Daniel Negreanu wins the British Columbia Poker Championship

First there was the World Poker Tour brining the North American Poker Championship to town at the Falls View Casino at Nigara Falls. That event attracted a record crowd to take the title as the “largest” poker tournament in Canada this year. However, just this past weekend at the British Columbia Poker Championship, 689 poker players coughed up the $2,500 Canadian to play in the Main Event.

The field was mostly amateur players that won their way in via satellite but the event still had drawing power from the poker elite. Gavin Smith, Liz Lieu, and WSOP November Nine member Dennis Phillips also played in the event. Once Steve Paul-Ambrose ($6,931) and Phillips ($8,543) busted out, Daniel was the last big name pro in the field. Carrying the weight of his home country and the expectations of the poker-playing world, Daniel was able to run through a final table of amateur players to win the title and take home $371,910 Canadian.

Following the win, Negreanu was complimentary towards his competition and the host of the event: “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.”