Poker Legend Says Higteen patti real cashh Roller Earnings are a 'Mirage'

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Table Of Contents

• How Much Do Poker Tournament Grinders Really Make?
• Not Everyone Agrees

Daniel Negreanu dropped what he believes to be a heavy dose of reality on X about how much money the high-volume high roller poker tournament grinders really make.

The seven-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner is a rare breed among high rollers in that he discloses his profits and losses. Poker fans only get to see the cashes, which don't include losses, when looking up the results for most of their favorite high-stakes tournament pros on The Hendon Mob's database.

https://twitter.com/RealKidPoker/status/1913637746545246519

How Much Do Poker Tournament Grinders Really Make?

Negreanu, who has been playing at the high-stakes level since the 1990s and ranks seventh all time with $55.5 million in live tournament cashes, claims it only cost about $250,000 to play a full slate of the highest stakes tournaments in a year in the late 1990s. He says that number rose to approximately $1.2 million in 2013, but now costs over $12 million in entry fees.

The GGPoker ambassador plays a reasonably large tournament schedule each year, but not in comparison to some of the high rollers as he doesn't travel to compete in Triton Poker events or overseas in tours such as the European Poker Tour (EPT). He now mostly sticks with tournaments in Las Vegas, usually WSOP or PokerGO Tour events.

But the Poker Hall of Famer, despite skipping a chunk of the high roller circuit, is a big part of the high roller community.

"Most every pro who is playing this kind of high roller schedule is selling action and/or swapping, so if you see a pro who played them all cash for $7 million in a year, likely losing $3-5 million, they didn’t actually lose that much if anything at all. If they only sell at markup, they can lose $3-5 million, but still show a profit personally." Negreanu wrote.

Negreanu continued to explain that high roller tournaments often have turbo blind structures so as to appease the recreational players who don't want to play for days. The structure increases variance, which is disadvantageous to seasoned pros. It minizes their edge against a whale. A crusher such as Alex Foxen or Stephen Chidwick would, in theory, have a higher return on investment (ROI) playing longer blind levels against less-skilled opponents.

"If you want to make a good living as a tournament player, your best bet is to focus on low to mid stakes buy in tourneys," Negreanu advises.

Negreanu claims that what poker fans envision about the highest stakes players "is mostly a mirage." The co-host of the MANIA Podcastended an 11-year bracelet drought last summer by winning the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $1,178,703. But he still turned in his third consecutive losing WSOP, mostly due to failing to cash in the largest events — $100,000 and $250,000 — on multiple bullets.

He lost just over $2.2 million across all tournaments played in 2023. Negreanu is off to a solid start to 2025 with two high roller wins, although he only recorded one small cash in the recently completed U.S. Poker Open series.

Not Everyone Agrees

Negreanu's high roller take sparked some debate on X. Adrian Mateos, considered one of the best high-stakes tournament pros in the world, disagreed with his peer.

Mateos, a Spanish poker legend, claims only a few players spend over $10 million entering poker tournaments. He said he played most of the high roller stops in 2024 and spent "way lower" than Negreanu's $12 million figure.

Mateos cashed for $13.1 million last year, which topped The Hendon Mob charts. He now has over $52 million in live tournament cashes, which includes four WSOP bracelets.

"I thought you won a lot in 2024, but after reading Daniel's post, I realize you were one of the 5 high roller regulars to win a small amount last year. Tough life," Sam Greenwood, a high-stakes grinder and future guest on PokerNews' Life Outside Pokerpodcast, sarcastically responded to Mateos.

https://twitter.com/RealKidPoker/status/1913669592234528951

Sean Winter, another high roller regular, joked that he must be down $23 million over the past two years given he's cashed for far less annually than $12 million.

"Every time someone referecnes a player's Hendon Mob to qualify/disqualify their ability in this space just kindly reference this thread & understand that MTTs are the mirage," Matt Berkey tweeted.

High roller tournaments take place all across the world. Tournaments the full-schedule grinders enter include the WSOP, World Series of Poker Paradise (WSOPP), EPT, high rollers at Seminole Hard Rock in South Florida, random high rollers at Wynn and Aria in Las Vegas, Triton Poker, and a few other stops. The regular high rollers typically play buy-ins ranging from $5,000 to $300,000, and every year or two some venue will host a $1 million buy-in tournament.

These events are not only expensive from an entry fee standpoint. Traveling weekly to multiple locations in different states and countries adds another cost you won't find in a player's profile. Most high rollers swap action or sell large pieces of their own action to lessen their costs. But, as Negreanu said, the high roller tournament profits aren't as high as some think.

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