I dropped out of school to play poker, and at 21, I moved from Toronto to try my luck as a pro in Vegas. I ate the typical meat-heavy diet of most poker players in the '90s: burgers and steak, along with French fries, mash, and a bucket-load of wine, beer, and vodka. There was nothing fresh in my diet, and I felt terrible.

Daniel Negreanu

Categorized in : School Beer Luck Wine

The majority of players are looking for reasons to fold. I am looking for reasons to play.

Daniel Negreanu

majority player reason

Too many players focus on physical tells. For both online and live games, you should be focusing more on betting patterns and histories. The ability to figure out your opponent's hand based on his betting pattern is a crucial skill.

Daniel Negreanu

skills player games

I prefer being able to see my opponent. It is just different for me; I didn't grow up with the internet age really.

Daniel Negreanu

growing-up different age

When you're playing cards you can't constantly think about what the money costs you in the real world. You can't be constantly concerned about that if you want to be successful.

Daniel Negreanu

real successful thinking

I was very curious, that's why I think my reality TV seems normal. I watch a lot of reality TV because I am so interested in people and observing people. From a very young age I can remember watching a woman with a guy and she's rolling her eyes and he's pleading with her and I would think, she doesn't want to be with him, he's in love with her, she likes this other guy and I would make up these stories in my head about these people. That helps me sort of profile people and that is a key to being able to read people.

Daniel Negreanu

eye reality thinking

I've seen so many thousands of hands that I am just going to be right more often than most people.

Daniel Negreanu

hands people

If you call a hundred dollars but have a chance to win $10,000, those are excellent odds if you are at a table with people who have two aces or two kings. If you catch a flop you will get all their chips. I just play them because there is value.

Daniel Negreanu

odds kings winning

The thing that can get confusing is you think, is this guy really a good player or does he just seem that way based on the way that they are playing. That takes longer to figure out, if they really are a good player or they just seem like one [bad].

Daniel Negreanu

guy player thinking

I need some money. You got any money?

Daniel Negreanu

needs

If I haven't played with a player before and I don't know anything about them, the more they tell me about themselves, the better I will be able to judge how they think and how they play.

Daniel Negreanu

player judging thinking

I think Donald Trump is a complete and utter buffoon and a cancer to our society.

Daniel Negreanu

cancer our-society thinking

Donald Trump doesn't have significant tells when he's lying because truth and lies to him are kind of homogenized. He's such a pro at it that you don't see a lot of divergence in his body language when he's lying or telling the truth. It's just constant bulls**t. He's probably a very good bluffer.

Daniel Negreanu

language kind lying

Playing people and position post-flop are definitely my strengths. When I get into a hand, I'm aggressive but I'm also paying attention to my opponent's betting patterns.

Daniel Negreanu

patterns hands people

I started out as a teenager I was a snooker player, or pool player. Through that I met some other teenagers that were gamblers, if you will, who started basement games. I was just sort of learning on the go, losing my $10.

Daniel Negreanu

teenager player games

In America everyone plays bang ball, eight ball, nine ball, that kind of stupid crap, but in Canada and Europe they play snooker which is a much more skillful game and I enjoy that. I play pool now with friends, if we go to a bar we will play, but I am nowhere near as good as I once was.

Daniel Negreanu

eight stupid europe

Trump is loose and obvious with his facial expressions. You could watch Donald Trump in a debate and not hear any of the words and you'll still get a sense for when he's pleased, when he's angry and when he's not.

Daniel Negreanu

facial-expression debate obvious

Trump is clearly very loose and very aggressive. He's a loose, aggressive wild man. He's hard to prepare for because he's a lunatic.

Daniel Negreanu

lunatic aggressive men

I post probably 5 to 10 times a day in my forum. I have a forum directly related to my blog where I will write my blog and people will disagree with me and call me an idiot so then I will say this is why I wrote that and blah, blah, blah. I spend a lot of time online.

Daniel Negreanu

idiot writing people

The danger of paired flops is directly related to how high the pair is: there's less risk in a flop like 2-2-7 than Q-Q-8. Why? Because most players will fold a hand that contains a deuce but will play hands that contain a queen like A-Q, K-Q, Q-J, or Q-10.

Daniel Negreanu

queen will play hands

When it came to healthy eating, my parents did their best to set me on the right path. At school, my friends ate McDonalds at lunchtime, but I had a packed lunch that my mother made for me. I hated it at the time, but looking back, I'm glad.

Daniel Negreanu

best me mother time