Sports

Daniel Negreanu Wins First WSOP Bracelet In 11 Years And Starts Crying Overwhelmed With Emotion

#World Series of Poker
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He did it. Daniel Negreanu broke his WSOP bracelet drought and after 11 years he won another one and moved to a tie for 7th on the all-time WSOP bracelet list with 7 gold bracelets.

After Day 4 of Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the 2024 World Series of Poker it seemed like Daniel Negreanu was fated to win after he hit a runner-runner and a 1-outer to hit a straight flush on the river in a wild hand against Bryce Yockey who the ‘Kid Poker’ would go on to face heads-up for the PPC title.

Daniel is the biggest ambassador for the game of poker and it’s not even close. His YouTube content is unrivaled. What he’s done and continues to do with GGPoker is CONSTANTLY growing the game. And despite being the game’s biggest celebrity, he continues to be a great guy who will stop and take pictures with fans and sign autographs whenever he can even after he just miserably busted from a tournament.

For 11+ long years one of the greatest to ever play the game hadn’t won a gold bracelet. His last win came in Event #8: €25,600 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe. Daniel’s last gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas was all the way back in 2008! So when the he locked up the $50K Poker Player’s Championship, the tournament every pro wants to win the most outside of the Main Event, he was overwhelmed with emotion and started crying. Here is the final hand via PokerGo:

Daniel Negreanu Emotional After Winning 7th WSOP Gold Bracelet

This is a special moment from Daniel Negreanu after winning his 7th WSOP bracelet with his wife Amanda and friends on the rail cheering him on heads-up against Bryce Yockey:

Since 2014, Daniel Negreanu had finished runner-up at 5 WSOP final tables coming *this close* to winning another gold bracelet but it kept eluding him. Coming that close over and over and over inflicts heavy psychological impact on a poker player and nobody has a keener poker mind than Daniel Negreanu. He has such a keen ability to read people he can meet someone and within 15 minutes tell them their life story.

But as I mentioned above, there seemed to be an aura of fate going back to Day 4 of the Poker Player’s Championship, a $50K buy-in tournament where players are tested in NINE games of poker: (1) No Limit Hold’em, (2) Seven Card Stud, (3) Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, (4) Razz, (5) Pot-Limit Omaha, (6) Limit Hold’em, (7) No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, (8) Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, and (9) 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw.

How he got there

When Daniel Negreanu hit this straight flush it was like the winds had changed:

Of course, he still had to navigate a wildly stacked final table. In pursuit of his 7th WSOP bracelet, Daniel Negreanu came into the final 5 sitting 2nd in chips behind PokerCoaching Coach Chris Brewer who has 2 bracelets and $8.259 million in winnings just at the World Series of Poker.

Brewer ultimately finished in 3rd and Negreanu was heads-up against Bryce Yockey who won $768,467 for 2nd place, and it was Bryce who Daniel hit that straight flush against.

Something that I find particularly special about this tournament, aside from it testing the players across 9 disciplines of poker, is that it’s 5 days and there were 89 entries of the game’s best. Almost all of those 89 players already knew each other and their styles of play pretty well but after 5 grueling days with the same guys you really get to know each other’s playing style.

Grab any professional poker player and ask them ‘what’s the one WSOP tournament you want to win outside of the Main Event?’ and unless that player is in need of A LOT of money then there’s a very good chance their answer is the Poker Player’s Championship because it’s the most comprehensive test of a poker player’s skills. It isn’t a test of Hold’em, or Omaha, or Razz, or Stud.

The PPC winner proves they can beat the best players in the world at every game and that’s exactly what Daniel Negreanu did by winning his 7th WSOP bracelet. If there was EVER a day to tune into Daniel Negreanu’s daily WSOP poker vlog on his YouTube channel, today is that day. It is going to be electric.

With this win, Daniel Negreanu now sits in a 4-way tie for 7th on the WSOP all-time bracelets list. He is 2 behind Johnny Moss who has 9. There’s a 3-way tie at 10 amongst Erik Seidel, Johnny Chan, and Doyle Brunson. Phil Ivey sits alone in 2nd with 11 bracelets. And they all chase Phil Hellmuth, the WSOP G.O.A.T. who has 17 gold bracelets.