I'VE seen crowd favorites. I have seen all of them over the arena. I'VE seen hometown heroes, superstars, and Cinderella stories. I'VE seen crowds rally around an individual for no reason rather then it felt just like the right thing to do on the time. I BELIEVED I had seen it all.

I have never see anyone receive the type of support Daniel Negreanu came tonight.

At any given point, there have been greater than 200 poker fans within the Amazon Room and thousands watching online. There have been 11 men playing because the clock struck midnight, and Negreanu had nearly the entire of the gang behind him. They counted as he did push-ups at the stage. The cheered when he picked up the blinds and antes. They roared when he won a pot of any size. Regardless of whether you like or hate the man called Kid Poker, this man had everybody begging for him to make the November Nine.

That dream and the crowds it brought with it ended tonight when Negreanu flopped a couple of aces with ace-four. Short-stacked, he needed a double-up if he had any hope of doing well on the final table. Joe McKeehen had J♦3♦. He'd flopped two diamonds and a gutshot broadway draw. All-in, Negreanu had to dodge a queen or a diamond. The turn brought a three, giving McKeehen more outs. The river was a queen, and Negreanu was gone in 11th place for $526,778. It ties his highest ever Main Event finish.

The disappointment within the room was palpable. Not just is Negreanu a crowd favorite, he's one of the crucial famous poker players on the planet. There has been no technique to overstate the impact a last table appearance would've meant for the WSOP. The person had filled the Amazon Room bleachers by himself, and when he left, most of the joy and excitement followed him out.

"Watch this place clear out," said one man as he left the Amazon Room. "Nobody gives a shit anymore."

This is to take nothing clear of the 10 men who remain tonight. They have got worked hard to make it this far, too, and Negreanu's departure should under no circumstances taint their accomplishment. One of the vital ten remaining players would be the WSOP champion in November and become poker's ambassador to the remainder of the sector. They all have earned the fitting to be here.

That doesn't, however, make the burn of watching Negreanu walk away any easier. Thing is, he's already one among poker's greatest ambassadors, and he's become so without ever being a primary Event champion. Legions of fans didn't just want this for themselves or for poker. They wanted it for Daniel, too.

"This the only feather in my cap I HAVEN'T GOT yet," he said earlier today. "IT IS A great opportunity. You aren't getting numerous them."

Afterward, before any of the fans, media, or WSOP staff had come to grips what what had happened, Negreanu's signature laugh echoed during the Rio hallways. He stood before cameras and microphones and spoke from his heart. There has been disappointment, and it was clear, but there has been something else there, too, when he was asked if--as many of us here believed--poker needed him on the final table. His voice lowered for a moment.

"(The November Nine) is probably the most special final table of the year. I ASSUMED I'LL help by being there," he said. "I REALLY LIKE to advertise the sport. I REALLY LIKE this game. I owe it so much. I live my dream life day to day, and without poker I WOULD NOT be here."

But now, no less than this a part of it--this insane dream where poker's biggest superstar takes poker's biggest stage to compete for its biggest championship--ends. Negreanu will leave the Rio tonight and the WSOP for one more year. Who knows when--if ever--we will see a crowd of individuals so resolutely behind one player in a poker tournament. For lots of people, the discontentment will last for a while, but for Negreanu, it isn't going to switch who he is.

"I don't attach my results to my self worth, so whether I win at poker or lose at poker, I DO KNOW who I am," he said.

Thanks for the show, Daniel. Thanks for the show.

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging. Photography by PokerPhotoArchive.com

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