Poker Pro Daniel Negreanu Loves His Caddy

Written by:
Sparky Collins
Published on:
Jan/31/2009

Today, Gambling911.com transgender reporter, the lovable Sparky Collins, looks at poker pro Daniel Negreanu's very special relationship to his golf caddy.

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In his blog, Canadian poker pro extraordinaire, Daniel Negreanu, speaks kindly of his golf caddy and how helpful he is in teaching him how to play golf....a little too kindly perhaps.

"Christian is my golf coach/caddie that works for me full time. I rarely ever hit a golf ball, even while practicing, without Christian being right there to make sure my posture, grip, and shoulders are all where they are supposed to be. I literally never golf without him there and couldn't imagine gambling at golf without Christian. It would be like suicide."

So are golf caddies really that powerful?

Yes they can be!

Take this entry from another blogger.  The individual here proprietor of a Management Solutions website out of Australia.

His caddy experience is much the same as that of Negreanu's....albeit this was more of a passing fling:

When I was still living in South Africa, I played more golf than I do now. As was the custom, every golfer would have a caddie. Caddies were typically under-employed and uneducated; trying to eke out a living on fairly meager payments as caddies on the all-white golf course of the time. (I am not proud of it, but that is what it was like back then.)

I learnt one of the most important lessons of my life on such a golf course, from a gap-toothed, semi-literate character who was my caddie on that particular day. (I wish I remembered his name or could find him again because I would like show my gratitude.)

He watched (obviously in agony) for awhile as I was leaving quite a few puts short on this particular day. One after the other my puts would stop short of the hole. Eventually he could not contain himself anymore and he blurted out:

"Give the ball a chance, master - give the ball a chance."

For a moment I was on the verge of being upset about his unsolicited advice. (Remember, unlike pro caddies, none of them could actually PLAY golf and they really just carried the bags.) But then I realised the wisdom of those words, and I couldn't help but smile. (The rest of my four-ball burst out laughing of course.)

If you don't hit the ball hard enough it will not go in the hole. That is the difference between success and failure: how hard you hit the ball. Hitting it hard is not a guarantee that it will go in, but hitting it too softly, is a guarantee that it WON'T go in.

Negreanu enjoys a stronger bond with his caddy...and Christian does not even address him as "Master".  Well, at least we don't think so anyway.

"Seriously, if I don't hit a shot exactly perfect I'm a bit of a nutcase and might ask him any of the following questions:
'Was I too quick?'
'Did I pull that one?'
'Did you have me aimed that far right?'
'How does my grip look?'
'Am I too bent over?', Negreanu says.

Can all this great karma derived from a golf caddy transfer to success at the poker tables? 

Something tells us we can expect to see Christian along side Daniel at this summer's World Series of Poker in Vegas.

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Sparky Collins, Gambling911.com

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