BLOG – Daniel Negreanu graduates from the old school

BLOG – Daniel Negreanu graduates from the old school

Monday, 29 March 2010

Negreanu is a cash game fish. That’s the view of almost every online poker player in the world, most of whom have seen him consistently destroyed, outmanoeuvred and outdrawn on GSN’s High Stakes Poker.

The game of No-Limit Hold ‘em has moved on immensely in the past few years and has become one of the toughest games to regularly beat online. Many noted pros of the 1990s and early 2000s have been left behind as a veritable plethora of young men are taking the game to new levels – naming no names, Mr. Hellmuth.


Of course, there are those that have kept up – naming no names, Mr. Ivey. However, the general consensus of the online poker community is that Daniel Negreanu, while a beast in tournaments and mixed games, can’t hold his own in NL cash.


Well, Kid Poker is trying to prove them wrong. Recently he has been playing regularly – albeit one table at a time – at the $100/$200 games on PokerStars. These games house some of the best players in the world including Cole “CTS” South and PokerStars online pro nanonoko. Negreanu feels his game is behind and wants to catch up.


“I've played over 60 hours online at PokerStars.com this month the most I've ever put in in a month, and the month isn't quite over yet,” he wrote. “I've been playing almost exclusively in the $100-$200 no limit hold'em 6max games against some of the top online poker players in the world. It's been really tough making the adjustment, but I'm very pleased with my progress and my learning curve as I mentioned in my last blog.


“I started off on fire, winning $200,000, but since then I've been on a losing streak and lost back about $180,000 of it. I'm still barely ahead, but these swings are pretty typical at these limits I guess. The interesting thing is that I think I've learned a lot more during the downswing than I did while I was running good and winning.”


Now, many people are morons. These morons are saying that Negreanu will never beat these games and that he couldn’t even beat mid-stakes in the current climate. Male bovine excrement.


Negreanu is one of the best poker players in the world, who will be the first to admit that his NL cash game is sub-par. However, he is trying actively to improve – dropping down to $5/$10 to learn multi-tabling and putting in a lot of time analysing hands. If I spent enough time working on my game and putting in the hands I could beat the high stakes games – he’s Daniel Negreanu, for Christ’s sake!


People saying he’s a cash game fish based on the few hands we’ve seen on High Stakes Poker are crazy. No one plays a hand perfectly, not even Ivey – remember when he mucked the winning flush?


Here’s what will happen – Negreanu will keep playing, and for now probably lose. However, give him a few months and he’ll start breaking even, then winning. After that he’ll be multi-tabling and still winning. He’ll have graduated from Old School Poker and be fully enrolled in the online game. Mark my words.


He has the money, the time and the dedication to invest hours and hundreds of thousands to become a winner. The fact that he can sit back, live off the interest from his $13m tournament earnings and PokerStars sponsorship and never play another hand in his life and yet he’s grinding and working on his game is one of the most admirable things I’ve heard from any pro.
Those who belittle him for trying to beat the online games would do well to take a leaf out of his book.



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