HOMERIC HAND: ESFANDIARI VS NEGREANU
Published September 26, 2011Yesterday I really saw one of the most funny hands in poker history between two of my favorite players: Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu. Sick thing in this hand: Antonio Esfandiari ends up folding a straight flush!!
The hand was played during an Event of the World Series of Poker 2010. Look at this total madness:
So in the end there’s a STRAIGHT FLUSH on the board. What happens next is awesome television: Antonio tries to take the pot with a 3k bet, but then Daniel raises to 9k 
. Antonio knows of course that they will always chop this pot except if Daniel is holding the six of spades. Whether Daniel had it or not, we’ll never know, but fact is that Antonio Esfandiari is folding a straight flush here. I guess you’ve never done such a thing before in your poker career.
This fragment also reminded me of an earlier clash between those two awesome players, when they played at High Stakes Poker. Look at one of the finest moments in this show’s history:
Till next time!
LOL @ Daniel Negreanu
Published May 10, 2011I already showed you some impressions from Daniel earlier, but this time I found a really awesome movie of Negreanu when impersonating Scotty Nguyen during the NBC National Heads-Up Championship 2009 . Those two guys are so awesome, just watch:
Haha like I said earlier, Daniel must be the most pleasant guy to sit on a poker table with. I even think such appearances say something about his reading skills. It’s not a coincedence that Daniel can impersonate some of the greatest poker players so well. It’s just a result of observing every move they make while sitting on the table. Besides, it shows that Daniel can perfectly relativize things and that he’s a very smart guy. I mean, funny people are nearly always very intelligent people and I think Daniel’s the perfect example of it. If there only wasn’t a Phil Ivey on this planet Daniel would be the greatest!
Posted in daniel negreanu, scotty nguyen | 
2009, daniel negreanu, impersonation, impression, nbc heads-up, readabilities, scotty nguyen, whig | Leave a commentSweat with…
Published March 16, 2011If you are a regular viewer of poker broadcasts, you’ll know the phenom of ‘sweat hands’. The audience only sees one player’s hands and has to figure out (together with the commentators, right Norman Chad?^^) what the other players are holding. It’s a PERFECT way to learn some real poker, and it allows you to climb into the mind of a real poker pro.
A very nice extra feature of the hand I have for you is that the commentator is actually one of the best poker players of the world, Daniel Negreanu. The hand is from the High Roller PCA Championship and it’s basically between the great Eli Elezra and French pro Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier. Let’s watch:
As you see, sweating with a player gives you a lot of extra insights in the game, which you can use when playing on your own. Good example is the leading out of Elezra on the flop with his middle pair (Daniel explains why) and what’s going through Eli’s head when Elky raises the river. You have to considerate all those things Daniel explains when making your own decision in the same spot. In this case, it was indeed only AT which Eli had to fear. Btw: did you notice Eli’s ‘Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone’ voice after Elky’s raise on the river? Awesome!
Time to have a laugh
Published January 4, 2011It doesn’t always have to be about breathtaking decisions and entering the valley of unhappiness after a ‘bad beat’. What makes a poker game such an entertaining event, is the fact that moments of great tension are mixed with moments of great laughs and loads of humor. That’s why we’re greatful to Daniel Negreanu, probably one of the funniest guys on the poker table. Sometimes intended, sometimes not.
I actually came down to this subject while watching the 2010 WSOP Main Event. While watching, I noticed that there isn’t an episode of ‘The Nuts’ in every episode, while this is one of the best things about the WSOP. So ESPN, please bring us more episodes of The Nuts! Look at this one, dating from 2006, for example (about impersonations, of Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen and Phil Ivey):
Now this really is great television, especially from Daniel, who’s a master in impressions. So I searched a little more and found another impression of Scotty by Daniel
LOL, Daniel, you are a strange guy, but I would love to sit down at the poker table with you one time!
The WSOP 09: some results (2)
Published July 21, 2009Last time I showed you the results of Phil Hellmuth and Eli Elezra, today it’s Daniel Negreanu’s and Antonio Esfandiari’s turn. Well, especially Daniel’s turn 
.
That’s because Antonio only cashed one time, while Daniel made it EIGHT times to the money! But hey, the one cash-out the Magician made was in a very special tournament, finishing 24th (in a field of 854) in Event 52: Triple Chance NLHE (3k), cashing $14.967. What does triple chance mean? It means you get three stacks from each 3000 chips. You can play with those 9000 chips alltogether from the start or start with one and use the other two as rebuys.
So Daniel cashed eight times, and there were some serious ones among them. Daniel had a GREAT run this year, resulting in a total prize money of $331.860! Daniel cashed playing a wide arrange of games:
- Event 6 (World Championship 7 Card Stud, 10k buy-in): 10/142
-Event 10 (PL HE/O, 2,5k): 43/453
-Event 14 (LHE (6-handed), 2,5k): 2/367
-Event 18 (World Championship PLO H/L 8 or better, 10k): 4/179 (Daniel Alaei won this event, cashing $445.898, Annie Duke finished 8th)
-Event 38 (LHE, 2k): 26/446
-Event 47 (Mixed Hold’em (L/NL), 2,5k): 37/527
-Event 53 (7 card stud H/L 8-or-better, 1,5k): 47/467 (Chad Brown finished 4th in this event, cashing $44.589)
-Event 55 (2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit), 2,5k): 16/258
Look here for a definition of 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. Looking forward to the results of the pros in the Main Event!
“Oh boy”: beating the best
Published July 7, 2009That’s what I saw David Benyamine doing the other day during an episode of High Stakes Poker (season 4 episode 17). He’s playing against one of my absolute favorite players, Daniel Negreanu. The actual hand starts towards the end of the fragment you can see right here and continues here .
Daniel calls David’s preflop Aces raise with T9 off and hits toppair on the flop. When Benyamine makes a continuation bet on the flop, Daniel just calls. I think he doesn’t really think he has the best hand here, but thinks he can make a move on the turn. After all, Benyamine didn’t play that many hands so Daniel must give him credit for like… Kings?! That’s exactly his speech on the turn when he raises another big bet from Benyamine.
I think Daniel thinks he can perfectly represent TT or 88 in that spot. Then the speech even gets better: “I don’t say I have Kings beat.”, actually true . However Benyamine shows some serious guts when moving all-in over the top and the “oh boy” from Daniel already is a classic^^.
Later on in the episode, Daniel himself shows some serious skills, when guessing exactly Doyle Brunson’s hand (a set of 3′s), right after Antonio Esfandiari exactly says what Daniel had in the hand before, where Daniel’s 88 was quiete disguised. I love those guys!