Can 2024 Be the Year of Daniel Negreanu?
5 minutes
Last Updated: January 10, 2024
Just under a year ago, Daniel Negreanu surpassed the $50 million mark in his tournament poker earnings, following his spectacular end to 2022 and the incredible win in Super High Roller Bowl VII for $3.3 million.
As 2023 rolled in, everyone expected one of the most decorated poker players of all time to do what he does best and crush throughout the year, but it was simply not meant to be.
Negreanu kept running into a brick wall everywhere he went, and ended up losing $2.2 million in tournament last year, a number he shared with the public at the very start of the New Year.
In the video, Daniel announced that he would be introducing some major changes in 2024, following the worst year of his career in terms of results, and also explained some of the reasons for the losses he incurred.
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Just days into 2024, Daniel Negreanu was crowned champion in PGT Last Chance Event #1, winning $218k and finally breaking the cycle he has been in for a while.
The win prompted me to look back at Negreanu’s 2023 and think about the year ahead, which could very well prove to be the year of Daniel Negreanu if he’s able to stick with his new commitments and play his best game every time he shows up for a major poker event.
A Dismal Year Makes Negreanu Reassess Priorities
While 2023 was definitely a great year for the game of poker as a whole, it was far from that for one of the biggest names in the game, as Daniel Negreanu dropped just over $2.2 million playing tournaments, making it the biggest losing year of his career.
According to the stats Daniel shared with us in his YouTube video, only three of last ten years were losing ones, as he lost $1.2 million in 2016 and only $86k in 2017, basically breaking event.
On the flip side, Negreanu had some great winning years in the meantime, including the $7.1 million in profit he made in 2014, his best year at the felt.
Yet, the seemingly massive loss caused the 6-time WSOP champion to take a step back and reassess his priorities and think about what caused the losses and what he could be doing better.
Among other things, Negreanu decided to enter 2024 with a new poker mindset, which would mean he only plays when he is ready, rested, and prepared to give it his all.
What that means for Negreanu’s fans is that we are likely to see less of him in 2024, but that the quality of his game when he does show up should be significantly higher.
In 2023, Negreanu played 145 events and re-entered many of those at least once, eventually cashing in 39 of those, but only cashing for more than $100k three times the whole year, which is pretty dismal considering the number of high rollers he played.
In 2024, you will likely see Negreanu play fewer events, as he promised to only play when rested, avoid online events at the WSOP, and really focus on playing his best game whenever he does get in the mix.
Negreanu’s Losses in Perspective
For most of us, losing $2.2 million playing poker in a single year sounds incomprehensible, and these are certainly the kind of numbers we associate with the biggest whales in the game.
However, it is important to keep things in perspective and understand that these losses were incurred playing some incredibly high stakes games.
For instance, the $250k High Roller at the WSOP and the Super High Roller Bowl alone amount for over half a million dollars, and Negreanu played and failed to cash both of these events.
Add to that the $100k and $50k high rollers he played this year, and Negreanu easily lost over a million dollars playing in fewer than 10 events against some of the very best and most talented poker players in the world.
Failing to cash 10 such events in a row is certainly quite possible, and we have certainly seen Negreanu lose some massive coin flips deep in such events over the course of 2023.
While the sheer dollar amount Negreanu lost in 2023 may seem quite dire, it is important to remember that the entire amount is still less than a single win in one of the big high rollers he regularly plays, making it far from a catastrophic result for the GGPoker Ambassador.
Daniel Announces His WSOP Schedule
While the 2024 WSOP schedule is not officially out yet, it is fairly easy to anticipate all the major events that will be on there, and given his association with GGPoker, it is likely Negreanu has access to even more information than the rest of us.
With all that said, the champion took to his Twitter a couple of days ago and announced that he would only be playing three events with buyins under $5k and no online events during this year’s WSOP.
On the flip side, we can expect to see Negreanu in the $250k High Roller, the $100k High Roller, and four $50k events, as well as 14 Championship events with buyins of $10k and five $25k tournaments.
That amounts to 31 events in total that Negreanu is likely to play in, which means he will not be playing the low buyin mixed game events and especially the low buyin No Limit Hold'em events.
Unfortunately, that might make the 2024 WSOP Vlogs coming from Negreanu a bit less eventful, but it will also mean he will be able to focus much more on the major events where the big bucks are at stake.
Negreanu has also announced that he is not going to be actively pursuing the WSOP POY title this year, and it is unlikely he will be in serious running for it given the fairly low number of events he intends to play.
Will Negreanu Crush in 2024?
DNegs won the first major event of the year in the first days of January and is going to be a force to be reckoned with throughout the year.
We can expect to see him playing all the biggest events and High Rollers out there and compete against the very best at the highest level consistently.
One thing that will be changing is the amount of events and level of focus Daniel puts in, which means we should see a much fresher and more prepared Negreanu in every event he plays.
Given the fact he has not won too often in about 150 tries since the 2022 Super High Roller Bowl, it is fair to expect Negreanu to run deep and possibly win a big one in 2024, and with a little luck I would not bet against him going on an absolute tear.
This year will mark the tenth anniversary since his incredible 2014, and given his renewed commitment to the game, seeing Negreanu win a couple of WSOP bracelets this year would certainly not be shocking.
Stay tuned as we keep track of all major results posted by Negreanu throughout the year and update you on the success or failure of his new approach to the game.
