Poker Legend Daniel Negreanu Reveals Why He Lost $2M in 2023
Posted on: January 3, 2024, 12:02h.
Last updated on: January 3, 2024, 12:33h.
Not all poker legends release a profit/loss statement every year to the public, as well as to the IRS. In fact, there’s only one we can think of. And Daniel Negreanu was refreshingly transparent about what a lousy 2023 he had.
In addition to tweeting out his yearly numbers as usual, the six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner also posted a YouTube video titled, How I Lost Over 2 Million Dollars in a Year.
“This is going to be my worst year that I’ve had,” Negreanu said in the 23-minute clip. “So what I do at the end of a year like that is, you know, I start to break down what exactly actually happened.”
Winner’s Tilt
According to Negreanu’s self-analysis, he suffered from “winner’s tilt” coming into 2023 after killing 2022 with $1.6M in wins.
I came into the year … feeling too good, probably, about where I sit and what that led to was me … being nonchalant, not caring about rebuying too much … When you’re losing, you tilt. Sometimes when you’ve won or you’re winning too much, you start to play poorly as a result … just gambling too much and being goofy and not caring enough, because the money isn’t life-changing.
“And when you start off the year being loosey-goosey, playing sloppy … you can dig yourself a big hole that you don’t necessarily get to just get out of by winning the Super High Roller Bowl at the end of the year.”
Too Many Games
Also, according to the 2004 and 2013 WSOP Player of the Year, he entered far too many tournaments with this reckless attitude.
“I played in … 145 events compared to 107 the year before, and less and less before that, all the way down to 60 events in 2018,” Negreanu said. “That’s the most events I’ve played in a single year … since I was much younger.
When I play too many tournaments, it leads to — well listen, I’m older, so it leads to some fatigue for sure, which leads to some weaker plays … some sloppiness where you just don’t care enough about each bullet (pair of aces) as much as you should.”
A third reason Negreanu offered up was “bad luck in the wrong spots,” which cost him nearly $1.9 million at the WSOP alone over the past two years.
“You don’t get to choose when you’re lucky and when you’re not,” Negreanu said. “And … because players are so much better, your edge is much smaller, which means luck is going to play a much bigger role.”
New Year’s Resolutions
So how does Negreanu intend to turn it around?
“First of all, I’m going to run better, that’s already been decided,” he joked while mock-praying to the poker gods.
In all seriousness, Negreanu declared that he will no longer chase the WSOP Player of the Year title, since it forces players to enter dozens of events each summer to rack up as many points as possible.
“All this stuff just to chase this title that is for no money,” he said. “Everybody’s burning money equity to win this picture-on-your-wall type thing. But you’re forced to play the online events while you’re playing live. I can’t do it … Dividing my focus like that does not bode well.”
Instead, Negreanu said, he will pass over many of WSOP’s online bracelet tournaments and focus mostly on high-stakes events.
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Correction: Though AAs are sometimes called “bullets”, Negreanu was referring to each bet on each “street” when he said “each bullet” in this interview. It’s also called “firing a bullet” to bet-out, or make a first bet.