Daniel Negreanu on the Return of Tom Dwan for Poker After Dark

Daniel Negreanu is the most recognizable poker player on the planet and had a seat at the first new Poker After Dark cash game in six years. But he took second chair for “The return of Tom Dwan” cash game on PokerGO and has a unique perspective Dwan’s career in poker as one of the stalwarts of the industry.

“Dwan is very smart and has a really good feel for how his opponents perceive him,” Negreanu said. “He knows a lot of his daring bluffs have made TV so he’s adjusted really well and still finds a way to get his opponents to pay him off when he has it. I don’t think he’s lost a step or anything like that.”

Dwan’s meteoric rise to the top of poker is something few people understand, Negreanu may be the best person suited to understand what Dwan went through from the eye-of-the-storm perspective.

“I had drinks with him after the show and really like the man he has become,” said Negreanu. “While we walked through the casino he was recognized a lot more than you would think. I appreciated how much we were on the same page in terms of understanding that in poker, the focus should be on making sure that the losing players are enjoying themselves.”

Dwan’s maturation at the table saw him up a good bit over his three days on PAD. He won a made for Hollywood hand against Antonio Esfandiari and Negreanu where Dwan’s pocket aces coolered Esfandiari’s kings and Negreanu correctly laid down queens preflop.

“@TomDwan with aces in a live poker game is just not right.” – @BrokeLivingJRB ?? #PAD pic.twitter.com/mLc0koehVq

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) August 15, 2017

While poker fans drooled over the huge action Negreanu let some personal information slip while Bill Klein was discussing how he chopped his charitable donations to six different Orange County, California children’s charities.

Negreanu purchased a large block of season tickets to the Vegas Golden Knights that he intends to donate to charity for local children and their families in the area.

The game played much bigger than the advertised $100,000 minimum buy-in with approximately $2.3 million on the table Monday night. Even Negreanu, who’s seen just about everything in poker, felt a couple butterflies.

“Since I don’t play cash much anymore it was definitely big enough to make me feel it,” he said. “I remember being nervous going all in against Antonio for my whole stack with ace king and desperately wanting to see his cards hit the muck! They did.”