Daniel Negreanu Hits the Virtual Felt

Daniel Negreanu Hits the Virtual Felt

Tournament poker's winningest player of all time, recently racked up yet another $200k score - but this time, it was in a cash game.  An internet cash game no less.
 
Over the last week, the Canadian poker sensation has been mixing it up with online nosebleed regulars like Phil Galfond and Justin Bonomo - and to the surprise of many, he's up nearly 10 buyins at the 100/200NL tables at pokerstars this past week.
 
Negreanu, the quirky fan favorite, is as well known for his nonstop table banter as he is for his undeniably competitive nature.  It's this inherent desire to be the best that's got Negreanu trading bluffs and raises with some of the world's best NL Hold'em cash game players.  As confident as Negreanu is, his approach to these tough online cash games seems to be a bit more reserved, and a lot more humble.
According to a Negreanu post on twoplustwo.com:
 
"I'm always the first to admit that there are Swiss cheese like holes in my NLH cash game based on today's players. There are less holes today than there were a month ago. I'm really motivated to get good at it now and I'm going to."

Prior to this week, the bulk of Negreanu's online cash game play was at the micro limits, due to a promotional challenge he was doing for pokerStars.  When asked about why he made the jump from 25c/50c games to the 100$/200$ games, he added "I have been doing the micro limit challenge grind for a while and I still plan on continuing with it, but I'm not really going to learn much playing at those levels and I wanted to expedite the process."
 
While Negreanu may be treading in unfamiliar waters in these cash games, it certainly seems to correspond with his general philosophy of "playing with the best is the only way to be the best."  Several years ago when the nosebleed online games were dominated by Limit Hold'em, Daniel had heard about a relatively unknown player (at the time) by the name of Patrik Antonius. 

He was regarded as the world's best Heads Up Limit Hold'em player, and Daniel's competitive juices forced him to see what all the fuss was about.  A few days later, Negreanu's bankroll was $100,000 smaller, but felt he had learned enough about the game from his Finnish foe that the experience was a positive one overall.  He compared it to paying a tuition at school.
 
If Daniel can keep up with his winning ways of the past week, his foray into the school of online NL cash games may be on a full scholarship this time around.