Level 15 (2,500/5,000/625) has begun and marks the last 10-minute level of the late registration period. Upon its completion at 10:18 p.m. ET, registration will officially close.
Sixty-seven entries have been recorded so far and this marks the final chance to play for all who wish to do so.
In Level 14 with blinds of 2,000/4,000 and an ante of 500, "Smitty15" limped under the gun and Dan "mj23style" Sewnig jammed for 28,500 in middle position. "SugarJ" called in the cutoff and action folded around to "Smitty15", who limp-jammed for 86,150. "SugarJ" called that shove as well to give themselves a shot at the double knockout and all three hands were shown.
Dan "mj23style" Sewnig: 
"Smitty15": 
"SugarJ": 
Sewnig connected with the flop 
and saw a safe turn 
and river 
to earn him the triple. "Smitty15" won the side pot for a slight increase in their stack, while "SugarJ" saw their chance at a double knockout leave them where they started, with the third-best hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
114,640
711
|
711 |
|
|
95,246
95,246
|
95,246 |
|
|
91,348
-51,620
|
-51,620 |
| Date | Time (EST) | Tournament | Buy-In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 11/29 | 5:00 p.m. | Event #1: Sunday $100K GTD NLH | $215 |
| Sunday, 11/29 | 8:00 p.m. | Event #2: $10K GTD NLH Turbo | $109 |
| Monday, 11/30 | 6:30 p.m. | Event #3: $5,000 GTD NLH R+A | $55 |
| Monday, 11/30 | 7:30 p.m. | Event #4: $15K PKO Bounty | $215 |
| Tuesday, 12/1 | 7:30 p.m. | Event #5: $20K GTD 8-Max NLH | $320 |
| Wednesday, 12/2 | 7:30 p.m. | Event #6: $15K GTD 8-Max NLH | $215 |
| Thursday, 12/3 | 7:30 p.m. | Event #7: $25K GTD 6-Max PKO | $535 |
| Friday, 12/4 | 7:30 p.m. | Event #8: $15K GTD 6-Max NLH | $215 |
| Saturday, 12/5 | 7:30 p.m. | Event #9: $20K GTD 8-Max NLH | $320 |
| Sunday, 12/6 | 5:00 p.m. | Event #10: Sunday $50K GTD Main Event | $215 |
| Sunday, 12/6 | 8:00 p.m. | Event #11: $10K GTD NLH Turbo | $109 |
*PokerNews will offer live updates from the bolded events.
In Level 13 with blinds of 1,800/3,600 and an ante of 450, "Guillermoman" open-jammed for 58,770 under the gun and action folded around to Chris "rumpthumper" White, who was in the small blind and re-jammed to force the final remaining player out of the hand.
"Guillermoman": 
Chris "rumpthumper" White: 
A jack came on the flop 
to cut the number of outs in half for "Guillermoman". The turn 
and river completed the runout and the pot and bounty were sent to White.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
205,975
80,980
|
80,980 |
|
|
Busted |
Play is now in Level 12 with blinds of 1,600/3,200 and an ante of 400. The field has grown to 64 with exactly half that number remaining and "njpokeraa" is on top of the leaderboard with a stack of 442,000. Here's a look at the top 20.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
442,465
362,359
|
362,359 |
|
|
296,424
209,330
|
209,330 |
|
|
243,184
135,381
|
135,381 |
|
|
222,663
149,323
|
149,323 |
|
|
217,398
134,848
|
134,848 |
|
217,156
121,890
|
121,890 |
|
|
209,140
-12,305
|
-12,305 |
|
193,461
165,977
|
165,977 |
|
||
|
|
180,512
105,512
|
105,512 |
|
165,025
15,255
|
15,255 |
|
156,393
54,869
|
54,869 |
|
146,896
146,896
|
146,896 |
|
|
142,968
142,968
|
142,968 |
|
|
136,511
23,893
|
23,893 |
|
|
135,440
60,615
|
60,615 |
|
|
128,371
54,576
|
54,576 |
|
|
124,995
24,047
|
24,047 |
|
|
121,001
121,001
|
121,001 |
|
|
113,929
29,338
|
29,338 |
|
|
20,167
-201,393
|
-201,393 |
In Level 11 with blinds of 1,400/2,800 and an ante of 350, there was 30,100 in the pot on a board of 
with heads-up action between "onoreally" in the big blind and Daniel "centrfieldr23" Lupo, who was in the hijack. "onoreally" overbet-shoved for Lupo's effective stack size of roughly double the pot and Lupo immediately called.
"onoreally": 
Daniel "centrfieldr23" Lupo: 
"onoreally" had flopped trips and backed into a flush, but it was still not enough as Lupo had flopped jacks full of aces and all he had to do to earn the easy double was click the call button on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
149,770
149,770
|
149,770 |
|
|
35,830
-47,685
|
-47,685 |
There’s a new breed of online poker players emerging in the United States, namely those thriving in the few regulated markets out there. One of them is Dan “mj23style” Sewnig, who has proven himself one of the most accomplished players among the New Jersey contingent.
The 29-year-old Sewnig, who graduated from Ramapo College with a degree in math and a concentration in education, has amassed well over a million in earnings playing online, where he’s also known as “RedsoxNets5”.
Sewnig learned poker at 11 years old when his cousin taught him the rules to Texas hold’em. In 2003 when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker, Sewnig was in seventh grade and playing $5 SNGs with his friends.
