Daniel Negreanu Is the Debt Collector

Posted by Brenda Williams on July 11th, 2019

Rumor has it that Daniel Negreanu is owed money by some poker players, and he has come to collect! (from https://breakandthecity.com/)

The poker legend took to his social media the other day and claimed that other players owe him a total of about 5 million U.S. dollars. He had loaned them out quite a bit of time ago, and apparently, those people had no intention of paying him back.

Negreanu made a poll on his Twitter page, asking his followers if he should out those no-good debtors?

The internet reacted, and almost 30,000 people voted “yes” to having the players exposed. But some of his fans said that only the dishonest ones should be exposed.

It looks like Negreanu is just itching to publicly shame some people. So that’s what happens when the Poker Kid reaches his tolerance limit.

Negreanu is so annoyed because, if the rumor is true, it means that ¼ of his life earnings from tournaments are in someone else’s hands! He is currently in 2nd place on the all-time list, with only Bonomo in front of him.

If Negreanu really had 5 million owed him, then he would be in 1st place! Because then he’d have won around 45 million dollars, 3 million more than Bonomo.

Who knows where the truth lies?

But some pro players have joined the cause, so it seems like there’s some legitimacy to what he’s saying.

Phil Galfond “joined” the cause by cracking a joke. He “confessed” to borrowing 5 U.S. dollars from Negreanu to tip a waitress 8 years earlier, and he has not repaid that loan. The internet chuckled, and Galfond was taken off the “suspects list.” Bill Perkins added to the comedy by writing that the non-existent cheque he “owes” is on the way. 

Dan Cates commented that people without honor should be publicly shamed, and even John Duthie wrote that he was against people using others. He is of the opinion that these players just used Negreanu’s kind heart, and that’s theft.

Duthie relates that he too has loaned money and never seen it again, saying: “If someone (anyone) capitalizes on your good nature, knowing they will never repay you, then this is theft, pure and simple.”

Sam Grizzle probably made the funniest comment, saying that Negreanu should start a fist fight, like he did with Phil Hellmuth back in the day. Now, that’s some sound advice… not really, but you gotta love Grizzle!

This is not the only high-profile debt case this year! Some months ago, there was also some controversy around Eli Elezra and Randall Emmett.

Elezra got outed half a year ago as owing 853,000 U.S. dollars to Abe Mosseri, plus another 100,000 U.S. dollars to Cole South. The rumors are that they are not the only people he owes money to, that there are many, many more.

Randall Emmett is not a household name, just an amateur poker player and producer. But he also had his 15 minutes of fame (or 15 minutes of shame, really) when he had to pay back legendary rapper 50 Cent a whopping 1 million U.S. dollars in the “fofty” affair.

He did though, and 50 Cent commended him on it on social media.

Let’s hope Daniel Negreanu’s debtors do the same!