Daniel Negreanu captures Canadian poker crown

Local favorite and often outspoken card player Daniel Negreanu was the winner of this weekends British Columbia Poker Championship event. With a record field of 689 players vying for the first place prize money of $371,910 – Daniel was able to cruise relatively unscathed through the event to take home the money. Despite the record turnout this event wasn’t the largest this year in Canada, that event occurred earlier this year quite the drive from British Columbia. The World Poker Tour event at the Falls View Casino at Niagara Falls had a larger field and with the $5,000 entry fee, a larger prize pool.

Also in the large field were professional players such as Liz Lieu and World Series of Poker November Nine alum Dennis Phillips. Phillips would go on to cash in the event taking 30th place and a $8,453 cash prize. Once he busted out, there were really no other named players standing in Daniels way. From there he was able to cruise relatively smoothly to the final table where he eliminated 3 of the remaining players to chip and take home the big win.

Clearly excited about the big cash in his home country of Canada, Negreanu had this to say: "Being Canadian myself, playing and winning the B.C. Poker Championships is extra special to me. The tournament was extremely well organized and my opponents were very good. It may have been a smaller tournament, but I would say this has been the best $2500 buy-in event structure I've ever played."

He’s already looking forward to defending his title in next years British Columbia Poker Championship!