“I'll always remember our friend's mom asked us who we thought was going to win. There were about 50 players left in the TV coverage and Ivey and Farha were the popular answers. I said, ‘I don't know, I've got a good feeling about that guy Moneymaker.’ She gave me a look at the time that I thought meant she thought I was stupid. I had no idea at the time that these shows were prerecorded and she already knew that he had gone on to win!”
In 2014, Sewnig was on track to become a teacher, even doing some student teaching. However, the call of poker was too strong to ignore.
“I decided to test the waters of the relatively new regulated online poker sites in New Jersey. I've been playing poker professionally ever since,” said Sewnig, who lives in New Jersey with his girlfriend of two years, Amy. “I'm a full-time professional poker player and put most of my volume into online tournaments. I do play live tournament series when they run at Borgata and Parx and head out to the Vegas for the WSOP each summer.”
In the live realm, Sewnig has amassed nearly $150K in earnings including a career-best $27,276 for finishing fourth in the 2016 WPT Borgata Poker Open Event #12: $1,060 NLH 6-Max.
While Sewnig plays on all the New Jersey online sites, he’s become a familiar and successful player on the partypoker US Online Network.
“There's a lot of great value on partypoker,” he told PokerNews. “The site appeals to all sorts of different types of people and leads to a bunch of very fun tournaments. You truly never know what you're going to see in these MTTs and I am very grateful for that.”
One of the reasons we continue to see Sewnig crushing is because of the progress he’s made in poker over the past 18 months, which he ranks as his proudest accomplishment.
“I've put more work into studying and improving over that timespan than I have in the rest of my career combined. I've also done a much better job of dealing with adversity. Downswings are inevitable in poker and people react to them in all different types of ways.”
He continued: “For a long time, I'd react to them by taking way too much time off, sometimes even weeks at a time. From 2019 on, I've bounced back from tough stretches way more quickly and healthily and I think that's what I'm most proud of, more so than any individual tournament score or win.”
When asked who he thought was the best player among the New Jersey online crowd, Sewnig actually named a Borgata Poker Ambassador.
“I'd have to say Michael Gagliano. You could argue a few different people for best cash player in the state and a few different people for best tournament player, but I think he is the only name that comes up in both conversations. There are a few cash guys, such as Sean Ruane and Jake Toole, who could also fall into that category but just don't put in much tournament volume. Honorable mention to David Coleman.”
If he continues on his current trajectory, don’t be surprised to see Sewnig’s name mentioned among New Jersey’s best.
You can follow Sewnig on Twitter @RedsoxNets5.
In Level 10 with blinds of 1,200/2,400 and an ante of 300, action folded around to "BigBang", who was on the button and raised to 4,800. Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd re-jammed for 50,200 and "BigBang" called all in for slightly less.
"BigBang": 
Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd: 
"BigBang" found their suited Broadway connector up against a dominated hand and they were unable to improve as the board ran out 
. As a result, Dodd's king kicker remained best and he earned the pot and the knockout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
101,524
-102,182
|
-102,182 |
|
|
Busted |
In Level 9 with blinds of 1,000/2,000 and an ante of 250, Brian "TopCreature" Sherrier pumped it up to 5,000 under the gun and was called by Borgata Sponsored Pro Michael "Gags30" Gagliano on his direct left in early position. Action folded around to "Edsebo" on the button, who called, as did Chris "rumpthumper" White in the small blind to take postflop action four ways.
The flop dropped 
and White checked to Sherrier, who made a continuation-bet of 7,900. Two folds brought action back to White and he check-jammed for 38,400. Sherrier called.
Chris "rumpthumper" White: 
Brian "TopCreature" Sherrier: 
White's pair of jacks became second best on the turn , but he pulled back ahead on the river 
to earn the double with two pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
221,560
108,035
|
108,035 |
|
|
100,948
22,568
|
22,568 |
|
|
95,266
15,809
|
15,809 |
|
70,505
-4,495
|
-4,495 |
|
||
BorgataPoker.com has a trio of Sponsored Pros, and one of them is Katie Stone.
Stone has more than $176K in lifetime live tournament earnings including a career-bet $33,305 for finishing 378th in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event. In addition, Stone has three Borgata Open titles including the 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open $300 Deepest Stack for $19,337, 2017 Borgata Summer Poker Open $300 Ladies Event for $2,867, and 2017 Borgata Fall Poker Open $300 Deepstack for $9,484. She also recently won the CSOP Borgata Winter Poker Open Event back in January.
However, where Stone has really thrived is online where she’s amassed more than $900K in lifetime earnings. Of that, $146,954 has come on BorgataPoker.com where she plays under the screen name “KatieStone.”
According to a Q&A she did with the Borgata Blog, Stone was born and raised in New Jersey, but after Black Friday in 2011, she relocated to Rosarito, Mexico in order to continue playing online. When New Jersey authorized Atlantic City casinos to offer online gaming within state borders, Stone moved back north to New Jersey and picked up where she left off — winning!
Recently, Stone took the initiative to create the Discord channel “Poker Peeps Affected By COVID19” and invited those in casino industry affected by recent shutdowns to join.
“I realized how tough it was going to be for everyone to keep up with everything and everyone, with so much changing so fast,” Stone recently told PokerNews. “So, I messaged my friend Cy Watson, who has been very active on social media as well regarding Coronavirus, asking him if he thought it would be a good idea to start a chat for people in the industry to be able to connect with each other for help.”
She continued: “I think the main thing poker players and everyone can do is to keep an open mind. Understanding that this is unlike any situation any of us have encountered before, and so thinking outside the box can go a long way. Taking the time to improve a skill, or learn a new skill whether it's a game or something else could be really beneficial not just financially, but mentally.”
