Canadian born Daniel Negreanu
is one of the new breed of poker professional, combining aggressive play with a small-pot approach,
Negreanu has quickly become one of the leading prize winners on the World Poker tour as well as a
media-savvy "poker personality".
Negreanu dropped out of high-school just a single credit short of his graduation to become a poker pro. Though he found success in local charity tournaments and traveling poker events his success in Vegas did not come before suffering the setback of losing his entire bankroll. This lesson obviously proved valuable for Negreanu who returned to Canada to rebuild before his breakthrough as a poker professional in 1997.
This initial success came in the form of winning 2 events at the 1997 "World Poker Finals" at the Foxwoods Casino. In addition to the prize money of over $130,000 Negreanu was voted "all round player of the year". The next year in 1998 Negreanu made poker history by becoming the youngest player ever to win a World Series of Poker bracelet – in the $2,000 pot-limit Holdem event. This was the first of 3 WSOP bracelets, the others being in the 2003 "SHOE" event and the 2004 $1000 Fixed-Limit Holdem event. Negreanu also achieved an impressive 11th place in the main event $10,000 buy-in no-limit Holdem tournament in 2001.
Daniel Negreanu"s biggest tournament cashes have been on the World Poker Tour. In 2004 he won 2 major events – the 5-Diamond Classic for $1.7 Million and the Borgata Poker Open for $1.1 Million. This success, along with several other final tables and cashes, have catapulted Negreanu to the media spotlight – as well as to the leader board for all time money winners on the World Poker Tour.
In addition to his tournament successes Negreanu plays cash game poker at the very highest levels. He is a regular participant in the "big game" held at Bobbie"s Room in the Bellagio Casino. In this game the crème of the world"s poker pros meet to play mixed poker games with blinds of $4k / $8k. Negreanu has also been a regular participant in the televised show "High Stakes Poker" playing some huge pots with the likes of Gus Hansen and Doyle Brunson.
Negreanu has used his media profile to launch a variety of business ventures. In addition to his own book and video-game, he contributes to training videos and is now a part of the Poker Stars team of professional players – playing at this site under the name "Kid Poker".