The NJSCOOP features 27 exciting events from May 15-29, broken down into low and high tiers to create 54 total tournaments with combined guarantees over $1 million. Many big events took place over the weekend, and many more will take place for the next two weeks.
SCOOPing On the East Coast
The biggest tournaments of the poker festival will take place on May 29, with the the $50 Low NJSCOOP Main Event featuring a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool and the $500 High NJSCOOP Main Event offering $200,000 guarantee.
New Jersey's Tony "1st.p1ace" Meza was the first to claim a big win in the poker series when he won the NJSCOOP-01-H: $150 NL Hold'em [Ultra KO], $30,000 Gtd for $7,435, including knockouts. Well-known players at the final table in this tournament included David "supadphat" Cheng in fourth place for $1,033 and Craig "YourPetCat" Rubinstein finishing in eighth for $408.
The biggest winner thus far came in the second high event when "Richardv1109" outlasted a field of 507 entrants to win the NJSCOOP-02-H: $250 NL Hold'em, $100,000 Gtd for $22,327. New Jersey's "9islive" also secured a big payday with a runner-up performance worth $16,361. AJ "Chips_Jammed" Ten Hoeve banked $12,049 for third place and John "1234 fifffff" Ciarkowski won $5,021 for sixth place.
The final three players in the NJSCOOP-04-H: $300 NL Hold'em [6-Max, Turbo], $40,000 Gtd agreed to a deal, with "TeethOfBags" taking home the top prize of $8,946. Keith "donnysack" Donovan and "supremetny" each won $1,000 less for $7,946.
Not all players had to pony up a real-money buy-in to win big this weekend, as "b1ackchip" won $5,000 after finishing on top of a huge 2,943-entrant field in the $100,000 Spin & Go Challenge Freeroll.
PokerStars NJ also hosted a handful of its regularly scheduled tournaments, including the Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd, which "0verbot :)" won for $8,084.
Michael "J3tBl@ckP0pe" Gagliano, who has been hot in recent weeks, took third place in this tournament for $3,032. The BorgataPoker.com pro and Cardrunners instructor added to his winnings with an eighth-place finish in the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com $50,000 Guarantee for $1,954, a tournament won by "NeverNude83" for $10,560.
Rumble in New Jersey
Also taking place in New Jersey this weekend involving PokerStars NJ was the Run It Up Resorts Rumble. The $30 "onlive" tournament was played in a live setting at Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, but with a twist as each participant played from a computer and only players present at Resorts Casino were allowed to play.
The event attracted 124 entries and saw Daniel "monkeyman067" Sewnig walk away with the $778.67 top prize. He was followed by Matt "mattybuns1" Laverty in second place for $541.53 and Bob "s.l. halper" Taylor in third for $411.30.
WSOP Main Event Packages Being Won
Last week, Gagliano was one of two players to win a World Series of Poker Main Event package valued at $13,000 on WSOP.com NJ. This week, two more players won a packages, with the likes of "jfksbh" and "johnnygolf78" scoring big.
Meanwhile, "FastFingers" was the king of the hill in the WSOP NJ/888poker NJ $30,000 GTD Weekly Sunday to win the top prize of $8,100, and "AlexandraNM" won the second-place consolation prize of $4,725.
$13,000 WSOP 2016 Main Event Qualifier *2Packages GTD* [Re-entry]
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$185+15
74
$26,000
Place
Player
Prize
1
jfksbh
$13,000
2
johnnygolf78
$13,000
$30,000 GTD Weekly Sunday
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$185+15
159
$30,000
Place
Player
Prize
1
FastFingers
$8,100
2
AlexandraNM
$4,725
3
sri100k
$2,700
4
sports247
$2,100
5
Deezer
$1,800
6
AriZahav
$1,500
7
Yong "LuckySpewy1" Kwon
$1,140
8
QIGONG
$720
9
Canarsiekid
$510
$10,000 GTD Weekly Sunday
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$91+9
138
$12,558
Place
Player
Prize
1
AndrewRiebel
$3,453
2
uniquexcoles
$2,009
3
Notheretowin
$1,143
4
nicha123
$892
5
Gr8.2b.in.NJ
$766
6
Daniel "RedsoxNets5" Sewnig
$640
7
grinddding1
$490
8
Anthony "l0lflawless" Maio
$314
9
WOLFof5thSt
$226
If you play regulated online poker tournaments in New Jersey and would like your real name appearing in future articles, please contact this editor at [email protected].
*Special thanks to PocketFives.com for some of the data in this article.
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
