Kid Poker

The trophies, plaques, and various other awards that adorn the area over Daniel Negreanu's front door archway tell the story of poker success that most of us can't even fathom. They also tell the story of an obsession with poker that few could ever understand. From a teenage grinder in the cardrooms of Toronto to a poker legend in a town of legends, Daniel's life has always been consumed by poker.



After many successful years on the tournament circuit, Daniel had his breakout year in 2004. In a run that may never be duplicated, Daniel made four World Poker Tour final tables. In a late-year push, he won the Borgata Poker Open and Bellagio's Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, which clinched the Player of the Year award from Card Player for him. He also made six World Series final tables and won his third bracelet in the $2,000 limit hold'em event. With $6.5 million in tournament winnings, Daniel is currently ranked second on the all-time leading money winners list. He has served as the poker ambassador for Wynn Las Vegas, and just recently got married. Not wanting to leave any doubt as to his poker abilities and/or intestinal fortitude, Daniel is now a regular participant in the "big game" at Bellagio, the pinnacle of the poker-playing mountain. I recently sat down with Daniel for an update on life, love, and success in the world of this poker giant.



Rich Belsky: Daniel, last year was one that may never be matched in terms of success by a single player in one year. This year, however, has been a bit slower, particularly your performance in the World Series. What gives?



Daniel Negreanu: At the time, I was playing heads-up matches and said that it didn't have any effect on me. Looking back now, I'm sure that it probably did. The year before, all I did was eat, sleep, and breathe tournament poker, and the results showed that. I don't regret any decisions I made, but next year when I play the World Series, I will be completely focused on reclaiming my position at the top.



RB: There are some people out there who consider you a "one-hit wonder." What do you say to them?



DN: They make me laugh. They treat 2004 as if I just came on the scene and had one lucky year. They don't realize that I'd been around and winning since 1997, but last year was just insane. It was a phenomenal feat that may never be repeated. It's just so hard to win so many big-field tournaments in one year. People talk about my "bad" year this year, but they don't even realize that I'm still ahead $200,000 in tournament poker alone. I've still had a winning year and am right near the top 50 in the Card Player Player of the Year race.

At FCP, players can build their own tables by selecting table style, type of game, and limits.

RB: The landscape of the poker world is certainly changing. Despite your winning years and vast financial gains, you have been quite outspoken about what you see as the emerging problems. Let's set the record straight and not mince words. What is happening that makes you unhappy?



DN: It just bothers me that the poker world is becoming corporate, and the best interests of the poker player are not being considered at all. What is being considered is their bottom line. The people at the top who are making decisions know nothing about poker and couldn't care less about it. They're not protecting the integrity or history of the game. I love the fact that tournaments like the World Series of Poker have generated a lot more interest and more people are playing, but on the same token, as cool as it is for prize-money purposes, it lost that special feeling that it once had.



RB: But what's the solution? You can't fault people for falling in love with the game and wanting to compete with, say, you. So how do you balance the interests of new players and old players?



DN: There will be an event again in which you're not going to see 6,000 players; you will see only 100 of the best. It will be like the PGA Tour compared to the Nike Tour. There's a lot of talk about the pros banding together and doing something like that, and it's right around the corner. The top players have already united and agreed upon certain things, one of which being that we need to own some stuff to ensure a say-so in the direction and future of the endeavor, and eliminate the need for corporate America to run poker events. There is a push from the top players to do something huge, and if this happens, poker will change forever. But that's all I can say at this point.



RB: You did your own brand of corporate sponsorship this past year by performing duties as the poker ambassador for Wynn Las Vegas. What exactly was that all about?



DN: I had an exclusive contract to play all of my cash games there. I started the Negreanu Challenge Matches to bring a buzz to the room. I had some great matches and made about $100,000, but as far as a big game, there just wasn't a lot of high-limit action [at Wynn Las Vegas]. I honored my contract, but when my contract was up, I decided to part ways with them. I decided I wanted my freedom to play wherever I wanted, and one of those places was in the big game at Bellagio. I just decided that I couldn't put a price on my freedom.



RB: So, Daniel Negreanu makes his first appearance at the big game. What was the reaction of the big-game crew – Ivey, Eli Elezra, Chip, Doyle, and everyone?

Daniel hams it up at the 2004 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he finished third and won $192,270.

DN: A lot of people don't know this, but in 2003 and 2004, I played a lot in the big game. That's the only game I was playing at that time. The only difference now is that because I write a blog about my poker play at www.fullcontactpoker.com, I now have to write about the big game, and that's a delicate situation. The big game has always been very private, and I don't want to disrespect that. So, I don't write about who wins or loses. Instead, I write a section called "Who made the following play?" In it, I discuss an interesting hand, and then poll the readers as to who made the play. I also do profiles of some of the players there, but I always do it with the permission of the players.



RB: The big game is known for its unbelievably high limits, typically $2,000-$4,000 or $4,000-$8,000. What are some other factors that make the big game the true test of a player's poker mastery?



DN: We're seeing the destruction of poker in more than one way now. All of the tournaments are all about no-limit hold'em. While the rest of America is stuck on no-limit hold'em, that game's popularity won't last forever. In the big game, we play 10 different games, and this is the structure I would like to see flourish – the structure that proves true poker ability. I want to enlighten the growing poker population that the big game, not televised no-limit tournaments, is the pinnacle of where the great players assemble. It always has been and always will be, and it is where a poker player should strive to be.



RB: What is it about the big-game players that puts them on such a higher level than the rest of the poker world?



