Daniel Negreanu's very own containment thread. All things Danny go here

You aren't a pro when you make millions as a brand ambassador each year and have basically broke even for a decade actually playing poker. Yea tournaments are high variance and you can have a losing year here and there but you should up over a decade. You're a brand ambassador crushing life. That's a good thing.

You also realize I never said he was NEVER pro right? He used to be and he's since upgraded big time.

Why the hell would he even want to be a poker pro when he prints money from GG. **** being a pro. Even the biggest poker dick in the world, with the biggest backpack and tablet at the table, who makes poker analogies non stop in normal conversation would take being a brand ambassador for millions a year over being a poker pro.

Dnegs by your numbers 8 mil net in 30 years. Also about 8 million in the first 20 of those years.

Arod 440 million playing baseball in the last 30 years. Must still be a pro baseball player by your logic.

Is Caitlin Clark a professional basketball player? I’m certain she makes much more money off endorsements and media than from her WNBA salary.

I agree he doesn't have the endorsement contract because he is a really top player now. He probably doesn't want to play some TV high stakes private game because he has never been good at NLHE cash.

He does do extremely well at smallish field $10K or so entries in just about any game. He is always making deep runs in various types of game $10K and so on WSOP events. He has also crushed the PGT events, mostly in NLHE and PLO.

So the claim that he is a losing player with a hustle of the endorsement contract is ridiculous.

DN gets a salary to play poker, he’d get zero from GG if he sat on his couch. So he’s a pro.

And since you seem to think it matters if he’s up or down he’s probably up around 750K this year. So he’s a pro twice over.

It feels like time for you to break out that embarrassing Michael Jordan analogy he he

Who’s more of a pro? At this point DNegs or Bleznick? Hint: it’s not the guy who had 20 accounts online

Youre pathetic. That really isn't the point because just because you dont want to rip off 4-5 buy ins as the tournaments get more shallow doesnt mean you're a broke bastard. My belief is mostly keyed on ruining the point of what a tournament is supposed to be about.

As far as Daniel being a pro, Borg makes a fine point. If you're honest about it a professional poker player is someone who makes their money off poker, the game. That doesnt mean the other people are wrong, he just has a fair point that isn't hard to understand.

Someone mentioned Tiger as an example, and if you're going to throw one out then he's about as good as comparison as you can find. If Tiger just sucked for the most part and wasn't earning big from the tour (by finishing up near the top) he'd still make silly money from endorsements. But he still has to play golf to continue to receive endorsements. I dont watch golf but id imagine this is pretty close to where his career is now.

Id bet Daniel's buy ins are paid for up to a very high amount, either per year or per tournament. He And he gets to keep the profits, so he's doing well. Just a guess but that is coupled with a flat rate of 7 figures for endorsing GG

Tiger has made 5 fold off endorsements than he has ever made playing golf. So, he was never a professional golfer but a brand.

Exactly. You work for who pays you the most. Lebron works for Nike. He also works for the Lakers as a part time job. He works for Nike year round.

And tiger was first a highly successful professional golfer which earned him the ability to have endorsements in perpetuity, regardless of how diminished his skill set became relative to the field as time has gone on. Almost bang on what Vinny and borg are fairly explaining.

Yeesh.

• Harper (and Ohtani, for that matter) was a bad analogy because – as noted – the vast majority of his income comes from his salary. That's not the case for Negreanu, although none of us know exactly to what ratio.

• Jordan was also a flawed comparison because he no longer plays in the NBA. Daniel still plays poker.

I kind of like Caitlin Clark as the best comp, as most of her money comes from endorsements, and the endorsements largely rely on her playing basketball.

In fact, a good number of professional athletes draw the majority of their earn from endorsements. One of my friends played eight years of professional golf, including three on the LPGA. She made about $81K across those three years on the top tour, then averaged about $35K per season on the EPSON Tour for four more years before retiring as a player and going into coaching (she's now an assistant at Stanford). Fortunately, she had various sponsorships that made up the rest, because her actual winnings added up to about half of what a local elementary school teacher made during that same span. Yet no one would bat an eye if you referred to her as a professional golfer.

Track & field has many similar examples, since prize money is even more scant: professional runners get sponsors who provide their gear, pick up the travel tabs, and provide them with a stipend to cover basic living expenses so that they may train full-time. So long as they're still appearing at the bigger meets, they receive these benefits. Another of my friends does exactly this despite not having competed in the Olympics since Rio. She now focuses on road racing and marathons to keep earning her living, plus she coaches other marathon hopefuls and does speaking engagements to pick up some extra coin.

