The most popular poker player in the world is now focusing on his wedding and family and leaves the green felt behind.
For a very long time, Daniel Negreanu dedicated his life to poker, grinding the live tournaments all around the world. He got to the top and was the most winningest player for years, until Justin Bonomo’s incredible heater last year, where the latter accumulated more than $25 million in less than 12 months.
However, it looks like Daniel is no longer interested in the rankings and putting the emphasis on planning his upcoming wedding with fiancé, Amanda Leatherman, and their family life.
Negreanu’s activity on social media suggested this in the past months and in an interview with pocketfives, he confirms what many have already expected.
It’s no wonder, what made “KidPoker” change his life approach, and he even verified it.
“I think a lot of people have said that too, even (PokerStars Pro Talent Relations Manager) Melanie said that to me the other day,” Negreanu said. “I think just playing poker’s been fun, but it’s funny because I bought this ring for Amanda ten years ago. When I bought it for her she was young, she was like 22, 23. She was not ready to be married.”
Unlike ten years ago, Amanda herself is now ready for a more serious relationship and Daniel was convinced they’re ready for the big move.
“I just realized, ‘Wow, she’s really grown up and we get along,’ and then I thought to myself, ‘What’s the point of looking for somebody who looks like Amanda, has a personality like Amanda, and we have a vibe like her when I could just give her a shot?’”
The wedding is scheduled for 2019, and Daniel’s future plans have not much to do with poker.
“Our goal is to have at least one of our own. Then we’ll see from there,” said Negreanu. “I think adopting two as well as having two of our own would be a good round number, four. I’m not held to any sort of number. We’ll just see how it goes.”
“There’s no such thing with poker. The World Series of Poker is in Las Vegas, right? So I live there. I’m always going to come to Europe a couple of times a year and play some of those,” Negreanu said.
“There’s not really much I have to prove.”
“Retirement in the sense of am I where David Peters is in his life, where David is grinding every tournament, playing everyone in the world, and focusing on his game more, and things like that? I’ve been retired like that for many years now – ten plus years. My goal is to just be competitive at those levels.”
“There’s not really much I have to prove. One thing that I was holding onto for most of my career was the top spot on the money list. The chances of me ever being number one again is almost nil, because every year now you have a group of kids who all get eight to ten million in winnings,” Negreanu said.
“I guess one number I’m still proud of, I guess, is the (earnings list) that doesn’t count high rollers, because I’m way ahead on that one. I don’t know that anyone will ever catch me on that one, especially if I’m playing a steady diet of World Series events that are under $25K.”
Despite stepping back from the daily grind, Daniel will still be active during the WSOP and other events in Las Vegas, where he resides.
“Obviously I’ll be at the World Series Poker. We’re doing vlogs again,” he said.
“The next few months we’re working on wedding lists and all that kind of stuff, so that will be a little bit of a distraction. (It was) something that I was thinking about during the PokerStars Players Championship that I probably shouldn’t have been, but my priority right now is her, and waking up every morning and thinking about how I can make her happy, and make her days as joyful as possible, and have her smiling throughout the day.”