DN: At that level, everybody understands the fundamentals. It comes down to psychological warfare, discipline, and emotional stability. It's why Phil Hellmuth could never win; he's not emotionally stable enough to fade the huge losses. You have to be able to lose $200,000 and say to yourself, "Well, it happens. I'll be all right." Phil Ivey said it best: "When you start thinking that what you just lost is a house or a car, you're dead."



RB: What have been your results thus far?



DN: Since I've been back, I'm ahead. I've been stuck two or three hundred thousand every session, but have managed to get out and eke out a small profit in most sessions. I'm putting in lots of hours and really enjoying it.



RB: Let's talk a little bit about the other side of your life, beginning with your recent marriage to the lovely Lori. It's all smiles and laughter, right?



DN: (laughing) Umm, marriage is a real job. Marriage is probably the hardest thing, with more to think about, and requiring more of a commitment than any other thing I've ever had to do. The honeymoon was great, though. We went to Maui, and it was the first vacation I've ever taken that didn't involve poker. It was the most refreshing week of my life. It was nice to get away from the world for a while.



RB: I'll bet, but once you came back to the world, I would imagine that you paid the price. Have you been pretty busy these days?



DN: To say the least. First, my video game Stacked is about to be released, and it's being promoted by MTV. It is without question the poker game. The other games that have been released had a limited budget to create the product, but Stacked has spent a ton of money creating the best-quality artificial intelligence there is. It's the most realistic poker experience you can get without playing live.



RB: Why wouldn't people just play online for play money against other people?



DN: Interestingly enough, playing online for play money would be a less realistic experience than playing Stacked against the bot, who is actually trying. When playing for play money, people don't care. They move all in and play anything, but with the game, you have very sophisticated AI that is playing different strategies against you and adapting to your play.



RB: It sounds like a sick game; I can't wait to play it. What else do you have going on?

Daniel cruised to a second-place finish, earning more than $675,000, at the 2004 PartyPoker Million.

DN: Well, there are some really exciting things going on with my website, fullcontactpoker.com (FCP). The site started out as just a forum and a blog. Over the course of the year, it has become a very popular site, and I really wanted to do something for the members of the site. We have recently launched the fullcontactpoker.com online poker room. All registered members of FCP receive special benefits, the coolest one being the opportunity to become "Daniel's Poker Protégé."



This contest will provide one person every four months with the opportunity to be mentored and staked by me. The first contest, which runs through April 2, 2006, will see 10 players compete at the grand-prize final table, with the winner becoming Daniel Negreanu's protégé. There are 10 ways to qualify for the 10 seats, and you can find that information at http://www.fullcontactpoker.com.



The winner will get tutored by me, will travel the tour with me on a total freeroll over the course of four $10,000 buy-in events, and will be … my protégé. I'm pretty excited about it.



RB: With your station in life now, I'm sure there are certain opportunities or situations that must blow you away. Care to share some?



DN: Some things are still so surreal to me. I met my childhood hockey idol, Rick Vaive, not long ago, and he asked me for my autograph. The other night, Alex Rodriguez sat down and sweated the big game for a while. These guys are just so enamored with the lifestyle and the amounts of money that are tossed around that we become the celebrities to them. It's pretty unreal.



RB: You've said many times in the past that poker ended up being the perfect outlet for your competitive nature. You weren't big enough to play hockey or basketball, so poker was your way to succeed. Here you are at the top of the poker world; for you, is being where you are as satisfying as, say, being one of the best hockey or basketball players in the world?



DN: I think the public sees the two as very similar. With the way the media has portrayed poker players, and with the amount of media attention we get, the average Joe thinks about our world and says, "Wow, I'd love to do that," in the same breath as he would say he'd love to be a professional athlete. For me, it would have been way more exciting to have been part of a team. I think I would have much rather been an NBA star. They make way more money, anyway.

"Don't even think about it, Barry!"

RB: Like young athletes, there are lots of young players coming up who are trying to chase their dreams and make it in the poker world. You've been through it, experienced many of the pitfalls and perils, and have emerged having accomplished everything you've set out to do. What advice do you have for the gathering poker masses out there?



DN: The biggest pitfall I faced when coming up was maintaining a conception of real life. When I played poker in Toronto for a living as a teenager, I kept a set schedule, playing every day from 9 to 5. When I got to Vegas, my lifestyle got a lot faster, I had a lot of money, and then I got bored. When you have $200,000 in your bank account, why would you go play $5-$10? There's no reason. So, for lots of players, myself included, you begin to lose your drive and motivation, and then, bam, you're broke again, but now at least you have something to do with your time.



Lots of guys who face this problem are guys who don't live a balanced life. Poker can consume you, and if all you do is play poker, all your friends are poker players, and you eat, sleep, and breathe poker, you lose a little bit of yourself. I remember in high school, I could debate with the best of them. I was knowledgeable about politics and very up on things. Fast-forward to age 23, and I would hear other people talking about intelligent things, and I would say, "Yeah, that's right," but I was completely lost. I couldn't even compose a sentence that didn't include the words check-raise, flop, or gutshot. I was so far removed from society and reality. I then realized that I needed to diversify my interests and priorities. You have to have other things to focus energy on, be it reading or taking a pottery class. It's a dangerous obsession to put yourself completely into poker. The one problem is, to become successful, to become great – you have to. The question is whether you are willing to sacrifice to get there.

STACKED Coming soon to PC, Xbox, Playstation2 and the PSP portable entertainment sysytem. http://www.mtv.com/games/holdem/stacked/