In the poker community, there are spats between players. Seldom, however, do they reach the pages of a poker publication. A recent interview in a popular UK poker magazine and website has taken one of those disagreements into public view.

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Well-known for his outspoken thoughts on many issues in the poker community, Daniel Negreanu (pictured) has, as of late, been backing up those comments with excellent tournament play. In an interview with Poker Player UK’s Ross Jarvis, Negreanu talked about his long history in the game and, during that discussion, focused a great deal of attention on one of the stars of the online poker world, Tom Dwan.

Negreanu fired at Dwan, “If you’re a sponsored player and you get paid, then you better do those things (media) or you’re disrespecting your organization and the game. If you aren’t prepared to do that, then don’t wear the patch.”

It wasn’t the last time that Negreanu broached Dwan’s name during the interview. “I don’t think Tom is one of the best in the world,” Negreanu opined. “I don’t know if he ever was. He got elevated after his appearance on ‘High Stakes Poker’ because he ran well and played well. Realistically, though, he doesn’t put in the time or practice playing now.” Negreanu also said that top players now “lick their lips” at the opportunity to take on Dwan heads-up.

Negreanu targeted a few others while talking about Dwan’s alleged lack of interest in the game. “A lot of guys like Dwan, Phil Galfond (pictured), and the Dang brothers didn’t grind their way to the top,” Negreanu noted. “They just had enough money for the perfect storm when Guy Laliberte lost $17 million and they all got a piece of that.”

While Negreanu may be dismissive of Dwan’s talents on the tables, he named two players who have impressed him, including one of Dwan’s teammates on Full Tilt’s Professionals team. “Viktor Blom is very tough… [It seems he]has a HUD in his head,” Negreanu praised. He also named Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, whom he battled online in 2011, stating, “I had no idea what he was doing.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, many in the online poker community have taken Negreanu’s comments as not only a slight against Dwan, but also against online players in general. As of Wednesday, a 300-plus-post thread had developed at Two Plus Two on the subject, with a majority of those in the discussion bashing Negreanu for his stance on Dwan.

“Dwan is miles ahead of Negreanu, whose core strategy appears to be to spend ten minutes talking about how he should fold and then call anyway,” poster BustoPro wrote. Fordham jumped up to defend Dwan, writing, “I’m curious to know what Daniel’s bankroll would look like if you take away the quadrillions he has received from PokerStars, the money from WSOP Player of the Year ads, and other event fees. I know he’s won a lot of money, but to say that somehow durrrr got his money off of something not skillful is a little silly.”

This tended to be the general course of discussion, including that the comparison between the two may be “apples and oranges.” Poster borg23 stated, “durrrr has made his money in games that are clearly skill. Negreanu has made his through donkaments and endorsements.” Firing back at those who pointed out the lack of success that Dwan(pictured) has on the live tournament circuit, borg23 replied, “He doesn’t [care] about them. He plays in games with $2,000 big blinds… Why would he care about some $10,000 event when he can make way more playing with rich businessmen?”

While Negreanu seems to be running against the tide with his comments on Dwan, he has a record of being willing to step up on certain issues in the poker world. “When I say something is bad for poker – like UltimateBet or the Epic Poker League – I have been right,” Negreanu stated to Jarvis in the article. “I’m like Jack Bauer in ’24’; eventually, you have to give this guy the benefit of the doubt.”

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