Diary of a Madman

Shamus

Daniel Negreanu has arrived. And everyone has noticed.

It's another multi-event day for Negreanu, and he apparently has built a decent stack over in the other event, to which he is anxious to return. With another tournament to play, Negreanu is gambling it up in this one. Here's a recent wild sequence from Kid Poker:

After a flop of {8-Spades}

, Negreanu checked from the big blind, his opponent bet 500, he check-raised to 2,000, and his opponent called. The turn brought the {9-Clubs}

, and Negreanu instantly shipped his 15,000 into the middle and his opponent called. Negreanu had {J-Spades}

for the flush draw, and his opponent {A-Clubs}

. "Give me a spade, or I go to my other tourney," said Negreanu with a grin. The river was the {3-Diamonds}

, and Negreanu was down to less than 2,500.

On the very next hand, the button raised to 375, then Negreanu went all in from the small blind. The big blind folded and the button called, showing {Q-Clubs}

to Negreanu's {A-Spades}

. The board came {7-Hearts}

, and Negreanu was back to close to 5,000.

On the next one, Negreanu open-shoved all in blind from the button and the small blind (who had 30,000) called him with {10-Clubs}

. What did Negreanu have? {A-Spades}

. (No shinola.) The board came {8-Hearts}

, and Negreanu was up to nearly 10,000.

On the hand after that, Jason Mercier raised to 375 from under the gun, Negreanu raised to 800 from the cutoff, Mercier made it 4,000, Negreanu shoved all in, and Mercier called. Mercier showed {A-Hearts}

and Negreanu {J-Diamonds}

. The flop brought a jack -- {2-Spades}

-- and the turn was the {7-Clubs}

and the river the {7-Spades}

. Negreanu was up to 20,000, and Mercier suddenly down to 4,600.

Mercier would double up through Negreanu soon after that, knocking Negreanu back to 14,175. On the next hand, Kid Poker again open-shoved all in with {A-Clubs}