Poker in the News

If you play poker, you've heard of Daniel Negreanu. He's the hottest tournament poker player in the world right now. In this article, Thane Burnett follows Negreanu around in Atlantic City as he plays a World Series of Poker tour event at Harrah's.

It's an excellent and well-written profile of Negreanu, and I recommend that you read the full thing-- but here are a few of the better excerpts:

You know how you spot a real poker player in a crowded casino? The way they walk. Tourists and others wearing cheap watches search for luck as they move in zig-zags, from contraption to craps to their next losing proposition.

The poker player cuts a sharp line to where he wants to go.

This is really a true statement, though I had never thought of it before.

"Keith Richards is getting old," Negreanu reasons. "Poker players are the new celebrities."

"I try to explain, that what I do is no more of a gamble than the man who opens a restaurant or the businessman who deals in the stock market," he told them, adding: "I'm just better at it."

"The best poker players have a total disregard for money," says Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, "Money is just the way we keep playing."

"I'm not intimidated by (Negreanu)," Barry Greenstein says. "During a game, I'm not looking at him and he's not looking at me, thinking 'I got to pick this guy off.' Instead, we're looking at the other (lesser) players at the table, trying to take as much money as possible from them."

Toronto Sun Columnist: Thane Burnett - Poker stud