Daniel Negreanu, PokerStars and the Death of the Online Pro

Daniel Negreanu talks to Joey Ingram and Dani Stern about his attempts to help bridge the gap between the players and the executives of Amaya, and the prognosis doesn’t sound good.

The first time that Daniel Negreanu made the final table of a European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event was in Season 7. It was in the Kursalon in Vienna, Austria. He finished fourth.

I remember the event well. It was my first. PokerNews hired me, who in turn were contracted by EPT/PokerStars, to provide coverage of the event. A few months earlier I was an employee of DB Schenker. One of the largest freight logistics companies in the world.

My first impression of the event was one of plentitude. Why were there so many people employed to cover a game of poker? At my time with DB Schenker we had all become kings of cost cutting. We had to survive the economic crisis of 2008. Here in Vienna someone somewhere was making some injudicious decisions when it came to EBITDA.