Daniel Negreanu to 2+2 Posters - What Kind of Human Being do You Want to Be?

In his blog post from a few days ago, one of the most recognizable faces on the live poker circuit Daniel 'KidPoker' Negreanu came up with his personal guide to becoming a professional poker player. Negreanu stated that this post was inspired by a question he was asked during a conference in Toronto in relation to teenage gamblers who say they want to become professional poker players.

The post received a lot of critcism from the NVG part of 2+2 community, so much so that it prompted the reply from Negreanu himself, who is not particularly known for posting on the biggest online poker forum. The full blog entry can be found on the Full Contact Poker pages, and in this article we bring some of the highlights.

Hard work and vision statement

'KidPoker' explains that he knows only few players who have been successful in their careers without treating it seriously and like a job. Like a small business owner, poker player is in the business of entertaining his or her customers, e.g. players not as skilful as they.

Setting up your vision statement is also important. What do you want to achieve by playing poker and how do you envision your life as a poker player? Defining that will help you recognize and subsequently achieve your goals.

From dreams to realization

Once the vision is there, you need to start planning the actual steps you will take towards realizing it. Financial responsibility and continued work on improving your skills are crucial for success. You also need manage your expectations - vision is a good thing, but if your expectations are too high, you will end up failing.

Talk to people in the games you are planning to play and see what numbers you can expect. That way you will avoid disappointment and trying to push yourself way too hard, trying to attain the unattainable, regardless of how good you play.

Most will fail

If you put together a realistic, attainable plan and set everything up, most people are still very likely to fail. There are simply so many factors to account for, from bankroll management to earning enough to make a decent living, that most people will stumble somewhere along the way.

Just like in other sports or competitions, only 2% - 5% those trying will really succeed. Those with big enough drive, necessary skill set, emotional stability and proper bankroll might make it. For everybody else, odds are stacked against them. It can be achieved but it is much harder than it looks on TV, concluded Negreanu.

2+2 React - Daniel answers

Response of the 2+2 community to this Negreanu's post hasn't been very positive. For one, many posters did not like the fact that his blog entry was primarily about playing live poker, where today most people actually start (and often continue) their poker journeys online.

Some others were stating that taking advice from a televised pro on becoming a professional player was actually not such a good idea in the first place. Only some were emphasizing that Negreanu has been around for a while and that he might actually know what he is talking about.

Prompted by the outburst of negative comments, Negreanu himself joined the discussion, posting as 'DNegs'.

He continued saying that it seemed to him that being a hater was a popular thing on the forum, especially in the NVG (News, Views & Gossip) section. He said that the original blog post received a lot of positive feedback from the community elsewhere with NVG being the only exception.

What started as a (heated) debate over a post, quickly turned to fully fledged argument, in which some almost forgotten skeletons were pulled out of the closet, dating several years back. With only a few posters standing up for Negreanu, saying that he is the only big name pro who actually posts on the forums, the thread quickly turned to a heated debated in which the key people behind the 2+2 community took a very active part.

The history between Dnegs and 2+2 is a long and turbulent one, way too long for a single article, but if you have time to go through the thread, some things may become clearer. In the sea of fairly meaningless posts, there are actually some valid and interesting discussions worth reading.

Happy hunting!