In the end, it's almost impossible to use any sport as a comp simply because an athlete can't continue playing at the highest stage at will. Age and/or deteriorating skills will inevitably usher them from the game. Poker does not have such a barrier, professional players can keep going for as long as they want.

Anyway, I'd still classify Negreanu as a pro, even during his losing years, for no other reason than he has an active income that's predicated on his being at the tables (live or online). But it remains an imperfect comparison. If Daniel stopped playing, the question is for how long would he continue earning a bag from GG.

Caitlin Clark and Usain Bolt are pretty good comps. Either way, this is all silly. Borg is basically saying Daniel's is very close to a breakeven or losing player and with that in mind he would probably be hard pressed to support his lifestyle with his poker earnings. Hard to call yourself a professional poker player, and not an endorser who plays poker.

Nevertheless, who cares. He has said he has no interest in playing cash games unless its televised because he has plenty of money. That's a sick spot to be in, and likely means he's free rolling tournaments. Hes got the best setup of any poker player, professional or not.

Some 2/5 NL grinder or whatever rarely has losing months, and would need to find a new way to make a living if he had a losing year. So Negreanu had 3 losing years in a row, so he is a losing poker player who makes money from endorsements.

Negreanu has huge profit in the last few years in PGTs and probably huge profit in $10K and under WSOP events, with many final tables, etc.

He shows a loss due to $100K+ events. Now most people do not play with mostly their own money in those. Negreanu, with all his assets, probably sells action in those also.

Maybe because of his endorsement contract and assets, he doesn't need to worry about grinding out a $300K or whatever profit every year. It is pretty clear, if that was his goal, he could do it.

He seems to mostly play the WSOP and PGT. With his name and personality, he may be playing private games. I don't know what he does the rest of the year.

And it’s wrong to say he’s a losing or break even player unless you happen to think he’s bought in for more than 55 million in buyins

nice to see daniel concentrating on poker and not his naive and a little bit extreme world views. Social media made people show what nobody wanna see.

Even though he was a losing player in recent years and he is making his millions every year from sponsorship..he sure is a pro in some way. We could argue how good he he still is...sometimes you think he could win every tournament and then its the opposite and he ends in the minus. And thats not a good look because we still wanna see poker as a sport and not just business and luck imo.

This "losing player" is ridiculous. Yes, he makes his buyins public and was losing with the $250Ks with no cash. However, he just set the record for the most PGT wins, plus won the $50K 9-game, and has already two final tables and an 11th in the World Series.

Some people here seem to think Daniel's source of income is his sponsorship deal with GG Poker. But they fail to consider his investment income. The man has had lots of cash since he founded and then sold FullContact Poker, then made tons more from his deal with Stars. The man is a stone cold financial winner at life. What does it matter if he is or is not a winning player at the table anymore?

it goes to show some people on here will waste hours debating anything

imagine even debating whether or not he is/was a professional poker player.

get a grip lads

Got it, you’re dic broke and hate the idea of firing multiple $600 bullets, thanks for letting us know. Also thanks for clarifying what “a tournament is supposed to be about” lol.

If you play tournaments, you cash maybe 1 of 7 times and the real money is when you make the top 5 or so. If your buyins are $100-300K, and you play a few of those a year, you may show a loss for the year due to random fluctuations.

DN is obviously crushing at about $10K buyin. He is way up in $100Ks+ overall with the $8 million from the one drop. Completely ridiculous to say he is a losing player. A losing player would be someone who lost 2 years in a row playing $500 buyin tournaments or something like that.

So dic broke ill see you at the wsop this week! Big man throwing around childish insults. Name me some tournaments in other competitions where you can re-enter multiple times please

Many of people playing the $600 are doing it for the possible huge ROI and WSOP bracelet. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. The “price” that must be paid is to endure the gambling portion.

Price is in quotes because it’s actually good to have DN in there punting a stack. But if it isn’t your speed there’s many other PLO tournaments on the Strip at Wynn, MGM Grand etc

And regarding the purists about wanting the freeze outs but there’s nothing pure about a $600 wsop tournament to begin with. In 1970s dollars it would be like Doyle and Johnny Moss playing a $75 tournament.

Someone from this thread made a note on Daniel at around 22:35 of today's vlog.

It's happening !!

Daniel entered WSOP Event #38: $100,000 High Roller late last night, busted out early today, and promptly re-entered for another $100,000.

This is the Daniel we've come to know and love.

Yeah, he is close to even for the Series with the 2nd place snd the 2 100k buyins. Losing player!