Editor's note: Card Player Europe Bureau Chief Rolf Slotboom has read just about every poker book available, and in this series of columns, he analyzes the work of several poker authors, one at a time. He analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of both the person and his products - whether it's books, DVDs, or just articles. Extensive reviews and ratings of individual books and DVDs can be found on Rolf's site, www.rolfslotboom.com.
Daniel Negreanu seems to be everyone's favorite. He is well-liked and respected by the best players in the world, but he is also highly popular among the general public. People love the open, seemingly carefree way that he does things. TV viewers like his table chat and friendly banter, while on Internet forums, Daniel receives praise for talking so openly about his mistakes, his doubts, and his weaknesses. And his "stand-up comedy" imitations of other pros have been watched over and over again on sites like YouTube. Heck, they have made even yours truly laugh - and that is quite an accomplishment, I can tell you.
Also, as a writer, the Canadian is very popular. His columns almost always include top-notch strategic discussion, yet all of it is made easy to digest by a pleasant writing style that makes you feel like you really know him - just as if you're his best friend.
What is his strategy all about? Well, basically, he plays a classic example of what is called "small-ball poker." He gets involved in many pots and sees many flops (especially in position), but usually tries to manipulate the pot size in such a manner that it remains small enough so that people cannot get all in in one or two moves. By keeping a pot fairly small, Daniel gives himself maximum room to try to outplay the opposition, and as a result, he often plays their cards rather than his own. Clearly, he puts a lot of emphasis on his ability to read people. Yet, part of this same strategy is simply having fun, and making sure that his
opponents also have fun and like him - so that, possibly, they won't mind losing a pot to him as much as they would mind against others.
One of the most successful tournament players in the world, and at the same time a well-respected cash-game player, Negreanu is definitely among my favorite poker authors - especially because he seems to hold little back with regard to his thought processes and reasons why he made or did not make certain decisions. This makes him a great person from whom to learn. For me personally, it is even more interesting to read his material, for the simple reason that he excels in areas of the game in which I could use improvement. I would say that a large part of my edge in poker comes from my excellent
preflop decisions - and this means that focusing on someone who excels in post-flop play is an excellent way to make my game better and more complete.
Daniel's regular column in
Card Player is a must-read for everyone who is serious about playing poker at the highest level. At the same time, he maintains a frequently updated blog at www.fullcontactpoker.com, where you can find his recent tournament performances or the ups and downs in his personal life. Quite frankly, it surprises me that someone who is so successful
playing poker still finds the time and has the discipline to come up with such good writing material.
For instance, the triple-draw section that he wrote for
Super System II, "the most anticipated book in the history of poker," is very good and in-depth. From the same publisher (Cardoza) comes another book that I very much look forward to reading:
Daniel Negreanu's Power Hold'em Strategy. However, possibly because of all of his (commercial) activities, the release of this book has been postponed a few times already. A book that he
has released fairly recently is
Hold'em Wisdom for All Players, a simple book consisting of 50 short chapters/articles, each based on one tip that is supposed to improve your overall game. Just as is the case with other "basic" books written by world-class players (I am certain that you can think of one or two titles that fit this category), I am not exactly thrilled by it. Because top players rarely play by the book and often base their decisions on quality reads or intangible factors such as "feel," they often find it hard to dummy down and come up with a strategic plan that will
truly help players who are way below their level of thinking. So, in this book, Daniel provides a lot of basic advice in the form of one-liners - advice that doesn't add much, and that has been given many times before by many different authors. Only a few times in the book does Daniel expand a bit on his
own strategy. But, for instance, his "expert" analysis of how to play A-K, good as it is, simply doesn't fit well within the scope of this book. This is because readers will probably play in fast, "crapshoot" events with shallow money, not in the slow-paced, deep-money freezeout tournaments to which Daniel is referring.
So, when the Canadian simply shares his insights on how to play the high-stakes games against top players, and shares his advanced thought processes in some interesting hands - I'm his number-one fan. However, when he comes up with some fluff material or a book that looks like it was completed in just a week or two, knowing that it will sell well simply because it has his face on the cover - I don't like it nearly as much.
Here's one final thing: A lot of famous players start performing worse and losing either their touch or their focus once they become very high-profile. That is, once their faces are in every magazine, and once they get paid for just about anything and get praise wherever they go, they sometimes start losing the intensity and true will to keep performing at the highest level. Negreanu's results, on the other hand, don't seem to suffer much from his outside activities, if at all - and this is a great achievement on his part.
About the Author
Strengths: High-class and very advanced "small-ball" approach, based on expert reads
Weaknesses: This is an approach that is very hard to teach. New players who try to copy this approach probably will find that they may not be playing with an edge at all; instead, they simply are seeing too many flops with sub-par hands.
Best piece: The triple-draw chapter in
Super System II, and also his
Card Player columns
Worst piece:
Hold'em Wisdom for All Players
Additional information: At the time of this writing, Daniel is a three-time
World Series of Poker champion, and he also was the
WSOP 2004 Player of the Year. He has a very popular regular column in
Card Player, and an equally popular, frequently updated blog at www.fullcontactpoker.com.
Next issue: Ed Miller.
Rolf Slotboom is a longtime professional, specializing in limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, and, more recently, no-limit hold'em ring games. He is the co-author of Hold'em on the Come, the author of the upcoming book Pot-Limit Omaha My Way, the commentator for the Eurosport EPT broadcasts, and the Card Player Europe bureau chief. He is the semiofficial 2005 Dutch Champion, and maintains his own site at www.rolfslotboom.com.
