| Daniel Negreanu |
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| Poker Pro's Corner - Poker Pro's Corner | |||
 Canadian-born Daniel Negreanu has spent most of his life playing games, and his fun has turned into quite a lucrative life and livelihood. Today, at age 35, Daniel is one of the most successful and recognizable poker players on the planet. In his teens he began hustling at his local pool hall in Toronto, and from there he moved on to cards. After taking a couple shots at making it as a pro in Vegas, he was finally able to succeed in the late ’90s, and hasn’t looked back since. The list of accomplishments for this world-class pro is endless: 2004 World Series of Poker Player of the Year, four-time WSOP bracelet winner (he won No. 4 in June), two-time World Poker Tour winner and WPT Season 3 Player of the Year. He has raked in more than $10.4 million in tournament earnings and has several books under his belt – and he’s not even middle-aged yet.What is the easiest thing about playing the World Series of Poker – and the hardest? – WSOP Participant The easiest thing is probably just getting up for it and being interested. It is the one time of year where it is a fun competition – everyone is there and it’s easy to get motivated. The hardest thing is the daily grind and the length of it. It’s just like six weeks of play every day and sometimes you have to fight off getting burned out. Is there any justification of losing a 20,000 stack with blinds at 25-50? – Not That It Happened to Me… Absolutely. There are certain hands where the blind size doesn’t really matter. If you have one player who overplays hands on a regular basis and you have a monster hand yourself, sometimes you will find yourself playing a hand that you might not against a more conservative player. Yes, there are absolutely situations where if you have a flush against a guy who is really bad and you think he might have the ace-high flush, it’s a hand you can’t get away from. Who would you rather face in a WSOP event, 100 donkeys or nine tough pros? – Donkeys Are Killing Me, Sparks, Nevada For me, it’s more fun to play against pros. It would be easier to play against donkeys, simply because it would be easier to win. I like playing against the best, though. It’s more fun. Do you believe “running good” exists? – Luckbox, Canton, Ohio I believe “running good” obviously does exist, but I don’t believe you can ever predict when it is going to continue or whether it is going to stop. It is all stuff that has just happened. OK, a guy just won four tournaments, he was obviously running well. It doesn’t have any bearing on the future, though. How do you play pocket deuces on the button when no one has entered the pot? – Never Get Aces, Provo, Utah I raise 100 percent of the time. I never ever fold that hand and I usually make my standard raise, which is right around 2 or 2.5 times the big blind. Unless I am really short-stacked, then I would shove. What is something you think is an important element to the game that people seem to not acknowledge? – Wendy in Cellblock A, Waupun, Wisconsin I think people-reading skills. There is a whole debate now about who is better, the online player or the live player, and there are major differences between the two games. Online poker is actually the best way to learn how to play the game in that you have learned the betting patterns and you can focus on playing the hands fundamentally well. But there is a psychological aspect of being able to see players, watch their moods change, and subtle physical tells that are present that I think are often overlooked by some online players who believe that stuff doesn’t exist. What are your thoughts on limping early? Is it ever OK to limp? If so, in what situations? – Tiny Tim, New London, Connecticut Sure, it is absolutely OK. Being creative is never a bad thing and I’m not one that likes to stick to a very mathematical approach. I prefer making small raises, but if you have a hand that is marginal that you don’t really want to invest a raise with but you still want to see a flop with, limping is never a horrible option because often when you limp people are afraid of aces and kings anyway, so they will just let you go and then you can keep the pot a little bit smaller. Any time you want to mix up your play by limping in early position, I don’t think it’s bad. You run a training site – do you think training websites can improve a person’s game? – Uneducable, Rocky Mount, Tennessee I honestly believe, and obviously I am biased because I put all the information into Poker VT, but I think it would be foolish if you are serious about playing poker professionally and you seriously want to get better to not sign up for Poker VT. It would just be dumb, because there is so much free information you are going to get there from myself and you are going to be walked through how I do it by not only me, but other pros, too. Even if you disagreed with some of the stuff, the fact that you are learning it or thinking about it is well worth the very low cost. How do you handle a big hand like a straight or a flush on a paired board? – Cash Machine, Baraboo, Wisconsin In no-limit hold’em, it really depends on my stack size. If my stack size is really, really short then you just pretty much have to go with it, but in a deeper stack tournament when I am doing really well, those are situations where you have to be really, really cautious and get a read on your player. It is OK to be a little bit weak and sometimes sacrifice value, especially in a tournament. Do you think it is good to have a wild reputation at the table? – Mike C., Gardena, California Yes, I absolutely think it’s a big advantage for the most part to have a wild image, because what that will allow you to do is play a really simple game of small-ball poker, which is playing a lot of hands, but doing very little bluffing and getting called a lot. When you do hit your home runs and you have a wild image, people are more likely to call you than they would if they think you only have the nuts. When is the proper situation to show your hand? What about when bluffing – will that help later? – Big Show-off, Amarillo, Texas It’s not necessarily based on whether you are bluffing or whether you have a good hand; it’s what you are trying to set up, what kind of seeds you are trying to plant in your opponent’s mind. I would discourage it against really good players, but against more novice players, if you think you can manipulate them into doing one thing or the other, then it is never really a bad thing. For example, if you have a really wild kind of player sitting on your left and you want him to lay off of you, showing him you had aces sometimes might make him believe, “OK, he’s not messing with me.” The other side of the coin is if you have a wild player on your right and you show him a bluff, now maybe you can manipulate him into making a really big mistake later by calling you.
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