Daniel Negreanu Background and History

Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu was born on July 26, 1974 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Early life

Daniel Negreanu's parents, Annie and Constantin, moved to Canada from Romania in 1967. When he was just one credit short of graduation, Daniel dropped out of high school and began his life as a rounder playing at the local charity casinos and looking for illegal games around the city. While in Toronto, Daniel met and began dating Evelyn Ng who would also become a well known professional poker player. After building up his bankroll, he left for Las Vegas at the age of 21 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional poker player. However, "The Strip" got the better of him and he was forced to move back home to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll.

Poker career

In 1997 his luck began to change when he won two events at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, earning himself $133,600 as well as being named the tournament's best all-around player. Negreanu followed this triumph in the 1998 World Series of Poker by winning $169,460 at the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event and becoming the youngest WSOP bracelet winner in history — a record he held until 2004.

Over the next few years, he became one of the most successful poker tournament players in history, winning two World Poker Tour (WPT) events, another two World Series bracelets, and appearing at 11 final tables. He was also named the World Series of Poker player of the year in 2004.

Upon opening, the Wynn Las Vegas resort recruited him as their "Poker Ambassador" to play for any stake in their poker room. The arrangement lasted until October 2005 when he opted out because it was restricting his ability to play for high stakes outside the Wynn. However, in December 2005 he started his own online poker cardroom "skin" site on his official site, Full Contact Poker, which also includes his blog and a variety of poker forums. He plays at his cardroom under the screen name "KidPoker". In 2006 he used Full Contact Poker to launch a campaign for a Protege, who Daniel would attempt to mold into a world-class live tournament poker player. In addition, he would buy the Protege in to four $10,000 buy-in events. Daniel's first Protege was Brian Fidler.

Daniel has been a regular at the big game in Bobbys Room, Bellagio, during the last years. He is a self-admitted action junkie that always seeks new challenges and sets high goals for himself, not only at the poker table but also on the golf course. He, unlike many other players, are very out spoken about his poker results and regulary posts updates in the forums at the Full Contact Poker website.

Some of Negreanu’s success is often attributed to his ability to read opponents. When asked about this skill, Negreanu explains the most important aspect he employs is observing what hands his opponents play and how capable they are of playing them.

He has written over 100 articles for CardPlayer Magazine and contributed to Doyle Brunson's Super System II. He has tutored on the web as part of Poker School Online and also personally given lessons to celebrities like Tobey Maguire. In addition, it was announced in early 2006 that Negreanu had assembled a team of "Superstar Contributors" to write a book called "Daniel Negreanu's Power Hold'em Strategy". Modeled after Brunson's "Super/System", the book delves into every aspect of hold'em, and is due to be released in early 2007.

Negreanu's other televised poker appearances include Late Night Poker, Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker and Ultimate Poker Challenge (as a commentator and stand-in host.) He also appeared in the third season of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. In January 2007, Negreanu will appear in the Fox Reality original series Rob and Amber: Against the Odds in which he will mentor reality television personality Rob Mariano in his bid to become a professional poker player.

Negreanu was named "Favorite Poker Player" at the Card Player, Player of the Year Awards Gala in February 2006.

Negreanu is also featured in the 2006 poker video game "Stacked with Daniel Negreanu," providing tips and hints as to how to play effectively.


Personal life

On August 19, 2005 he married Lori Lin Weber and the two reside in Las Vegas, Nevada. Negreanu is easy to spot in a tournament, almost always wearing a hockey jersey and likes to listen to relaxing music like oceanwaves and pan on headphones which he says relaxes him so he can win. His surname is pronounced "Neg-rah-noo" but he is not bothered about how others choose to pronounce it.

Daniel is a very open person that likes to talk about his personal life. He has a blog at Full Contact Poker where he posts his thoughts and feelings about different things in life, the poker world and everything.

Daniel is a vegetarian, and is well-known for eating healthy vegetarian meals at tournaments, which are commonly prepared by his mother. Daniel has also been known to enjoy many sushi restaurants in Las Vegas.