Daniel Negreanu Wins Another Championship

A Canadian camera crew decided to follow a poker player around for a few days at the Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City. The person they originally were going to film ended up not playing. As a backup, they chose Daniel Negreanu to be their subject. After all, he is Canadian and a poker player. I know of a few players who have been followed around by a camera crew at a tournament, and most were unsuccessful. Adam Schoenfeld was being taped in Los Angeles and lasted about five minutes in an event. I am sure that made for great television. Daniel, on the other hand, needed to show Canadian viewers that he is a force to be reckoned with.

As the stage was set for the final table of the championship event, two players had taken control. David Williams had twice the amount of chips of Josh Arieh, who was in a controlling second position. As you probably recall, these two matched up at the World Series of Poker. David won $3.5 million and Josh won $2.5 million. Others at the final table were Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, "Syracuse" Chris Tsiprailidis, and Brandon Moran. Eventually, it was a duel between the new kid on the block, David Williams, and the recently engaged Daniel Negreanu. Daniel won the battle, and put another championship event win on his resume. At this point in time, someone will have to go on an incredible streak to take away Card Player's 2004 Player of the Year award from Daniel.

After Borgata, the next stop on the tournament circuit was Aruba, where UltimateBet.com hosted more than 600 players and their families. I love Aruba because of the great weather and the turquoise ocean, and it was where I met my wonderful girlfriend a year ago. Sorry for the cheese, but if by some slim chance she reads this column, I can use it to score points. Anyhow, the poker was great. There were many new faces in the event, and many of them had never played in a tournament that was not online. I even saw someone as low profile as Phil Hellmuth signing autographs.

Eric Brenes, the least known of the Brenes brothers (Humberto and Alex have done very well on the poker circuit), ended up getting heads up with Layne Flack in the championship event and won it, cashing in $1 million. Others at the final table were Mike Matusow, John Juanda, Patrick McMillan, and Vic Fey. Congrats, Don Eric!