Vegas Pro Wins Prestigious 2002 L.A. Poker Classic Best All-Around Player Award

Although he got off to a slow start in the L.A. Poker Classic XI, Daniel Negreanu picked up steam midway through the tournament – ultimately winning two events, placing second in a third, and cashing an additional four times – to accrue 174 points and capture the prestigious Best All-Around Player award. He also claimed $22,500 in cash, bragging rights for a year, and a replica of Frederic Remington's bronze sculpture, "Outlaw," to commemorate his accomplishment.

"A best all-around award motivates me to play better, and I've always been among the top 10 when I've played all the events," commented Negreanu, a 27-year-old poker pro from Las Vegas. "But these are the toughest contests to win, because all the good players compete and you have to work really hard for a month. Without question, the main reason to win is to get rewarded for all that hard work."

Negreanu kicked off his impressive performance by finishing 17th in the $500 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event. Although he didn't pick up any points, he did pocket $924 in prize money and, more importantly, began to fine-tune his strategy. "I learned a lot from watching Scotty (Nguyen) during the first week," he said. "I think he's the greatest tournament player in the world right now, and I fiddled with my strategy here and there to include some of the things he does."

By this time, however, Card Player Publisher Barry Shulman and professional poker player Paul Phillips both had won an event, cashed in several others, and built substantial points leads. Negreanu was at a distinct disadvantage, but he nonetheless persevered and, over the next two weeks, accumulated points for the following events:

$1,500 limit hold'em (14th) $15,390

$500 pot-limit hold'em (1st) $41,995

$300 limit hold'em (2nd) $84,987

$1,000 seven-card stud (12th) $1,620

$1,000 Omaha high-low split (1st) $46,740

$300 limit hold'em (10th) $5,119

"I didn't even get on board for the first nine tournaments, and then I went on a tear," Negreanu said. "I've always been a streaky player. I run cold, then I run hot. But when I get a feel for where I want to be in a tournament, and once things start rolling, something just clicks and I get in the zone. Of course," he added, "running good and getting lucky help, too."

After winning his first LAPC title this year, then claiming a runner-up finish, Negreanu racked up 100 points to move past Phillips into second place on the points roster; Shulman was still in the lead with 130 points. Two days later, Phillips cashed again to regain his second-place position with 114 points. It wasn't until Negreanu captured his second title that he finally seized the lead with 160 points, but it was still a wide-open race.

"It was unbelievable," Negreanu said. "Every time I thought I was in the clear, here came Barry and Paul. I knew that winning the points race meant something to Barry, too. Every day I cut out the list of the top 10 points leaders from the daily write-up, and when it got down to three tables, I scratched off the names of players when they got knocked out. Barry was doing the same thing.

"It was very stressful," Negreanu added, "but a little bit of fear helps me. If I have no fear, I can get sloppy. When my back's against the wall, it brings out the best in me."

Negreanu soon picked up another 14 points, and going into the final two tournaments, he was still ahead with 174 points. Shulman now had 150 points. Scotty Nguyen had just won a second event, and with 142 points, he was tied with Phillips for third place.

"I play a lot of tournaments, but usually only a couple of events," commented Shulman. "This was the first time I'd ever been in a best all-around player contest, and I got off to a decent start. But I was so exhausted that I didn't play the day before the championship event, even though Daniel was ahead of me. It was the right move, because it allowed me to be fresh for the championship. The points contest came down to the wire; I had to finish at least seventh in the championship to tie Daniel, and sixth to win. I finished 10th."

Shulman was still in second place with 164 points, and when none of the contenders cashed in the final limit hold'em competition, Negreanu walked away with the 2002 LAPC Best All-Around Player award. "Daniel was fabulous – he won two events – and I'm totally delighted that he also won the points contest," Shulman said, adding that this type of competition helps him focus better on his own play. "It also creates interest in poker, which is what we all want. I hope I can kick some tail in the next one."

With his $22,500 Best All-Around Player award, Negreanu racked up total tournament earnings of $219,275 – not bad for a month's work. But he offers no sure-fire method for following in his footsteps. "There's no exact science," he said. "I just try to be patient and play well, and when situations change, I make the necessary strategy adjustments. It's hard to concentrate all the way through a tournament, and for the first three hours I'm more or less on autopilot. Then as the limits go up, I get more involved, play more hands, include some extra funky stuff, and throw in some tricks here and there."

He also attributes much of his tournament success to his versatility, noting that the 10 final tables he made last year were in 10 different games. In addition, he plays a lot of mixed games in side action. "I play all games well – I don't feel I have a weak game," he said.

