WSOP Poker Celebrity Hand That Changed Daniel Negreanu's Life
WSOP Poker Celebrities Today, Daniel Negreanu is widely touted as one of the most popular players in Texas Hold'em right now.
Dan Cow has appeared in movies, televised poker games, podcasts, radio shows and live broadcasts, and has played at top poker tables for over 20 years. With hundreds of thousands of followers on his social media channels alone, Dan Niu is perhaps the most popular mainstream player in Texas Hold'em.
Back in 1999, Dan Niu was still a nobody. He had never played poker on TV, so the US Poker Championship final in Atlantic City was his first time in the spotlight.
In a heads-up with John Bonetti, Dan Niu is about to play the hand that will change his life.
The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves
Back in December 1999, when the world was terrified by the millennium bug (only two weeks before the new millennium), Dan Niu was making a splash at the American Championship of Poker. A year ago, Dan had won his bracelet at Foxwoods, Atlantic City and Las Vegas at the WSOP.
Now is the big moment – the final table appearance on TV for the first time.
“I was making a name for myself, and in 1999, in the televised final, I went from young rookie to established threat to a true pro on the tour,” he described.
There was no full poker coverage today in 1999. Players have only a few forums in their infancy to spread their skills. This makes the biggest tournaments all the more important. There were only two 10K events at the time – the WSOP Main Event and the US Poker Championship. Along the way, Dan Niu made it to the final two strong teams, facing off against someone he thought was his mentor.
“I was 25 years old, a young guy on the field,” Dan Niu said. “I traveled on the poker circuit and knew John Bonetti; he was a big star at the time. I had a crush on him. He had a serious air, but he was actually a joker and always had a good time .”
This is Dan Niu's first time on TV, and he looks very temperamental. He was introduced to the poker world on ESPN in what he called his “Andre Agassi tracksuit” and styled it with earrings and a Nike hat. This is the image of Dan Niu in the 20th century.
“I always wear tracksuits to races, and I have a small fanny pack for my wallet, room keys, playing card notes. Oddly enough, I'm so comfortable when I'm on camera. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be an actor. I wasn't nervous. I remember it being weird.”
Challenge to seniors
Dan Niu has already made a name for himself among his poker peers by winning his first bracelet in 1998, but winning a major tournament on TV would mark a major breakthrough. The final table went well and Dan Niu eliminated third-placed Jason Viriyayuthakorn to take the game to heads-up. Against Bonetti, however, things didn't go as planned.
“I'm starting to feel like I'm underdog against him. I feel like he's playing better than me. You can tell that sometimes; the guy won all the pots in the trenches and I got beaten down. I did a A strategic shift. I understand that if I want to win, I have to take some risks.”
Dan Niu raised preflop with his Q♠9♠ and John Bonetti called with A♣10.
Flop: 10♠5♠3♣
“I bet the flop and he moved all in.”
Dan had a 45% chance of winning the hand with two cards left, so it was a huge decision for his scoreboard volume. But of course he didn't know. It was at that moment that Dan Niu had to have a dialogue with himself about the change in strategy. This change is easy in theory, but it always comes down to whether you can put the scoreboard into the decision.
“I talked about taking a lot of risks.” Dan Niu said with a smile. “It was a chance I could win whatever he had – so I called. We were about the same scoreboard and he had three or four big BBs left.”
Turn: A♥
Suddenly, Dan Niu went from a coin tossing win rate to a 1:4 absolute disadvantage. We thought that the temperament of Dan Niu changes with age, but this is not the case.
The next TV picture must be equipped with a silencer.
River: 8♠
Seeing a ♠ on the river, Dan Niu quickly stood up and turned to his opponent, whose face sank.
Dan Niu said: “I knocked him out on the next hand. I still have that check (pictured below) and it's on my wall. Immediately after I got that money, I jumped into a 800/1600 level game. This is before the bonus. I won some more and on the way home I have that check and I have a bunch of clothes in my bag and all the bonuses under that “When I got back to Las Vegas, I was just promoting something I won.”
Dan Niu's famous winner's check at the 1999 US Poker Championship still holds a big place in his home.
life is long so add oil
Not only did this hand change lives, it also changed Dan Niu. He strolled through the airport with a bag full of prize money, ready to go home and life would never be the same again.
“It put me at the center of the poker world. When you win a tournament with a top prize of $210,000, it was a lot of money at the time. It put me more into the mainstream. I started writing for Cardplayer Articles, being a voice in the game. I don't really care about money, then, now, or ever. I just love winning. I always feel like if someone takes the money, it's okay. Anyway I will only win more.”
Dan Niu said he “never thought” that if Bonetti's two-pair stayed the same, he would be No. 2, but the Canadian definitely had his bad days.
“Carlos Mortensen won[WSOP] The year of the Main Event, I was 11th and lost a clutch hand with 12 BBs left. If I win that hand, who knows? But everything seems to be going well.”
Dan Niu has been the most recognizable poker figure on the planet for the past two decades, finishing third on the money list. Dan Niu is philosophical about times of failure or pain.
“Anytime you have a breakdown in your life, it's an opportunity to break through. Going broke or having a traumatic loss would make me better. Just the last few years, from a luck standpoint, I've been through The worst period of my career. It was really difficult. My wife always said I was resilient.”
win in life
Dan Cow is a huge part of poker history, but you'd think not a day in his life lived in the past. His passion for the game of poker is rooted in tournaments, thanks to his formative years.
“Regular table games are a job; you can keep winning, but there's no leaderboard and it doesn't make any sense,” he said. “I've created my own tournaments since I was a kid. I created the leaderboards with my wrestlers. I created a group of 16 and kept the record. Whoever wins the tournament gets 50 points , 40 points for second place and I'll keep the record. My mom would say ‘what are these papers?
Today, this love of poker and focus on the leaderboard is part of what keeps Dan Niu back at the poker table.
“I just went to the US Poker Open because there was a series of player prizes,” he said. “What PokerGO did in the studio was really interesting; they created a system so by the end of the event, which was the higher value event, a whole bunch of people were competing. That's what got me going. The reason. That's why the World Series of Poker is the most fun for me.”
Dan Niu admits that he has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, not just in the way he behaves, but in the way he thinks about himself.
“In your twenties, you definitely care what other people think. It's important, no doubt. In your thirties, you still care, but a little less. You realize it's not Everyone's going to like you. I didn't care when I was forty. I had the wife I always wanted, I had the life I always wanted. I was who I really was. I always had a kind of movie about things general perception and how to flaunt it, but as you get older you realize that flaunting is authenticity.”
The life and soul of this table in 1999 was a man named John Bonetti, who tragically passed away in 2008. In the penultimate hand of the US Poker Championship, Bonetti's passion and appeal for the game was crucial to Dan's growth.
【About WSOP World Series of Poker 】
WSOP World Series of Poker ( World Series of Poker referred to as WSOP ) The WSOP World Series of Poker is the most influential poker tournament in the world. For more than 40 years, the WSOP World Series of Poker has been the most trusted event hall in Texas Hold'em . Anyone can play, anyone can have the opportunity to go straight to the tournament hall, no matter who you are, there is always a seat waiting for you. In 2020, WSOP (wsoppuke.com) will fully enter the Chinese market and jointly hold WSOP world-class poker competitions with GG Poker (gg-puke.com).
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