When people check poker player databases like the Hendon Mob, they are often envious of the results that they see. This is because some professional players often post cash-ins for the year totaling in millions. Legendary poker pro Daniel Negreanu is trying to dispel those assumptions via his popular year end blog post.
Negreanu posted that he has managed to cash in $2,792,104 during 2017. Though that sounds like a lot of money, he immediately posted the amount he spent on buy-ins. This was $2,874,164. Subtracting the buy-ins from the payouts reveal the truth that Negreanu actually lost money in 2017. The total amount of money that he lost last year was $86,140. Considering that he played 71 events in 2017 this means that he averaged $40,481 for each buy-in. These results are only based on his own spending.
Negreanu Transparent About How Much He Earned
Daniel Negreanu is one of the top poker players in the world and  has parlayed that into several profitable sponsorships. He also had staking deals for high-buy-in tourneys, allowing people to stake in his buy-in with them getting an agreed percentage of the cashout. However, more often than not, he prefers to use his own money when playing and take all the winnings.
Besides 2017’s results, Negreanu also posted the results over five years. What is surprising is that this year’s results were actually better than 2016’s. Negreanu spent $1,546,355 for buy-ins during 2016 but only won $300,431. The result is a loss of $1,246,693. This means that the Canadian poker player has gone through two bad years in terms of poker earnings. Fortunately, his performance from 2013 to 2015 was impressive. His recent banner year was in 2014 when he earned $7,100,164.
In a statement, Negreanu said “I think my 2017 was a good illustration of the illusion that players cashing for $2 million in a single year is a great accomplishment. In the old days, before super high rollers, you could all but guarantee that cashing for $2 million would mean the player had a winning year. Well, the truth is, if a player plays the full high roller schedule and cashes for $2 million, they are all but certain to have had a losing year, and that’s before expenses.””
2017’s bad performance is surprising considering his skill and reputation. However, it was not as bad as 2016 and a definite improvement. Besides the financial aspect though, Negreanu had a definite set of eight goals for 2017 and in a separate blog post detailed his successes and failures in them.
Negreanu Hits Most Goals In 2017
First, one of Negreanu’s 2017 goals was to reach $2.5 million. He had the same goal back in 2016 and he did not hit his target then. This time, he hit his goal amount by more than $200,000. His second goal was to win three WSOP bracelets. This one he failed, though it was pretty close since he was always at the top tables. The third goal for 2017 was to reach the 100 cash-in mark in his WSOP career. He managed to get a total of 103 cash-ins total for his entire career.
Negreanu’s fourth goal was to reclaim the top spot on the All-Time Money List. This is the total amount of money a player has earned in his career. He managed to sneak by Erik Seidel, getting the number one position with $35,319,815. Seidel only had $33,277,777. For his fifth goal, it was to become the WSOP Player of the Year for the third time. He lost out on this because he never quite managed to win any of the top events.
Negreanu Confirms Goals For 2018
As for 2018, Negreanu has once again published his list of top ten poker goals. The first one is to get $40 million in total live earnings, for which he’ll need to win $4,680,186 in 2018. The second goal is to win another WSOP bracelet, something he has not done in a few years. Next, he wants to reach 115 WSOP lifetime cash-outs and he needs another 12 in 2018 to accomplish this goal.
For his fourth goal, he wants to reverse his losing streak and earn a profit of $2 million. Another goal is to be in the top 30 of the Global Player Index. His sixth goal is to be at the final table of either the Super High Roller Bowl or the One Drop tournament. His seventh goal is to win the US Poker Open. The last three goals are to retain the first position on the All-Time Money List, win one of the Super High Roller Tournaments and to put in 120 hours of studying poker.