“I knew of John Bonetti he was a big star at the time.”īack in December 1999, while the world was petrified of Y2K and just a fortnight away from a new millennium, Negreanu was ploughing through the field in the U.S. Heads up with John Bonetti, Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu was about to play the hand that would change his life. Some hands give a poker player the confidence to walk that little bit taller. Poker Championship in Atlantic City, it was his first time playing under the glare of television lighting. Despite this, he had never played poker on television, so when he sat down at the final of the U.S. Identified as ‘Kid’ – “not ‘The Kid’, that was Stu Ungar’s moniker” – the Canadian was a young man who was starting to become successful. With hundreds of thousands of followers on his social media channels alone, Negreanu is perhaps the most popular mainstream player poker has seen.īack in 1999, Negreanu was a comparative unknown.

Known as ‘Kid Poker’, Negreanu has appeared in movies, televised poker games, podcasts, radio shows and live streams and played at the top table for over 20 years.

Today, Daniel Negreanu is known as one of the most popular players in poker, a de facto spokesperson for many in the game.

Daniel negreanu reputation in poker