Sending Good Karma to Daniel Negreanu

Way back in 2008, I was writing for PokerNews.com doing, among other things, event recaps during the World Series of Poker. I was assigned the $2,000 Limit Hold'em event which Daniel Negreanu won. I wrote the following first paragraph:

Daniel Negreanu went into the final table of this event the most experienced player in the field by far. For six of the other players, this was their first time at a WSOP final table. Negreanu not only had three prior WSOP wins, but had won this event before, back in 2004. So, despite not starting the day in the chip leader, it was not a surprise when Negreanu emerged as the winner of the 2008 WSOP $2,000 Limit Hold'em event. Negreanu won every hand in heads up play to earn the victory, his fourth WSOP bracelet and the first-place prize money of $204,874.

That has been on the front page of Daniel's MySpace ever since. It has been, I'll admit, something that has tickled me. I'm a huge fan of Negreanu's and I was glad that it was my voice that told the story of his most recent bracelet. I liked having my name on his page -- especially since it was spelled correctly, something that happens less frequently than Negreanu is spelled right. It's all about "a's" and "e's" -- I'll discuss that some other time.

So this is, I fear, how the curse worked. I apparently was a little too glad to be quoted and even remotely, tangentially associated with Negreanu’s bracelet, because as he proceeded to make deep runs in 2008 and 2009, I found myself having decidedly mixed feelings about it. While I think he's a terrific player and certainly wanted him to do well, I knew that when he won his next bracelet mine would be replaced by some other writer's recap.

Now you might think this is silly. But have you followed Negreanu the last two years? He’s had some good runs yet somehow fell short. Fellow Canadian Scott Montgomery won a bracelet this year and Negreanu still hasn't -- now that's what I call silly.

So last week I was on Keep Flopping Aces with Lou Krieger (on Rounder’s Radio) and I mentioned the curse and how I was lifting it. Honestly, part of me expected to read about a Negreanu bracelet the next morning. Well, it’s been a week and still nothing. Perhaps by putting it in writing that will be the final step in erasing it for good. I hope so, I’d like to see him win another. I look forward to reading the recap.