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Who Is Daniel Negreanu?

It’s hard to be a televised poker fan and not have heard of Daniel Negreanu. “Kid Poker,” the Canadian tournament poker sensation, is ubiquitous on the poker circuit. He appears in virtually every televised poker tournament, does commentary, has a blog, and writes articles on poker as well. But who is Daniel Negreanu?

Daniel Negreanu is quite simply one of the most successful tournament poker players in the world. Born in 1974 in Toronto, Canada, he quickly fell in love with the hustler’s life, winning money at local pool halls rather than worrying about his education. It was here that he met Evelyn Ng, who would also become a professional poker player and with whom Daniel had a long and well publicized romance.

Daniel’s career really took off in 1998, when he won the $2000 pot limit Texas holdem event at the World Series of Poker, making him the youngest bracelet winner at the time (in the modern era, with online poker sites allowing young Internet players to become poker experts well before the legal casino gambling age of 21, Daniel’s record has been shattered, and it is only a matter of time before the youngest bracelet winner is aged 21 years plus however many hours it takes him to complete the tournament).

Daniel never looked back after that, winning event after event, including the 1999 United States Poker championship and an eleventh place finish in the 2001 World Series of Poker main event, but it was the World Poker Tour that really allowed Daniel to shine.

With his youthful good looks, brash but endearing attitude, sharp wit, and unquestioned poker skill, Daniel was perfectly matched for the exposure that the World Poker Tour would provide. He finished 7th in the 2003 Grand Prix de Paris, just short of the television table, but he would rarely fall short after that. Daniel finished 3rd in the 2004 PokerStars Caribbean adventure, 2nd in the PartyPoker million that year, and capped it with wins at the Borgata Poker Open and the Five Diamond Classic, building his fan base all the way.

Daniel no doubt was a careful student of Phil Hellmuth, who was not only a master of poker, but a master of self promotion. Daniel has capitalized on his appeal by sponsoring his own online poker site, FullContactPoker.com, putting his name on a poker video game, spreading his personal philosophy on life and poker in his own blog, doing a stint as the “house champ” at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, sponsoring a “protégé” tournament where the winner gets him as a mentor, and generally making Daniel Negreanu as much a brand name as a guy who can play great poker. Today he’s part the Poker Stars Team of tournament professionals.

If you don’t feel like you know Daniel Negreanu yet, just flip on your television and tune in to any poker show. Before long, you just might decide you have a new best friend, and one who’s a poker whiz to boot.

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