Justin Liberto

Before becoming a professional poker player, Maryland’s Justin Liberto worked in sales after graduating from Virginia Tech. A sports and music aficionado, Liberto has amassed over $4.5 million in lifetime tournament earnings (as of January 2023) according to the Hendon Mob.

That includes a career-high $640,711 for topping a field of 1,043 entries to win the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #51: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed for his first gold bracelet at the age of 26. That same year, four-time gold ring winner Liberto won the “Best All-Around Player” at the WSOP Circuit stop in his hometown of Baltimore, MD (at the Horseshoe Casino), which qualified him for the 2014-2015 WSOP Circuit National Championship tournament at Harrah’s Cherokee.

Two years earlier at the 2013 WSOP, Liberto finished fourth out of a massive 6,343-entry field in Event #6: $1,500 NLH Millionaire Maker for $400,408. Amazingly, he’d make another deep run in the Millionaire Maker five years later in 2018, ultimately finishing in fifth place for $303,294.

“When I came to the series a few years ago and finished 4th in the Millionaire Maker that allowed me to bypass some steps that most players would normally have to go through,” Liberto said. “I was careful not to overshoot my goals after that. Now, getting this win just makes things a lot easier.”

Other big scores from Liberto’s career include fourth place in the 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) $5,400 Championship for $305,955; sixth in the 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Winner Open for $140,878; winning the 2019 WPTDeepStacks Maryland $1,500 Main Event for $116,363; and claiming victory in the 2019 Wynn Summer Classic $1,100 NLH for $94,659.

Follow Liberto on Twitter @JustinLiberto.