Daniel Negreanu Comes Agonizingly Close To Making "November Nine" Final Table

Published on 2015-07-15 03:34:00

Back in the spring of 2001, a 26 year-old Daniel Negreanu, who was one of the rising stars of the poker world, finished in 11th place in the World Series of Poker main event.

That tournament, which had a total of 613 entries, had a final table that featured the likes of Carlos Mortensen (who eventually won the event for $1,500,000), Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow and Phil Gordon. Daniel Negreanu didn't participate in that final table, however, as he was eliminated in 11th place for $63,940 after electing to make a final stand holding A-K.

14 years later, Daniel Negreanu was on the brink of making the final table that had eluded him for so long. It wasn't meant to be, however, as Negreanu was eliminated a few short minutes ago by the big stack in the tournament, Joe McKeehen.

After a flop of Ad-Kc-10d, Negreanu checked, McKeehen bet and Negreanu shoved the rest of his short stack. McKeehen called, and the two players turned over:

Negreanu - As-4d
McKeehen - Jd-3d

Negreanu was ahead with his top pair, though McKeehen had plenty of outs to win the hand.

The turn brought the 3 of hearts, giving McKeehen even more outs. Now he would win the hand with any Queen, diamond, Jack or Three.

The river card brought the Queen of Hearts, driving a dagger through the hearts of Daniel Negreanu and his many supporters. For the second time in his career, Daniel Negreanu was eliminated from the World Series of Poker main event in 11th place.

The good news for Negreanu? Thanks to the much larger field size (6,420 entrants vs 613 in 2001), Negreanu walked away with a much larger payout of $526,778 compared to the $63,940 that he received 14 years ago. This is surely no consolation for Negreanu, however, as he has over $30 million in total lifetime tournament cashes and desperately wants a main event bracelet.

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ESPN and World Series of Poker executives will surely be gutted by Negreanu's elimination as well, as having "Kid Poker" at the "November Nine" final table surely would have helped ratings in a big way.


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Filed Under: World Series of Poker