Negreanu’s Decision Not To Re-Enter Lasts 10 Days

Daniel Negreanu is a man who is not afraid to put his thoughts out there. The opinionated star often takes to Twitter to air his views.

One tweet, sent less than two weeks ago, caught the eye of the poker community because it discussed re-entry tournaments. Negreanu tweeted, “I’m also considering playing all of 2020 with no re-entry. That means I won’t cash as often. Won’t make as many final tables, but at least I won’t be taking part in something I don’t think should exist, or at least be the norm.”

Re-entry formats have become the industry standard for online and live tournaments. Players can buy back into Day 1s they bust from, or re-enter on a later Day 1. Poker rooms love them because they mean they can offer larger guarantees and collect more rake. Professional poker players prefer them because they get multiple bites at the cherry.

The issue the poker community has with re-entry tournaments is they heavily favor the professionals. Imagine being seated on a pro-laden table of a $10,000 buy-in event. You’re taking a shot in the biggest tournament of your life and manage to bust Negreanu. But Negreanu goes and flicks in another buy-in and re-enters. You would almost certainly be done and dusted if you had bust, yet those with more substantial bankrolls can continue to re-enter.

Negreanu Wishes Re-Entry MTTs Weren’t a Thing

A second tweet from Negreanu read, “WPT Bellagio Main Event next week. Unlimited re-entry. I understand why they do it, but I wish that re-entry wasn’t a thing for prestigious Main Events. I’m considering just playing one bullet, starting on time.”

Several of Negreanu’s fellow pros chimed in stating he was giving up too much-expected value (EV) by not re-entering. This wouldn’t be the case if everyone only fired one bullet, but that would never happen.

Fast-forward to the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio, a $10,600 re-entry event. The tournament saw a record-breaking field of 1,035-entries. Only 606 of those were unique players, 429 were re-entries. Negreanu was one of those re-entries and he made good use of his second bullet, navigating his way to 62nd place for $29,220.

Decision Made to Actually Re-Enter

“I talked to a lot of people and realized it’s just really stupid from my perspective to burn EV,” said Negreanu to WPT.com. “To take a stand for something that’s not going to work. It’s not like if I don’t rebuy you’ll stop seeing them do re-entry events. It’s just not going to happen because they make so much money from them.”

It’s been quite the year for Negreanu who found himself in the limelight throughout 2019. He started the New Year by announcing his engagement to Amanda Leatherman. Negreanu and Leatherman dated previously and rekindled their romance. The pair married on May 17 in California surrounded by some of poker’s elite.

The biggest news involving Negreanu came just before the 2019 World Series of Poker. PokerStars and Negreanu announced the end of their partnership, calling it an “amicable split.”

The Canadian superstar had been part of Team PokerStars Pro since 2007 and had become the face of PokerStars. This meant Negreanu went into the WSOP without a sponsor for the first time in more than a decade.

It was a great WSOP for Negreanu. He cashed 23 times between Las Vegas and the WSOP Europe festival in the Czech Republic. His performances looked to have locked up the coveted Player of the Year title. However, the WSOP wrongly credited with him cashing in a $1,000 online poker event. The points he would have earned from this were removed and he fell to third-place in the standings, behind winner Robert Campbell and arch-rival Shaun Deeb.

The roller-coaster year ended on a relative high with Negreanu signing with GG Poker. The network is one of the most up and coming in the online poker world, although U.S. residents aren’t allowed.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

View Articles