Daniel Negreanu Biography

Daniel Negreanu BiographyDaniel Negreanu is one of the best poker tournament players of all time.  He has over 9 million dollars in lifetime tournament winnings including four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour event wins.

Daniel Negreanu Biography

Negreanu was born in Ontario, Canada on July 24th, 1974. His parents Annie and Constantin Negranu left the Communist regime of Romania in 1967 to resettle in Canada.  When he was a child, Daniel dreamed of becoming an actor or comedian and at 15 he learned how to play poker.  By 16 years old, he was hustling pool, playing cards and sportsbetting for extra money.  He dropped out of high school just a few credits short of graduating and moved to Toronto. He began playing full time at local charity casinos and illegal games around the city.

In Toronto, he met and began dating Evelyn Ng, who would go on to become a famous professional poker player also.  After building his bankroll playing in local poker games, Daniel decided to try his luck and move to Las Vegas after turning 21 to fulfill his dream of becoming a professional poker player.

Daniel Negreanu’s Poker Career

But Las Vegas didn’t treat him very well.  Negreanu went broke quickly and had to move back to Toronto to nurse his bankroll back to health.  In 1997 Daniel Negranu won two events at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods where he earned $55,064 and was named the tournament’s best all-around player.  This started a run of tournament finishes that included four WSOP wins and 2 WPT wins (as well as 12 final tables).  Daniel was named CardPlayer Magazine’s 2004 poker player of the year and won the best all-around player at that year’s World Series of Poker as well.  To date, Daniel Negreanu has won more than $9,700,000 in tournaments around the globe.

Daniel Negreanu’s Biggest Tournament Wins

Daniel has won many high-profile, big-dollar tournaments over his poker career.  Here are some his biggest:

  • $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em, 1998 WSOP ($169,460)
  • $7,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em Event, 1999 U.S. Poker Championship
  • $2,000 S.H.O.E., 2003 WSOP ($100,440)
  • $2,000 Limit Hold’em, 2004 WSOP ($169,100)
  • $10,000 No Limit Hold’em, 2004 Championship Poker at the Plaza ($310,000)
  • $10,000 No Limit Hold’em, WPT 2004 Bogota Poker Open ($1,117,400)
  • $15,000 No Limit Hold’em, WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic ($1,795,218)
  • $10,000 No Limit Hold’em, 2006 Jack Binion WSOP Circuit Event ($755,525.00)
  • $2,000 Limit Hold’em, 2008 WSOP ($204,874)

Daniel Negranu’s Online Poker Play

In 2005, Daniel opened his own poker room called Full Contact Poker where he played under the name “Kid Poker”.  It never really got going and hemorrhaged money until PokerStars bought it out in June 2007.  Daniel signed a contract with PokerStars, joining Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and many other professional poker players as a member of Team PokerStars.  He plays as “KidPoker” at PokerStars.

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