World Series Of Poker Europe: Daniel NegreanuDaniel Negreanu Speaks Positively About Falling Short of the Finish Line |
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If the fans on the rail could have voted for a winner, then Daniel Negreanu would be showing off a shiny new bracelet in the bar of the Empire casino right now. Back to reality, though, and a disappointed Negreanu could only struggle his way to fifth place, for £217,200, in today's World Series of Poker Europe main event, presented by Betfair, after failing to really pick up a hand all day long. The end came when the Russian freight train Stanislaw Alekhin put Negreanu all in from the small blind with J-J. Negreanu had the relatively monstrous A-9, but failed to land an ace on the board, despite the crowd willing it all the way.
Card Player caught up with him to discuss his day and found a remarkably upbeat “Kid Poker,” who was feeling great about his game after a WSOPE, in which he cashed in three of the four events.
Shane Gittes: Can you tell us about how your final table played out? It seemed like it was just one of those days for you where nothing seemed to work out.
Daniel Negreanu: Well, I wasn't tired. I was really focused, I tried my best, and it was a tough table. I never really got any cards before the flop, and when I did I wasn't catching flops, and with the way I play I need to hit flops. Nothing seemed to go my way. I hung in as long as I could. I could have gone broke many times, but it's not really my style. I try to get my money in really good, and I found a situation at the end where, in the long run, not only am I going to have the best hand, but I am going to win that pot a lot of the times against the range that he is going to raise with. It was just unlucky that he had jacks and I had A-9. When I saw A-9, I thought “Gotcha!” When I saw he had jacks, I thought “That's not fair!”
SG: How did having John Juanda, the aggressive chip leader, on your left affect your play?
DN: It wasn't so much that John was on my left, it was more that I didn't get any hands at all that affected my plans. I expected John to reraise me a fair bit. But, for the most part, he had actual hands and wasn't just doing it with air. I tried once early to make a play at him. He raised me, and I called with Q
10. The flop was A-J-3, and I called, planning to bluff the turn if he checked or, better yet, hit a king, which would have been nice. But then he bet the turn and I had to throw that away, as well. I had some plans for this table, and if I would have had some chips, I could have implemented it a little better. But once I got short, I was left waiting.
SG: There was a big hand you played early on against Stanislav Alekhin where you min-raised the flop and forced him to fold the turn. What happened there?
DN: I had pocket kings. I slow-played the hand; that was one of the traps I was trying to set. I think he made a good laydown there. I think he had a pair. In hindsight, I think I should have raised more on the flop. Preflop, I smooth-called on the button, and both John Juanda and Bengt Sonnert looked like they wanted to raise, so I was just thinking “Yes!” before they eventually folded. In the end, I got 200,000 out of Stanislav, but I really could have used a little bit more.
SG: You cashed in three out of the four events in this year's WSOPE. Obviously, that is a tremendous record, but is it tinged with disappointment in that you were a big chip leader in the first event, and this one too, but failed to win another bracelet?
DN: I told a close friend of mine that I am going to start playing really well and that I was going to start doing some damage. It started at the EPT Barcelona where, even though I went out on the first day, I felt like “Wow, I played really good.” I just got it, I was so in the zone. I didn't win one of the tournaments here, but I was deep in every one, and if I had had the luck in the later stages, then I would have. It was a consistent effort, and I feel like it's a stepping stone for me for the next rush of tournaments.
I think I have the ideal approach to playing tournaments and that you will see me continuously deep unless something bad happens. I now feel that I am playing like I teach. I was thinking, “I teach people to play like that. Why don't I play like that myself'?” I'm playing more like I teach and really being careful, and I know the results are there. It's basically paying attention that is the key. I started paying attention again, picking up tells and things like that.
I don't look at this week and see that I had a 14th, a 24th,and a fifth as a disappointment — I see it as a tremendous accomplishment. I played four tournaments and got really deep in three of them. The point is that when you get deep consistently, you feel more confident doing it. My confidence is very high right now, despite running into a buzz-saw of top players at this table.
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