In information that may make anybody who adopted poker within the 2000s really feel outdated, Daniel Negreanu turned 50 years outdated on Friday.
The poker legend often known as “Child Poker” for the previous quarter century can in all probability go forward and retire that moniker. He is now formally eligible to compete within the World Collection of Poker (WSOP) Seniors occasion subsequent summer season. And at some eating places, he qualifies for a senior low cost, offered they provide vegan choices in fact.
Poker Star Nonetheless Going Sturdy
Negreanu started taking part in poker within the mid-Nineteen Nineties in Canada. He’d transfer to Las Vegas in his 20’s, and the remaining is historical past. The half-century-old poker professional gained his first poker match in 1997, his first WSOP bracelet in 1998, and scored his first main on-line poker web site sponsorship (PokerStars) in 2007.
Occasions have modified since that period. Negreanu is now a seven-time bracelet winner, a U.S. citizen, a GGPoker ambassador, and has been a member of the Poker Corridor of Fame since 2014. One factor that hasn’t modified for the reason that “Child Poker” days is that he stays arguably the preferred participant within the sport.
Whereas Negreanu has had his ups and downs in match poker the previous three years — he simply completed off his third straight shedding WSOP and is down round $2 million on the Collection over that span — he gained his seventh bracelet this summer season, ending an 11-year drought. And he did it in a match he is all the time dreamed of successful — the $50,000 Poker Gamers Championship.
Following an enormous shedding yr in 2023, Negreanu vowed adjustments to his sport in December. Though he booked a six-figure deficit on the 2024 WSOP, the second half of his fiftieth yr on this planet has gone fairly properly general in tournaments. He gained two PokerGO Tour excessive rollers pre-WSOP, and reached 11 remaining tables from January to Could, and he did that with out grinding tournaments day after day.
Not the Solely Poker Legend to Hit a Birthday Milestone
There was one other poker legend who lately celebrated a milestone birthday. Nicely, truly, Phil Hellmuth celebrated his sixtieth birthday two months early.
Hellmuth traveled to Las Vegas from his Northern California dwelling in early Could for some birthday shenanigans together with his rich investor and superstar associates, solely his birthday was on July 16. We have heard of individuals celebrating a Birthday Week, however not a Birthday Two-Month.
Like Hellmuth, Negreanu will doubtless proceed grinding full WSOP schedules into his 60’s, and who is aware of, perhaps he’ll play poker deep into his 80’s like Doyle Brunson did. However not like Hellmuth, to our information at the very least, Negreanu did not rejoice his milestone birthday months prematurely with a bunch of billionaires.
Completely happy fiftieth birthday, “DNegs!”
