I've followed Daniel through his trials and tribulations through the 2021 wsop. Is it just me or am I the only person that thinks he's made quite a lot of mistakes. I'm just an amateur, but notice he sometimes lacks patience and it very well could be that he's playing aggressive enough to build a big stack and patience takes a back door since he's going for a bracelet, obviously trying to lock player of the year. At this point, to me, it seems as though the money takes a back seat to the nostalgia of locking up that accolade. I think personally he could have done a lot better in his results if he wasn't in the race for this coveted title. Your thoughts?
I think some of the problems with Negreanu stem from last year when he played the online WSOP from
mexico.
Obviously, he had a lot a meltdowns which were frankly vulgar and offensive. It stripped away from the nice guy persona which Negreanu had cultivated. Since then he has sort of doubled down on that character swearing and cussing through the 2021 WSOP.
However, that is also combined with his relentless attention seeking which led him to an embarrassing debacle with Doug Polk followed by an even more embarrassing debacle with Phil Helmuth.
Negreanu redeemed himself somewhat at the Poker Masters but...you can see when he slips in and out of concentration as you have noted above. Though he claims of late to be in the lab all the time I think it mostly BS. He is not a GTO player he is a feel player and as good as any when focused.
But I have felt for some time that his focus is sporadic at best and therefore his game suffers. He has been making a lot of appalling decisions through the middle of the WSOP...maybe he will regroup for the high rollers which are left.
However, in the interim he seems more concerned with his puppies, his fantasy hockey league and his vlog more than poker itself. It's all a little too self absorbed and I noted that to date he had not said one word to say about the main event - which is somewhat telling if you are pushing yourself front and center as an ambassador for poker.