After losing over $2.2 million last year in poker tournaments, Daniel Negreanu made it clear in a YouTube video that he’s going to make some adjustments to his strategy in 2024.
The Poker Hall of Famer shared his composite results from 2023 in a 23-minute video, and brought up some potential changes he plans to make going forward.
What Went Wrong for Poker Legend?
Negreanu mostly plays tournaments in Las Vegas these days, usually the PokerGO Tour high rollers and World Series of Poker (WSOP) events. His main goals beyond profiting are to win WSOP Player of the Year, which he’s done twice (2004/2013), and to win gold bracelets, which he hasn’t done since 2013.
For the thousands of people who have followed his summer WSOP vlogs, it’s been no secret that he’s lost a significant amount — nearly $1.9 million — over the past two years at the World Series of Poker. But the GGPoker ambassador, one of the rare high rollers who publicly releases a profit/loss spreadsheet, also struggled in the PokerGO Tour events throughout much of the year.
What specifically went wrong in 2023 for the longtime pro? Playing too many tournaments and bad luck is the basic gist of Negreanu’s explanation.
“Just by sheer numbers, I was playing far too often,” Negreanu said in the video. “Part of that reason was I sort of made the mistake of making a couple of side bets, and they weren’t even that big or that important, but made a couple of side bets on PokerGO Tour points, and basically the only biters I got were against Alex Foxen and Cary Katz.”
Negreanu also pointed out running bad deep in tournaments and crucial all-in spots. Those who’ve followed his summer vlogs have seen countless clips of GGPoker’s top promoter losing a race or getting his money in good but losing in a key spot at the WSOP.
Another reason for Negreanu’s $2,228,174 deficit in 2023 is due to his inability to secure a massive score. His largest cash last year went for $200,000, and that was in a $100,000 buy-in heads-up match against Doug Polk on PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel IV.
In 2022, on the other hand, he finished the year with a $1.6 million profit thanks in large part to the $3.3 million he scooped for winning the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl.
Negreanu’s best year of the past decade was 2014, a year that included a career-best $8.3 million cash in the $1 million buy-in WSOP Big One for One Drop, a runner-up finish to Dan Colman.
Negreanu’s 10-year profit/loss results are below (excluding the 2020 COVID year).
Daniel Negreanu’s 10-Year Poker Tournament Win/Loss Chart
| Year | Profit/Loss |
|---|---|
| 2013 | +$1,963,500 |
| 2014 | +$7,100,164 |
| 2015 | +$952,920 |
| 2016 | -$1,246,693 |
| 2017 | -$86,640 |
| 2018 | +$1,412,053 |
| 2019 | +$831,891 |
| 2021 | +$584,023 |
| 2022 | +$1,625,545 |
| 2023 | -$2,228,174 |
| TOTALS | +$10,908,589 |
Changes Coming?
One rough year (or two) in poker tournaments can typically be chalked up to bad luck, especially considering the high-variance nature of the game. But Negreanu is going to take matters into his own hands in 2024 by changing things up a bit.
“First of all, I’m going to run better, that’s already been decided,” Negreanu joked while praying to the poker gods.
The luck part he can’t control, but he can focus on aspects of his poker strategy, including the amount of tournaments he plays. In most years, he’s played more than 50 bracelet events during the summer. While that hasn’t seemed to ruin his ability to turn a profit most of the time, the past two WSOP’s have been rough for the poker legend.
“I am not going to focus on WSOP Player of the Year this year. Not going to do it,” Negreanu claims.
By chasing WSOP Player of the Year, players such as Negreanu, Shaun Deeb, Phil Hellmuth, and others are forced to play dozens of events each summer to rack up as many points as possible. Doing so can lead to decreased profits and wear and tear on the mind and body.
This coming summer, however, “DNegs” plans to cut back on some of the low buy-in tournaments and focus more exclusively on the high-stakes events. He also plans to eliminate some of the online bracelet events on WSOP.com during the summer so that he can pay better attention while playing live instead of double-dipping.
Negreanu Loses $1.1 Million at 2022 WSOP