The new year started off with a bang for online poker players in the Garden State with many big name players winning big on Sunday.
Daniel Buzgon is well-known as an old school poker tournament player both on the virtual and live felts with over $2.6 million in online tournament cashes according to PocketFives and more than $1.6 million he has compiled in live tournaments according to The Hendon Mob.
The poker pro began the year where he left off and could improve on his PocketFives New Jersey Ranking where he sits in eighth place thanks to a strong Sunday highlighted by a win at PokerStars NJ under the screenname "loxonbagel" in the Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd for $8,521. To add to his big day, Buzgon also finished in second place in the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com Sunday $40K gtd under the screenname "leinad" for $5,603 and banked another $1,750 with a seventh-place finish in the PokerStars NJ Sunday Special, $50,000 Gtd.
Connor Berkowitz
Connor Berkowitz made a name for himself during the 2015 World Series of Poker when he shipped the WSOP Event #66: $777 “Lucky 7s” No-Limit Hold'em for a gold bracelet and the top prize of $487,784. Later that year, he snagged his biggest online cash in his poker career by shipping the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com GSSS #1 High - $75,000 GTD NLH 6Max under the screenname "connisaurusrex" for $13,501.
On Sunday, Berkowitz came $1 shy of his largest online score when he shipped the WSOP.com NJ/888poker NJ $50,000 Ultimate Warrior under the screenname "NYR9414" for $13,500.
Berkowitz shared with his fans on Twitter his hot start to the year:
Took down @WSOPcom first 50k of the new year. 2017 coming in hot
— Connor Burke (@ConB1299)
Another big name to win big on Sunday was Steven Madara with a victory in the Sunday $40k worth $8,260 under the screenname "stevenmadara" and a fifth-place finish in the Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd under the screenname "FadeOrHoldz" for $1,727.
Madara, who in addition to being frequently mentioned in the New Jersey Online Poker Briefings for huge wins, also proved himself recently on the live felts with a win in the WPT Borgata Poker Open Event #9: $450 No Limit Hold'em Almighty Stack for $169,001.
Artim "zhu1storlast" Zhuta, from Wayne, New Jersey, might be less known than some of the others mentioned in this week's report, however, don't let that fool you. He's inching up on $250,000 in online tournament cashes on New Jersey online poker networks alone according to PocketFives. On Sunday, he secured one of his biggest hauls after making a heads-up deal in the Sunday Special, $50,000 Gtd to bank $8,334.
Meanwhile, Craig Rubinstein just passed the $250,000 online career total thanks to a pair of runner-up performances in big tournaments on Sunday. His second-place finishes awarded him $7,875 in the $50,000 Ultimate Warrior and $5,758 in the Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd.
2017 is off to a good start online...hopefully a sign of things to come #njpoker #secondaintsobad #twice
— Craig Rubinstein (@craigruby)
Rubinstein also banked another $338 with a ninth-place finish in the PokerStars NJ Nightly Stars $100, $12,000 Gtd, a tournament won by Jeremy "Jermz" Danger for $3,623.
Danger also had a Sunday to be proud of. In addition to this win, he took fifth place in the $50,000 Ultimate Warrior for $3,000 and fourth place in the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com Sunday Seconds $10K Gtd for $1,571.
Anna Antimony
Also worth mentioning is a great start of the year for Anna "JewJon" Antimony who not only won the WSOP.com NJ/888poker NJ $10,000 Warriors’ Opening Strike for $3,563 but also banked another $850 with a ninth-place finish in the $50,000 Ultimate Warrior.
Last, but not least, Anthony "Flawlessbink" Maio won big with a third-place finish in the $50,000 Ultimate Warrior for $4,500 and an another third place performance in the Nightly Stars $100, $12,000 Gtd for $2,002.
If you play regulated online poker tournaments in New Jersey and would like your real name appearing in future articles, please contact Jason Glatzer via email at [email protected] or via Twitter under @JaxonPoker.
