Yorky Pud

Daniel Negreanu is one of a select few players who has won both World Poker Tour (WPT) and World Series of Poker (WSOP) titles but a European Poker Tour (EPT) title has still eluded him. He has made it very clear he is desperate to join Roland de Wolfe and Gavin Griffin in winning poker's "Triple Crown," so much so that he has paid an extra $17,500 to take part in EPT Barcelona!

Negreanu has been in Los Angeles for the past week for the North American Poker Tour Main Event, which was eventually won by Joe Tehan. As he was about to return home to Las Vegas, his assistant informed him of a potential problem with his travel plans. The popular Canadian had planned to fly to Barcelona for the EPT on November 20, stay until the 27th and then a week later fly to Sydney for the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. However, it transpired that his passport was due to expire on December 5.

Knowing of his plans, Negreanu's assistant sent off his renewal application not knowing it takes the Canadian authorities up to four weeks to return passports, which would mean Negreanu would not be able to fulfil obligations to both his sponsor and some people he was going to travel with, who he described in his blog as "VIPs." Thankfully for Negreanu, these so called VIPs were able to pull a few strings for him.

After a frantic six hour drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, during which time Negreanu admitted to making songs up about place and road names and talking Patua (Jamaican) out loud to keep him awake, he was informed that if he could make it to the Vancouver passport office within the next six hours he would be able to get a new passport. He discovered that he would not be able to make that time-scale using a domestic flight so instead had to hastily book a private jet and pilot, at a cost of $15,000 with an additional $2,500 return flight! To cut a very long story short, Negreanu got his hands on his new passport and will now be taking part at EPT Barcelona, choosing to play on Day 1B.

Negreanu had snubbed the EPT events in the past but has been a regular on this season's circuit. So far he has managed a win in a side event at EPT Vilamoura, a minor cash in the £5,000 EPT London Main Event and more recently he came extremely close to his first EPT title when he came fourth at EPT Vienna.

Last year 478 players paid the €8,300 to take part in EPT Barcelona, with the eventual winner, Carter Phillips walking away with a massive €850,000. This year's tournament has a lower entry fee after organisers shaved €3,000 from the price, which is good news for Negreanu as he will already be in a $20,000 hole before the tournament even begins!