Justin Bonomo

Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo is an American poker player and fixture of the super high roller and high roller circuit for a number of years. He is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner.

As of December 2024, he sits second in The Hendon Mob All-Time Money List with over $64.3 million in live tournament earnings.

Justin Bonomo Background

Born on September 30, 1985, in Fairfax, Virginia, Bonomo started out playing Magic: The Gathering before transitioning to poker. He built up his bankroll playing low-stakes limit cash games, and subsequently dropped out of the University of Maryland to play poker, with his career flourishing from there.

Now a well-recognized live and online player known by his alias “ZeeJustin”, Bonomo has won three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets most notably triumphing in the $1 million buy-in The Big One for One Drop at the 2018 WSOP for a career-best score of $10 million.

Justin Bonomo Twitter

You can follow Justin Bonomo on Twitter/X here: @JustinBonomo

Justin Bonomo Instagram

You can follow Justin Bonomo on Instagam here: @zeejustin

Justin Bonomo YouTube

Justin Bonomo doesn't have a personal YouTube channel.

Justin Bonomo Poker History

Bonomo's first recorded tournament cash came in 2005, the same year he made the final table of EPT Deauville in the inaugural season of the European Poker Tour.

He followed this up with a sixth-place finish in the 2006 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, and just missed out on another final table in the 2007 PCA Main Event, finishing 11th.

His first WSOP cash came in 2007, cashing in three events that year with a fourth-place finish in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for over $150,000 as his biggest win. Then, in 2008, Bonomo made two more money finishes coming just short of his first WSOP bracelet when he finished in second place at the $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event for $230,159.

Bonomo was a fixture in the US circuit by this point, winning a WSOP Circuit ring in April 2009 and picking up another WSOP runner-up finish at the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw event in 2011, taking home $117,305.

In 2012, Bonomo traveled to EPT Monte Carlo where he won the €100,000 Super High Roller for €1,640,000.

Bonomo scored another seven-figure score the following year, finishing second in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open for $1,163,500 and won his first gold bracelet in 2014. He topped a 1,587-entry field in Event #11: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed. He took home $449,980 after he beat Mike Sowers at heads-up play.

Titles in the Bahamas, Malta and Monaco would follow, with four more WSOP podium finishes coming in 2015 and 2016, including a runner-up finish in the prestigious $50,000 Poker Players Championship.

Bonomo's Incredible 2018

By this stage, Bonomo was an established player of big buy-in tournaments, and started off 2018 with a runner-up finish in the PCA $100,000 Super High Roller for $1,077,800.

He then won the Super High Roller Bowl China for $4.8 million before winning the Super High Roller Bowl in Las Vegas two months later for an additional $5 million.

Top 10 Stories of 2018, #1: Justin Bonomo's $25 Million Year

He followed that up with a brace of bracelets. Firstly, he won the prestigious Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship for $185,965 and then achieved the biggest score of his career just a few weeks later after taking down the Event #78: The Big One for One Drop - $1,000,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $10,000,000.

"At the end of the day, I feel like for the past year I've played absolutely fantastic poker," Bonomo said at the time. "I'm not going to say I'm the best player in the world but I'm very confident that I'm up there."

After a stellar 2018, Bonomo picked up two of his biggest cashes the following year at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London. He won the £100,000 Main Event for £2,670,000 and finished second in another £250,000 buy-in event for £3,420,000.

Bonomo would final table the Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas in late 2019, before the pandemic hit in early 2020. With an abundance of online tournaments, Bonomo enjoyed success in the Poker Masters Online, the WPT Online Championship and the WSOP Online.

He also won his third Super High Roller Bowl title, winning the Super High Roller Bowl Online for $1,775,000.

When live poker returned, Bonomo wasted no time in picking up where he left off, finishing second in the Super High Roller Bowl VI for $1,890,000 and earning a slew of titles on the PokerGO Tour.

Another Super High Roller Bowl cash followed in late 2022, with Bonomo a regular in six-figure buy-in tournaments around the world, including on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series.

At the 2024 WSOP Paradise, Bonomo found himself in hot water after wearing a keffiyeh during the $25,000 Super Main Event as a show of his solidarity with Palestine. The keffiyeh is deemed a political item of clothing and, therefore, not allowed on WSOP televised broadcasts. Bonomo was threatened with disqualification from the tournament, with him being in the final 15 of the tournament if he did not remove the clothing item.

Is Justin Bonomo Good at Poker?

Justin Bonomo is widely regarded as one of the best poker players in the world. His impressive track record speaks for itself, with numerous tournament victories, high-stakes cash game performances, and prestigious titles to his name.

Bonomo's success in both live and online poker demonstrates his exceptional skill, strategic understanding of the game, and ability to consistently perform at the highest level

Justin Bonomo Top 5 Poker Results

Justin Bonomo Controversies

In the 2000s, Bonomo was caught entering major online poker tournament using multiple accounts. He was banned from the sites with tens of thousands of dollars seized as a consequence.

Over the years, there has been a simmering feud between Bonomo and Daniel Negreanu, with the bone of contention for Negreanu seemingly being Bonomo's political stance.

Justin Bonomo FAQs