Doyle Brunson Says Daniel Negreanu Forced Him To Change The Way He Played

Doyle Brunson has tweeted praise for the way Daniel Negreanu forced him to change his game back in the early days by playing a hugely successful style unique to him. Texas Dolly paid what is the ultimate compliment for any sportsman by one of his peers by singling him out as the only example.

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Small Ball

When Daniel Negreanu was still climbing up the ranks, one of the most distinguishing features about his style of play was this “small ball” style he pioneered. Negreanu was known to like playing more pots than average, but they were mostly smaller than average too.

The Canadian had such a feel for what other players were doing he found it best to get involved in as many pots as possible. Of course, there is always a limit as to how far you can push it, even for a world-class grinder, but he really took this new idea to the absolute limit. In its essence, it was really a forerunner to the LAG style that became popular during the poker boom, just more about the loose and not feeling any need to be aggressive.

Brunson was all about playing big pots and putting pressure on his opponents but was forced to have a rethink when he saw how many events Negreanu was winning back in those days.

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Can Daniel Negreanu turn Back the Clock?

After losing $1.2 million against Doug Polk, Daniel Negreanu has chalked up another two straight losses in his match with Phil Hellmuth to the tune of $150,000. We doubt he is bothered in the slightest about the money itself, but he will be concerned over getting back to winning ways.

After losing a chunk on side bets over winning another World Series of Poker gold bracelet, he will no doubt attempt to do the same this autumn if the festival goes ahead. Another match or challenge loss will threaten to mentally crush him as he seems convinced that he’s playing well. And to be fair he probably is; it’s just that he really does try and attempt the near impossible sometimes

Time will tell, and anyway, before the WSOP we likely have yet another rematch against Hellmuth in the pipeline. We’re looking forward to that.