Of Romanian heritage – his parents immigrated to Canada in 1965 – Negreanu was raised in Toronto. He began playing pool as a teenager, and was a Canadian amateur snooker champ. He soon drifted into sports betting, and then started playing poker with his pool buddies in a basement game. By age 16, he was making his living at the game.

"I was so upset," said his mother, Annie. "My husband and I didn't know what to do. What bothered me was that he was very good in school, and we wanted him to go to college. But now I'm very happy with his success." She added that his father, Connie, who passed away in 1996, would be "very proud" of Daniel today.

After graduating from high school, Negreanu pursued his poker dreams in earnest, and remained undaunted even after several unsuccessful trips to Las Vegas in 1996. "I would build up my bankroll in the Toronto games, then lose it all in Vegas," he remembers. Things began to turn around in 1997, when he won his first major competition at Commerce Casino's annual Heavenly Hold'em tournament, and then captured back-to-back limit hold'em titles, as well as the Best All-Around Player award, at Foxwoods' World Poker Finals. The rest, as they say, is history, and today Negreanu boasts numerous additional titles from other major competitions, including the World Series of Poker, the Taj Mahal's United States Poker Championship, and the California State Poker Championship. He also writes a regular column titled "Full-Contact Poker" for Card Player, and is developing a website: www.fullcontactpoker.com.

Negreanu's next stop on the tournament trail is the 2002 World Series of Poker, and he's ready. "The whole tournament experience at Commerce Casino was perfect for me, heading into the World Series," he said. "It gave me extra confidence, I've made some adjustments, and I'm on top of my game. I think I'll also do well at Binion's."

By all accounts, the 11th-annual L.A. Poker Classic was a stunning success. With 7,059 entrants – more than last year's World Series of Poker – and total prize money of $6,262,200, which included $50,000 in Best All-Around Player awards, the 2002 LAPC exceeded all expectations. The number of entrants increased 36 percent over last year and the prize money almost doubled, making Commerce Casino's annual competition the second-largest poker tournament in the United States, behind only the granddaddy of them all – the World Series.

"The tournament was unbelievable – really huge – and we're confident it will continue to grow every year," stated Executive Poker Host Jerry Stensrud. "We had a lot of players from the East Coast and the South this year, and more Europeans than ever before. We feel they'll all be back and will bring their friends. We heard that a lot."

Much of the record attendance and prize money was due to the debut of two $1 million-guaranteed events: the $1,500 buy-in (with rebuys) limit hold'em tournament, which drew 596 entrants and paid out prize money totaling $1,539,000, and the $7,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em championship competition. "The $1,500 limit hold'em event – the number of entrants, the prize pool, everything – was just overwhelming," Stensrud said. "Now we're not only the world's largest poker casino, we're also the home of the world's largest limit hold'em tournament."

The two $1 million-guaranteed events aside, the increase in number of entrants and prize money can also be attributed to some other positive changes, to wit:

• Holding the tournament in the adjacent Crowne Plaza Hotel's elegant and spacious ballroom, the third largest in the immediate L.A. area;

• Offering more of the popular events and fewer of the less popular ones;

• Increasing the championship event buy-in from $5,000 to $7,500; and

• Fine-tuning the structure in all events in order to place more emphasis on skill and less on luck.

"We're very pleased and gratified at the response this year's L.A. Poker Classic received," said Casino Manager Tim Gustin. "Over the years we've given great consideration to feedback from players, and have tried to provide the competitions they want, a pleasant environment, and a professional staff. Our goal is for the LAPC, as well as our other tournaments, to be the best they can be, and we're constantly striving to achieve that goal."

While the Crowne Plaza Ballroom was filled to capacity and bustling with tournament activities, Commerce Casino was also rocking around-the-clock during the entire month of February with jammed poker games at all limits. "We have the best side action in the world," said Stensrud. "It's good without the tournament, but during the tournament it was just incredible – action like you've never seen before. When we built the hotel, we added 30 poker tables and now have a total of 160. But it wasn't enough. We had to put poker games over in our California section. Just imagine … more than 160 poker tables all going at the same time."

No doubt the side action will be just as terrific during future competitions, and judging from the recently concluded LAPC, those events should continue to attract large fields. The next major tournament at Commerce Casino is the California State Poker Championship, which is scheduled June 7-23 and will incorporate many of the changes introduced at the LAPC.

"We're very optimistic about the future of our tournaments, especially with the new hotel now open and the success of this year's L.A. Poker Classic," Gustin said. "We're looking forward to hosting even bigger and better competitions in the future."