The Kid – who’s since grown to become the most popular poker professional in the world – was born in 1974 in Toronto.

Even as a kid, Negreanu felt he could make a living playing poker, and much to his parents’ dismay, dropped out of high school to pursue a career in poker. He mostly played in Toronto, in local charity events and illegal games. Soon he became well known as he built up his bankroll to attempt to break into the Vegas poker scene where he knew the big money was supposed to be.

His first trial came to a swift conclusion as he lost everything and was forced to return to Toronto pretty much defeated, but never demoralized. He built his bankroll right back up and returned to the Strip with thoughts of revenge.

His break came in 1997 when he won two of the World poker Finals evens at Foxwoods. From there on, his career would take off like a jet.

He now has 3 WSOP bracelets to show and 26 money finishes in WSOP events, although he never won the big one, the Main Event. His top Main Event finish is an 11th place which he earned in 2001.

His WPT accomplishments include 2 titles, 7 final tables, and 14 money finishes, enough to make your head spin if you think about the amount of money he made.

For a while he represented Wynn Las Vegas as their spokesperson, but he opted out of that deal because at one point he decided the deal had been more of a liability than an asset for his poker career.

He owned his own online poker room (Full Contact Poker), where he tutored wannabes, and chaperoned young talents. Although he no longer runs an actual online poker room, his site is still functional: he uses it as a blog where he shares wisdom on several aspects of life, not just poker.

He’s also well known as a cash player and has made regular appearances in High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark and Late Night Poker.

His playing style is based on the – sometimes freaky – accurate reads that he makes on his opponents. That allows him to intimidate just about anyone. I saw him intimidating Scotty Nguyen once, and I think that says quite a lot about his abilities.