Daniel Negreanu, Under The Gun

1. What do you consider the greatest bluff you ever pulled off?

That one’s easy. At the Championship Poker at the Plaza event on FSN in 2004, the hand against Freddy Deeb. In heads-up play, I put a bluff raise on Freddy that was sophisticated in that I didn’t go all in. I made it look like I really wanted him to call. I limped in with Ah-7d, the blinds were 800/1,600, he raised 7,000 more, and I called. The flop was Ks-6h-2h. He bet about 16,000, and I called with the intention of taking the pot from him on the turn. The turn came, the 4s. He checked, so I went ahead and bet 30,000, trying to pick up the pot. He called. Now the river came, the 4h. It paired the board and put a flush out there, and I had the ace of hearts, but not the flush. He bet 65,000, so most people would fold, just throw the hand away. But instead, I knew that he couldn’t have the nut flush, and I knew that he didn’t have a full house, so I decided to represent one of those hands and I raised him just 100,000 more. So he looked at it and he’s like, “You must have flopped a set,” and he threw the hand away. And, of course, I show the bluff, and after that, for the next 45 minutes, he just couldn’t stop talking about it.

2. Who’s the player you just can’t get a read on?

John Hennigan. He switches gears so quickly. Once you think you have a read on him, that’s when he flips it on you and he just switches gears. When he’s playing his best, he’s arguably the best player I’ve ever played. He plays at another level. He plays above the rim. Him, Ted Forrest, and Phil Ivey all have similar qualities in that they think about poker in a very unique way.

3. What’s your guilty pleasure television show?

Has to be the Real World/Road Rules Challenge. I’m addicted to reality TV in general, and that’s a really silly show, but I love it. I never miss an episode. MTV reality TV, I TiVo everything. The people on those reality shows, those are the people that, when I meet them, I go, “You wouldn’t believe who I met!”

4. Is Phil Hellmuth as good as he thinks he is?

Oh, not even close. Nobody could ever be as good as he thinks he is. Doyle Brunson once said, “I wish I was as good as he thought he was.” His evaluation of his own play is way off-base. He walks into the cash games and the side games, and literally, the top players, we all lick our lips. Yum, yum, here comes a sucker. I think when he plays his best, he plays pretty good, but the young kids today are studying and learning so much, and he’s not. He’s just not focused.

5. At what age do you become too old for the nickname “Kid Poker”?

(laughs) I don’t know, I think if you look at Kid Rock, he’s close to hitting 40 and he’s still Kid Rock, so … I think the name Kid Poker isn’t necessarily related to age, because I feel like a kid anyway, and I think I’ll always behave and feel like I’m young. I don’t think that I’ll ever outgrow the name. Maybe one day, we’ll switch to “The Man”—“Dan The Man.”