Daniel Negreanu Wins One for Crew of Friends, Family, Fans, and Poker Backers Across the Country

It’s been quite a journey for Daniel Negreanu to secure World Series of Poker bracelet No. 7. Since winning his last in 2013, few players have wanted to add another piece of WSOP hardware to their collection more than Negreanu. He lives and breathes the bracelet-chasing action each summer, documenting it all on his poker vlog.

But winning the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship not only checked off a goal of winning the crème de la crème of poker tournaments, but also added the bracelet, $1,178,000, and turned around what had been a pretty dreadful summer from a financial and results standpoint.

One additional addendum might be bringing some smiles to the group of poker fans, friends and family, and everyday joes who have been staking his action over the last few years. Negreanu, 49, had a deep rail of about 150 fans cheering him on and 30-45 lingered about a half-hour to soak up the celebration. The crowds included his wife Amanda, longtime personal assistant Patty Landis, and friend and vlog producer Christian Sanchez.

“The people that watch the vlog or buy pieces of me on PokerStake, they sort of live and die with the same things that I have,” he told PokerGO. “For me, it's nice to be able to share that joy not just with those people that bought a little piece, but also those that watch and those that stayed all this time to see it all happen in the end.

“Normally, I'm just a lone wolf and I just want to do my own thing and focus because I have this weird thing where I don't want to burden people,” he says. “I don't want you to sit here for eight hours and watch a final table, but I could tell that they wanted to be here. That thought never crossed my mind. The people that were here, I know that they were here because they wanted to.”

Reaching the Finish Line

In the almost 11 years since Negreanu won a bracelet at the WSOP Europe, there have been numerous final table appearances as well as three runner-up finishes and six thirds. That résumé also includes an 11th- place finish in the WSOP Main Event in 2015 for $526,778 and massive wins in other major tournaments like the Super High Roller Bowl win in 2022 for $3,312,000.

But that bracelet win just seemed to elude him over the last decade-plus. Not anymore. What was going through his head after rallying from a 3-to-2 chip deficit when heads-up play began against Bryce Yockey (runner-up for $768,467)? Was it sheer joy? Or simply relief at finally making it happen?

“Both actually,” he said. "Relief first … because it's been so long. When you start to see everybody else winning five, winning six, and you've become a has-been in the conversation. Where it's like everyone has six now. So to have seven, that puts you in a new tier, with John Hennigan, and on my way back to where I feel like I'm supposed to be in the 10-11 range.

“Obviously this one is special, but I wouldn't want to relive all the second-place finishes that I had. It felt like it was like 10 in a row. And the anxiety and stress, just to be over it – and to get all the chips in the end, win the all-ins, it’s just a massive relief.”

Negreanu now has $52,700,000 in live tournament winnings, according to TheHendonMob.com, and sits seventh on the all-time money list. He also slides into first place on the PokerGO Tour (PGT) leaderboard, about 300 points ahead of Jeremy Ausmus. His wife Amanda may speak for many in his crew about what the win meant for them.

“I was choked up and I was sweating all over my entire body,” she said. “I was so happy. He deserves it more than anybody.”

Landis also added: “I literally got goosebumps. I felt it in my bones. He was going to win this event – so I’m beyond happy and it’s well-deserved.”

Winning the Big One

As far as Negreanu is concerned, only scoring a WSOP Main Event title would be bigger than winning the PPC. He battled a stacked final table that also included Chris Brewer (third for $519,158), Dylan Smith (fourth for $363,914), and David Benyamine (fifth for $265,054). Ausmus also took sixth for $200,896

and Phil Ivey finished seventh for $158,719). The victory came after brushing up on some of the finer points of mixed-game play.

“As far as the games that I love to play, these are it,” he said. “I love mixed games, I always have been more of a mixed game specialist that also can play no limit hold'em and PLO. I remember actually just watching some of the great players and realized there's some things I can improve upon. They're just being a little sharper in some spots. So I came into this tournament saying, ‘Okay, let's be really sharp, and be really thoughtful, and not just like, ‘well, you have to call here.’ No, think deeply. And I did that. I think every time I did go in the tank, for the most part, I think I made the right decision.”

The PPC is often associated with Chip Reese, who won the inaugural event in 2006 for $1.7 million. At the time, the tournament was a $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. After Reese’s death in 2007, the series began giving away a trophy in his memory in the PPC for several years.

Negreanu was part of a WSOP committee that helped create the event at the time. With no limit hold’em tournaments drawing huge fields, the goal was to create a tournament that would attract some of the game’s best with some notables usually making the final table. Reese was considered one of the best players in the world at the time and now winning an event associated with him as well as other stellar player to win, such as Michael Mizrachi, Fredy Deeb, Brian Rast, John Hennigan, Daniel Cates, and others, means a lot and has made things come full circle.

“The first one was unbelievable,” he said. “You had Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and the like, and it was just so special. The format was a little different then, you played HORSE and then no limit at the final table. I grew up playing mixed cash games, and it's like you get respected within that community when you can win this one. This isn't like some dinky little super turbo. This is the grind.”

Five days of play left Negreanu “wrecked,” he said, and he planned to stick to his routine of getting rest yet still grinding away at the tables. In a YouTube video at the beginning of the year, he outlined his plan to only play when he’s rested and ready with a renewed focus on the game. That seems to be paying off. The win moved Negreanu into the top spot in WSOP earnings, moving past Antonio Esfandiari with almost $22.5 million.

“I didn't even know that,” he said after learning of that statistic. “That's pretty cool. I love video games and this is my opportunity to be the player in video games. So every sort of stats or things like that that I can elevate, whether it's PGT points, bracelets, player of the years, it's all that stuff. That's all super fun to me. So to see my name on top of the all-time WSOP winnings, that's pretty special.”

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