Daniel Negreanu Takes Down His 7th Bracelet in the $50,000 PPC Championship

It’s been a long time coming for Daniel Negraenu. Since 2013, the poker legend has poured blood, sweat, and tears into securing another WSOP victory.

Finally, ‘Kid Poker’ says goodbye to the drought as he takes the win in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. 

Not only did Negreanu walk away with $1,178,000 and his 7th bracelet, but he did it by crushing one of the toughest events poker has to offer. 

A Bitter-Sweet Decade

The year 2013 marked a high point in Daniel Negreanu’s career. He’d add his fifth and sixth WSOP bracelets to his collection, ultimately earning him Poker Player of The Year. But for 11 years, no matter how hard he tried, DNegs couldn’t take down another gold bracelet. The drought brought several heartbreaking close calls.

In 2014, a bitter-sweet moment came for Negreanu when he finished as a runner-up in the The Big One for One Drop. The taste of his 7th bracelet faded once he suffered a rough loss to Dan Coleman, but at the same time, he cashed his biggest score of $8,288,001.

The most memorable close call we saw was probably when DNegs went through an intense, grueling, 6+ hour battle against John Hennigan in the 2019 $10,000 Seven Card Stud. In the end, Hennigan took the win after his A-7 / 9-J-7-A / 2 beat Negreanu’s J-4 / 3-9-8-4 / 6.

John Hennigan, now tying with Negreanu at 7 WSOP bracelets, even said this about Kid Poker in an interview after he won: “He played so well, he really did not get what he deserved there. He made every right decision and it was just bad luck for him there at the end.”

Since winning his last bracelet, DNegs finished as a runner-up five times and made over 10 final tables at the WSOP. 

Though Negreanu’s luck was running thin, in terms of a gold bracelet, his overall success didn’t stop. He cashed $32 million during the last decade, landing him 7th on the All-Time Money List. 

2021 saw Negreanu take down the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em Poker Go Cup. When the final table whittled down to DNegs and Dan Coleman going heads-up for the win, the Poker Hall of Famer started with half of Coleman’s stack. After several hours of intense play, Kid Poker took down some crucial pots, eventually beating Colemans’ 5-5 to his K-10 for $700,000.

The following year, Lady Luck finally smiled on DNegs again, as he crushed the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl, cashing $3.3 million. This monster score was a welcome change of pace after a couple of rough years – it proved the poker gods hadn’t forgotten about Kid Poker – except for his 2021 win, of course.

But then came 2023, a year Kid Poker would probably rather forget. He took a beating, losing two million and even admitting to some questionable plays. 

However, Negreanu, being the poker legend he is, took a long, hard look in the mirror, tweaked his strategy, and roared back in 2024. He started the year off with a bang, snatching wins in two high-roller events before the WSOP even started.

The PPC Triumph: A Defining Moment For The Poker Legend

Daniel Negreanu’s victory at the 2024 Poker Players Championship (PPC) was a storybook ending to his drought in Las Vegas. 

The $50,000 Poker Players Championship, with 89 entrants and a $4,249,750 prize pool, saw Negreanu face off against poker’s elite, ultimately claiming the Chip Reese Trophy and $1.1 million.

Early in the final day, the chip lead swung like a pendulum. Chris Brewer, starting as the chip leader, quickly watched the tables turn on him as Negreanu took the chip lead after a Razz hand. Meanwhile, Bryce Yockey went on a tear, eliminating David Benyamine and Dylan Smith in back-to-back Razz duels with his 9-8-3 out-kicking Benyamine’s 9-8-5, and a 7-5-4 besting Smith’s hand.

Negreanu, however, clawed his way back, first by outplaying Yockey in Seven Card Stud with a straight against Yockey’s two pair. He then doubled down on his momentum, making a gutsy call in Limit Hold’em with Q-Q, sniffing out Yockey’s bluff with a missed straight draw.

