Negreanu's Protégé Brian Fidler Takes Second at WSOP Lake Tahoe

At the end of April, Brian Fidler became Daniel Negreanu's "protégé" by winning FullContactPoker.com's promotional tournament that hundreds of players tried to qualify for in the first several months of this year.

It seems like the lessons are paying off. Fidler just finished second at the World Series of Poker circuit event that took place at Harrah's Lake Tahoe this month and wrapped up yesterday. Fidler won $206,800 for his play. He came into the final table as the chip leader and the tournament attracted 110 players. Clint Baskin won the event and its $372,240 prize.

Before the final table began, Negreanu had this to say about Fidler:

"Brian has shown steady improvement ever since he became my protégé. He's got the skills and the confidence to win today's final table and, with the right cards, there's no doubt that he can take down this tournament."

Fidler, a 27-year-old hedge fund manager from Derby, Conn., played $2-$4 no limit and $5-$10 limit ring games and usually bought in for between $20 and $50 in the multi-table tournaments. In less than two months, he went from playing these online games to being at the final table that was filmed for broadcast by ESPN. And he's only been working with Negreanu for seven weeks.

The protégé package Fidler won April 30, included four $10,000 buy-ins to major tournaments, travel expenses, a four-month tenure with personal instruction from Negreanu (which includes a private email address to Negreanu for poker questions), and staking by FullContactPoker.com in cash ring games to test his skills (at Negreanu's sole discretion), among other things.

Most Viewed Articles