a great run but we're no longer gonna be an ambassador for the company,' he said in an online announcement. 'I worked with so many great people, some really good people at PokerStars. I've had the opportunity to travel the world, play in Barcelona, Monte Carlo, PCA which were three of my favorite stops. I wish everyone the best.'
'I worked with so many great people, some really good people at PokerStars.”
Rebecca McAdam Willets, PokerStars associate director, group public relations extended the company's well wishes, in turn.
'Daniel has been one of the most influential faces of poker and indeed PokerStars for 12 years, and it has been wonderful to have his passion, support and insights throughout our relationship,' she said to PokerNews. 'We wish Daniel the very best for the future, as well as wedded bliss and tons of run good this summer.'
Negreanu's Long History With PokerStars
Originally, Negreanu played a major role in funding and building his own poker site, Full Contact Poker.
However, in June 2007, Negreanu reached an agreement with PokerStars to join their ambassador team alongside notable former World Series of Poker Main Event champs Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem. Full Contact Poker was migrated into PokerStars and the site reverted to simply being host to Negreanu's blog, forums, podcasts and other media.
Negreanu became a regular face on PokerStars' European Poker Tour and other international events. While he never managed to win a prestigious EPT title, he did make a few final tables, finishing fourth at EPT Grand Final in 2013 for €321,000, and cashed in a few $100K events at PCA and other stops.
While other stars from the early 2000s such as Hachem and Barry Greenstein faded from the spotlight and had their sponsorships lapse, Negreanu continued to carry the flag and remained one of the game's brightest stars. His profile only rose over the years as he became poker's all-time tournament money leader — since surpassed by Justin Bonomo — and evolved his game to continue to succeed against the new generation of crushers.
Recent Troubles
In recent years, Negreanu has been a lightning rod for criticism out of some corners as both he and PokerStars took some stances that proved unpopular with sectors of the poker community.
When PokerStars controversially cut high-volume rewards and hiked the rake across a number of games, Negreanu rationalized the changes, to the consternation of countless pros who hoped he would fight for their cause. In the process, he became a favorite punching bag of popular content creators like Doug Polk and Joey Ingram, who made a running gag out of Negreanu's defenses for the rake increase.
Then, some of his posted opinions ran afoul of popular 'The Chip Race' podcast hosts DK Lappin and Dara O'Kearney, who went after Negreanu on their blogs, resulting in a back-and-forth spat.
That one turned nasty, as did a heated exchange with Shaun Deeb in early May that saw both parties throwing insults and discussing a bizarre bet on which man would stay married longer.
Leaving on a High Note
Through it all, Negreanu remained and still does remain one of the most, if not the most, popular poker player in the world. He hopes fans will get to see him in a slightly different light now, and people around the industry will understand that the opinions he's voiced over the years don't necessarily come from on high from his sponsor.
'In a lot of ways, it's somewhat freeing,' he said in a video blog. 'For years, when I make a statement about poker, people say, 'You're just saying that because you're being paid to say that.' Which I know is not true — I could pass 1,000 lie detectors to prove that — but what's great about the situation now is I can go back to essentially making comments and statements about the poker community that I guess would have more credibility because of that.
'In a lot of ways, it's somewhat freeing.'
'I've had the luxury over the last 20 years of being on the inside when it comes to the business side of poker, the professional side of poker. I know what poker players are missing. I know what some of the people in business miss about what it's like to be a professional poker player. I'll still fairly discuss any issues, positive and negative, with them, with partypoker, with WSOP.'
Freshly married, Negreanu also said some things that evoked Jason Mercier's 2018 exit. He hopes to start a family in the coming years and said the split with PokerStars is just part of his 'life taking on a new direction.'
'I'm super excited about the future with my new woman,' he said.
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