Poker Stories: Daniel Negreanu’s World Series of Poker

On his popular YouTube channel, poker legend Daniel Negreanu (AKA D Negs, AKA Kid Poker) is documenting every single day of his World Series of Poker (WSOP) journey for us. This Vlog is a great opportunity to see the inside scoop in the life of one of the most successful and preeminent poker pros of all time.

Just like with many things in poker, it’s all about the ups and the downs.

Photo: pokernews

Loss and Rage

On Day 25 of the WSOP, Negreanu is playing in day 2 of a $250,000 buy-in tournament. Despite having a short stack, he has a glimmer of hope as he busts out another short stack and doubles up. However, once he gets it all-in against a big stack, he gets busted and is out of the money. In his rage, he throws his selfie stick at the floor, breaking it into pieces.

“I’ve reached the point…” he says. “It’s pure pain.”

An hour or two later in the so-called “steam room” where he goes to cool off, he explains that he may be down over $1 million dollars so far this WSOP, but that he’s going to keep playing. “I don’t have the quit gene,” he explains. “I don’t give up.”

After a creamy Napoleon to “eat away the pain” and addressing the haters on Twitter who want to flame him for his outburst of passion, he picks himself up to buy into another tournament later that evening.

Hanging with the Pros

Despite these moments of torment, Negreanu overall seems to have a really good time at the poker tournament, especially when he’s hanging out with other poker legends. The evening after his big bust, he runs into Scotty Nyugen, a pro famous for his "You call, it's gonna be all over baby!" table talk. Negreanu says, “Wow, this guy is old school! Tell me, what does GTO stand for?” Scotty figures that GT must stand for “good times” but can’t figure out the O.

He then meets up with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and spends some time admiring how black his beard is.

On another day of the tournament, he runs into Phil "The Poker Brat" Hellmuth and they have a laugh about who gets more upset at losing and say that they hope to run into each other at the final table of the multi-table tournament that they’re playing. He also enjoys a laugh with Jennifer Harman and other poker pros.

Negreanu is a born competitor, and he is driven to win. At the same time, he shows the grit of a true poker pro by rolling with the punches, picking himself up, and continuing to enjoy the game he loves with the community that he’s a part of. It’s hard to ask for more.