Daniel Negreanu "Kid Poker"

Daniel Negreanu earned the Nick-name "Kid Poker" when he won the bracelet in Texas Holdem in 1998 and became the youngest champion in the history of the WSOP at the age of 23.

Daniel Negreanu (pronounced "Ne GRAH new") is among the lucky few who discover their calling early on in life. Daniel was always very competitive. He started playing in tournaments - snooker tournaments - at the age of 14. It was through snooker that he discovered poker. The rest, as they say, is history.

After trying his hand at odd-jobs, Daniel discovered that he enjoyed playing poker more than anything else. Soon he would beat people twice his age at a game of poker any time. The life of a gambler was his calling and he left high school to take up poker as a life-time career.

People first noticed Daniel in 1997 when he won back-to-back Limit Hold’em games at Foxwoods, an achievement that got him the best all-around player award. Daniel still remembers with fondness those heady days at Foxwoods.

It was in 1998 at the annual WSOP jamboree at Horseshoe that Daniel really forged ahead. With a win in the Hold’em Pot Limit, picking up $169,460 in the process, the boy from Canada landed firmly in the limelight.

Living in Toronto limited his aspirations, so at the age of 21, Daniel moved to Las Vegas to further his dreams. However, Las Vegas wanted to teach Daniel all the basics of the game before welcoming him with open arms. So, Daniel would go brokewhile.

More than his poker play, it was his cherubic face and easy-going personality that made him an instant hit with the crowds. Thankfully, both the cherubic face and the easy-going personality are still intact, and have not been lost with the fame and riches that have subsequently come to Daniel’s doorstep.

After finishing 11th in Nolan Dalla’s 1998 Player of the Year Standings, Daniel's success continued. A series of wins: in the $300 limit Hold’em event at the L.A. Poker Classic, $500 limit Hold’em at the California State Poker Championship, $200 stud/Hold’em at the Orleans Open in the same year pushed Daniel to somewhere at the top of the heap.

1999 brought a fast-paced series of wins at major tournaments, establishing Daniel Negreanu as a serious contender for the top rank. Then, in 2000, came the romance that broke him at both the personal and financial levels. As Daniel candidly admits in his musings at Full Contact Poker, his personal website, he "broke all the million rules" he had accumulated in seven years of playing poker professionally, thanks to the relationship.

Daniel has definitely moved past that heartbreak, and recently Daniel got married and he laments that his new wife, Lori, will have to share him with his professional commitments, such as TV shows, interviews, DVD's, writing, working on FullContactPoker.com, STACKS and the Challenge Matches.

With three WSOP bracelets, two WPT titles, and 36+ worldwide wins - since his first win in 1998, Daniel Negreanu has won more poker tournaments than any other player - and still only in his early thirties, Daniel has lots of fuel and energy and wits about him to scale further heights. He has been named 2004 Player of the Year by Card Player Magazine and by ESPN, the 2004 Champion Player of the Year and the 2004-2005 WPT Player of the Year. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy - really!

While writing this, I admit I have struggled with Daniel's sirname, and made not a few correction while editing. I'm not alone, there are many common mispellings of Kid Poker's name, they are: Negreaunu, Negrenu, Negreneu, Negreneau, Negranu, Nagraneu, Negraneau. Using an easy pneumonic: The order of the vowels is a-e-a-u = An Early Ace is Usefull.