With Brewer hitting the rail in a three-way No-Limit Hold’em hand thanks to Yockey’s rivered flush with A-T (and a tough laydown from Negreanu), the stage was set for a heads-up showdown between Negreanu and Yockey. Yockey initially dominated, his chip stack ballooning to a 5:2 advantage after catching a wheel in 2-7 Triple Draw.

With the momentum shifting in his favor, Negreanu went on a rampage, flopping a flush in No-Limit Hold’em to reclaim the lead. However, Yockey, ever the competitor, battled back, making aces up in Stud Hi-Lo to regain his advantage. Negreanu’s stack dwindled to 6,000,000 chips, but he wasn’t done yet.

In a pivotal Pot-Limit Omaha hand, Negreanu found himself all-in with 9-8-4-2 on a 7-6-2 flop, staring down Yockey’s A-A-J-J. The poker gods smiled at Negreanu as the river delivered a miracle deuce, giving him trips and a much-needed double-up. As you can imagine, the crowd went nuts.

The final hand was a nail-biter. In Pot-Limit Omaha, Negreanu raised with A-Q-J-7, and Yockey called with 9-6-3-2. The flop brought 10-7-7, giving Negreanu trips and Yockey flush and straight draws. After a series of raises, all the chips went in the middle. The turn was a queen, giving Negreanu a full house. The river was inconsequential, and Negreanu had done it – his seventh bracelet was finally his.

The poker room exploded with cheers as Negreanu, overcome with emotion, embraced his wife, Amanda, and said, “Yo Adrian, we did it!” In a nod to his favorite movie franchise, Rocky.

Photo Credit: Omar Sader

An Emotional Win

It’s been 16 years since DNegs last saw a WSOP win in Las Vegas. The victory brought tears, relief, and a seat back in the winner’s circle, joining his friend and fellow poker legend Phil Ivey, who recently broke his own WSOP dry spell.

The poker world watched in awe as he held his 7th gold bracelet, with his ecstatic wife Amanda and a sea of cheering fans at the rail.

For Negreanu, this was the tournament he’d been dreaming of winning since the PPC got introduced in 2006: “There is one event in the world that I want to play more than any, and I wanted to win more than any, and it’s this one,” he said in a post-interview. After years of grinding, he finally tasted victory in the “pro-heavy field” event he cherished most.

Negreanu has always been a fan favorite, bringing his audience along for every high and low through his popular vlogs. His genuine connection with his fans is undeniable, as he expressed, “I’ve always been a lone wolf during the World Series, but it feels really nice to see the crowd like that.” And his first instinct after the legendary win was to high-five the crowd that cheered him on every step of the way.

The scene was made even sweeter with Amanda’s by his side. Having vowed to return to the WSOP only when he won. Negreanu stated, “She hasn’t been here since we moved here, she was going to come when I win, and I haven’t been winning, so it was nice to have her here for the moment, for sure.”

What’s Next For Kid Poker?

Negreanu is now sitting at 7th with 2,340 points in the WSOP Player of The Year Leaderboard. If he can keep up his monster run, we could see Kid Poker crowned POY for the first time since 2013. He’s going to have a tough time competing with Scott Seiver, who’s currently first on the leaderboard with 3,757 points after scoring three bracelets this summer. But anything is possible, and DNegs is in good shape this year.

Outside of the WSOP, we’ll certainly see Negreanu crushing more high-stakes poker, with tournaments like the Poker Masters and the Super High Roller Bowl likely on his radar. It’ll be exciting to see what the poker legend’s total live earnings will be this time next year. 

Of course, we can anticipate more golden content from the Poker Hall of Famer. After the WSOP is over, he usually takes a little break, which makes sense as the WSOP is grueling enough, let alone recording content every day. But we’re sure to see more poker vlogs and appearances on podcasts in the near future!

Whatever the future holds for DNegs, one thing is certain: the poker world won’t be taking its eyes off him anytime soon.