Daniel Colman’s 2014 One For The Poker Record Books

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Tuesday, December 30th, 2014 | Written by Charles Washington

The poker history books are full of all sorts of remarkable feats, such as Phil Laak playing 115 consecutive hours of poker in 2010 to claim the poker endurance record, or Germany’s George Danzer making five final tables and winning three bracelets at this year’s WSOP to complete the best single year performance ever at the prestigious tournament series in Las Vegas.

However, the poker world witnessed another astounding record in 2014, this time involving US pro Daniel Colman who reached 9 final tables, emerging victorious in four for an incredible payout of $22,209,549. Interestingly, in the six years prior to the 23 year-old pro’s unprecedented run Colman had earned just $504,699, but after his record-breaking year he now finds himself in third place on poker’s ‘All Time Money List’ , behind Daniel Negreanu ($29,833,328), and Antonio Esfandiari ($26,266,687). A feat even more impressive considering the top pros have a combined 29-years of experience between them.

How Did He Do It?

For several years Daniel Colman’s considerable talent had been known to the poker community after being a consistent winner at the high-stakes cash games running online. In 2013, however, he entered the televised poker tournament PartyPoker Premier League VII and eventually finished 3rd for $194,000, sparking off his new found interest in live tournament play.

In April 2014, Colman then beat Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates heads-up to take down the €100k EPT Monte Carlo for €1,539,300 ($2,127,398), before in June overcoming Daniel Negreanu heads-up at the WSOP $1m The Big One for One Drop for a huge $15,306,668 payout. Next, in August, Colman beat Canadian top pro Mike Leah heads-up to claim the $5,300 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open for $1,446,710, while in October the US pro won the £60k WPT Alpha8 London for a further $957,396. Aside from these four victories worth $19,838,172, Colman also enjoyed one 2nd, two 3rd, as well as 5th and 7th place finishes to complete his incredible 2014.

Colman’s Comments Draw Unwanted Attention To Poker

When Dan Colman was competing against poker superstar Daniel Negreanu for the WSOP $1m The Big One for One Drop title, the media were firmly rooting for the affable Negreanu to win the tournament as the popular Canadian showman has been successfully promoting the game for years. The poker industry’s worst nightmares then seemed to be realized after the moody 23 year-old pro took down the biggest event in poker tournament history, before proceeding to attack the game which had brought him such wealth over the years.

Refusing to give the media any air time, Colman explained that he doesn’t endorse advertising gambling in the same way he “didn’t agree with cigarettes and alcohol being advertised.” If that wasn’t ironic enough, Colman subsequently took to the Two Plus Two forums to further attack poker, writing:

“I’ve been fortunate enough to benefit financially from this game, but I have played it long enough to see the ugly side of this world. It is not a game where the pros are always happy and living a fulfilling life. To have a job where you are at the mercy of variance can be insanely stressful and can lead to a lot of unhealthy habits.. I would never in a million years recommend for someone to try and make it as a poker pro.”

Ironically, after initially causing a storm Dan Colman’s expressionless reaction to his massive $15,306,668 victory went viral on YouTube, and inadvertently resulted in more attention being directed towards the game than perhaps a more traditional reaction would have created.

Daniel Colman Sweeps Bluff Player of the Year Race

Unsurprisingly, Daniel Colman has now won the Bluff Magazine Player of the Year race, and was practically uncatchable going into December. Giving an indication as to the size of his accomplishments in 2014, Colman finished the race on 1447.7 points, with Canada’s Mike Leah a way behind on 1149.64 points, followed by USA’s Dan Smith (949.35), Canada’s Ami Barer (930.79) and Germany’s Ole Schemion (927.56).

In spite of Colman’s record breaking year, however, in just a few days the players’ point scores will all be reset to zero and the poker community will eagerly be watching to see if the talented young pro can follow up an incredible 2014 with even more glory in 2015. The tournament action will resume once again on January 6th at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, with January 14th marking the start of the Aussie Millions, and the L. A. Poker Classic kicking-off just a few days later.