In news that will make anyone who followed poker in the 2000s feel old, Daniel Negreanu turned 50 years old on Friday.
The poker legend known as “Kid Poker” for the past quarter century can probably go ahead and retire that moniker. He’s now officially eligible to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Seniors event next summer. And at some restaurants, he qualifies for a senior discount, provided they offer vegan options of course.
Poker Star Still Going Strong
Negreanu began playing poker in the mid-1990s in Canada. He’d move to Las Vegas in his 20’s, and the rest is history. The half-century-old poker pro won his first poker tournament in 1997, his first WSOP bracelet in 1998, and scored his first major online poker site sponsorship (PokerStars) in 2007.
Times have changed since that era. Negreanu is now a seven-time bracelet winner, a U.S. citizen, a GGPoker ambassador, and has been a member of the Poker Hall of Fame since 2014. One thing that hasn’t changed since the “Kid Poker” days is that he remains arguably the most popular player in the game.
While Negreanu has had his ups and downs in tournament poker the past three years — he just finished off his third straight losing WSOP and is down around $2 million at the Series over that span — he won his seventh bracelet this summer, ending an 11-year drought. And he did it in a tournament he’s always dreamed of winning — the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
Following a massive losing year in 2023, Negreanu vowed changes to his game in December. Although he booked a six-figure deficit at the 2024 WSOP, the second half of his 50th year on this planet has gone quite well overall in tournaments. He won two PokerGO Tour high rollers pre-WSOP, and reached 11 final tables from January to May, and he did that without grinding tournaments day after day.
Not the Only Poker Legend to Hit a Birthday Milestone
There was another poker legend who recently celebrated a milestone birthday. Well, actually, Phil Hellmuth celebrated his 60th birthday two months early.
Hellmuth traveled to Las Vegas from his Northern California home in early May for some birthday shenanigans with his wealthy investor and celebrity friends, only his birthday was on July 16. We’ve heard of people celebrating a Birthday Week, but not a Birthday Two-Month.
Like Hellmuth, Negreanu will likely continue grinding full WSOP schedules into his 60’s, and who knows, maybe he’ll play poker deep into his 80’s like Doyle Brunson did. But unlike Hellmuth, to our knowledge at least, Negreanu didn’t celebrate his milestone birthday months in advance with a bunch of billionaires.
Happy 50th birthday, “DNegs!”