Canadian poker sensation Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu has been thwarted in his effort to gain the fifth World Series of Poker (WSOP) championship gold bracelet of his career.

After leading in chips for most of the tournament, Negreanu choked at the end and let unknown Brock Parker eke out a victory in Event #14 at the 2009 WSOP in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Negreanu, the top Canadian poker player in the world, came in second.

The event was a six-handed, limit Texas hold ‘em tourney with a $2,500 buy-in, a prize pool of about $844,000, 367 entrants and 36 payouts.

For the victory, Parker, 27, a poker pro from Silver Springs, Maryland, USA, earned $223,697 and his first WSOP bracelet.

Runner up Negreanu, originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but now a Vegas resident, earned $138,280.

Finishing third was Tommi Horkko of Tampere, Finland, who earned $89,660.

Other notables finishing in the money were Card Player magazine publisher Barry Shulman, who ended up in fifth place, and poker pro Barry Greenstein, who finished in 30th.

So how did four-time bracelet-winner “KId Poker” lose to an unknown kid?

A WSOP publicist who witnessed the debacle explained: “Negreanu went card dead at the worst possible time of the tournament. He lost most of the final hands dealt and finally went out just as spectators were settling in for a long heads-up showdown. The final hand of the night came when Negreanu had K-10 and made a pair of 10s. But Parker had an ace and made a pair of aces, which collected the final pot of the night.”

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)