And Negreanu's experience is another example of how the pros will be forced to adjust their games to the thousands of newcomers, formerly viewed as dead money until Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer won recent main events.
After unsuccessfully trying to make something happen, Negreanu was down to about $4,000 when he limped in for $200 with K-Q of spades. A player in middle position raised about $1,600.
"I thought to myself that with the raise he made, he looked like he had a pair of 8s, 9s or 10s," Negreanu said. "But I thought I'd try to take a flop and catch a king, queen or a couple spades, so I called."
The flop came 8-9-3, rainbow.
"I'm like, 'Oh, no,' " Negreanu said. "I check. I'm hoping he bets so I can throw my hand away. But he checks."
The turn came a queen.
"I'm thinking, 'If he has a set, he has a set. Nothing I can do about it,' " said Negreanu "So, I bet my chips. He beats me in the pot.
"He has ace-queen, which really surprised me. He played it the only way he could to get all my chips, because if he bets the flop like he was kind of supposed to, then I would've just folded."
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