partypoker US Network Online Series (Oct. 11-18)

In Level 20 with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and an ante of 1,000, all of the chips got into the middle preflop with "anthonely" at risk for their tournament life in the big blind against Don "dhimp20" Himeple, who was in the cutoff.

"anthonely" held while Himeple had and held through the runout to eliminate "anthonely" in 23rd place. With two eliminations needed for the tournament to make it into the money, hand-for-hand play has now begun and will remain in effect until the bubble bursts.

Player	Chips	Progress
Don "dhimp20" Himpele	755,669 385,686	385,686
dibik8826	107,175 -17,625	-17,625
Ted "roystalin" Ely	91,293 -9,270	-9,270
lilyluxury	82,389 -21,875	-21,875
Ryan "TheSims" Hohner	66,077 -49,125	-49,125
steveeee	58,690 8,970	8,970
anthonely	Busted

Play is midway through Level 19 with blinds of 3,500/7,000 and an ante of 875. Mike "MistaMenza" Menzer was eliminated by "Lisaj416" on the last hand before break to bring the number of players left in the tournament down to 24 across three full tables upon the resumption of play. Four more eliminations are needed to reach the money.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd	669,588 -86,238	-86,238
Brian "TopCreature" Sherrier	641,596 415,158	415,158
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	557,184 322,883	322,883
Yong "IReadYrSoul" Kwon	514,731 143,757	143,757
ryanmco18	491,142 491,142	491,142
Dan "mj23style" Sewnig	483,808 276,988	276,988
Lisaj416	404,194 108,013	108,013
anthonely	387,584 68,092	68,092
Don "dhimp20" Himpele	369,983 192,971	192,971
pay4medsch00l	363,279 206,879	206,879
TheTerminator1	334,717 159,619	159,619
Wyeth	285,657 214,270	214,270
RiverMan	278,973 198,438	198,438
Jaime "mooseman1710" Reyes	192,582 142,582	142,582
supafishh	186,980 -26,770	-26,770
KevinDurant	155,278 84,238	84,238
Pokeher	150,267 9,562	9,562
dibik8826	124,800 -51,310	-51,310
Ryan "TheSims" Hohner	115,202 24,912	24,912
NoRecourse	106,458 -7,251	-7,251
lilyluxury	104,264 104,264	104,264
Ted "roystalin" Ely	100,563 -39,745	-39,745
Turkeyleg	78,450 -34,375	-34,375
steveeee	49,720 -60,860	-60,860

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The partypoker US Online Network – which is comprised of partypoker US, Borgata Poker and BetMGM Poker – has been gaining momentum in New Jersey, most recently with last month's WPT Online Borgata Series.

One player who has been doing quite well on the site is bracelet winner Daniel “centrfieldr23” Lupo, 37, of West Milford, New Jersey. You might recall that last summer, Lupo topped a 1,767-entry field to win the WSOP.com Online $500 NLH Turbo Deepstack for $145,274 and a gold bracelet. Earlier this year, he added a ring to his résumé by taking down the WSOP.com Online Circuit Event #3: $320 NLH 6-Max for $32,595 and a month later won the WSOP.com $100,000 GTD Sunday for $50,715.

A couple months ago, Lupo’s success continued when he bested a 305-entry field to win the partypoker US Network Online Series $50K GTD NLH 6-Max Main Event for $14,792.

PokerNews caught up with Lupo, who went to NJIT for Architecture and baseball, to ask him about poker, which he squeezes in between working for an Architecture firm in Bridgewater specializing in single-family residential and smaller commercial projects and his family, which includes three kids ages 2-5 and his supportive wife Laura.

Q&A with Daniel “centrfieldr23” Lupo

PokerNews: When and how did you learn to play poker?

Lupo: I started playing/learning in college during the Rounders and Moneymaker boom with a bunch of the baseball guys. Within a year I found myself hosting games at college, at home on breaks and basically anywhere I could find or make a game. I didn’t play much online early on, regrettably.

What sort of poker do you play these days?

Mostly online MTTs playing like three sessions per week on average with buy-ins typically from $50 to $1k with the occasional $2-$3k buy in for a big event. I average around 500-600 MTTs a month despite not playing full time, I tend to put in a lot of volume when I’m on. The games are mostly NLH and some PLO MTTs, but love when StarsNJ runs a series as they run a fun 8-Game MTT with a bunch of other mixed variants.

What’s it like to play poker while raising young children?

It’s been a constant evolution. I could probably write a book about all the highs and lows and life adjustments I’ve had or chose to make. It gives me a lot of inspiration to succeed while also adding some weight to my losses as it's like 'not only was I way from my kids for all of Sunday afternoon but I lost (insert obnoxious Sunday schedule cost here)'.

What are some of your poker goals?

Try and win everything I play. Actually, my biggest current goal is trying to optimize my MTT game selection. Since quarantine began the schedules have been exploding site to site and while it's been great, with lots of new players and lots of live players playing online it has also drastically increased my average buy-ins and session costs as well as the field size which further increases variance.

I'm trying to optimize the balance of table quantity and expected value vs individual session costs and the variance that comes with it. Having an average buy-in of $250 adds up pretty quickly when it's spread across 60+ entries on a Sunday. My biggest ongoing and long-term goal is to win enough to help my family live comfortably.

How did it feel to take down the partypoker US Network Phased Main Event last month?

I was pretty stoked about the partypoker US win. I love their structure and it was a very tough field when we were deep; I was fortunate to run pretty well and the be able to leverage my chip stack at the final table. I had made a bunch of top 18 runs in their series Main Events but couldn't crack a solid finish lately so this felt a little extra special.

Download partypoker US today!

In Level 18 with blinds of 3,000/6,000 and an ante of 7,500, a three-bet pot preflop resulted in "Turkeyleg", Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd, and "odo23" all going to a flop of from the small blind, big blind, and cutoff, respectively. "Turkeyleg" bet 24,000 and both Dodd and "odo23" called.

The turn came and "Turkeyleg" bet another 77,000. Dodd came over the top, jamming to effectively put both remaining players to decisions for the remainder of their chips. "odo23" quickly folded to put action back onto "Turkeyleg", who deliberated for about 20 seconds before letting their hand go as well.

With the pot, Dodd now has a stack of 755,000 with just four tables left in play.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd	755,826 305,917	305,917
odo23	144,443 144,443	144,443
Turkeyleg	112,825 -143,493	-143,493

Just a couple of minutes remain in Level 17 with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and an ante of 625 and only 34 players now remain. Here's a look at many who are not among those still in contention.

Player	Chips	Progress
UFOLDIWIN	Busted
Smiley005	Busted
Alex "JinYang" Butcher	Busted
mia1223	Busted
xxx6395200xxx	Busted
Jinxy	Busted
rumpthumper	Busted
Angel "chromeking" Lopez	Busted
A.Jackson1767	Busted
Lanfeust	Busted
GaiusMarius	Busted
Stevehung	Busted
Ross "Thehebrewhammer" Gottlieb	Busted
HodorHodorHodor	Busted
Allyoucaneat	Busted
upayformypennys	Busted

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In Level 16 with blinds of 2,000/4,000 and an ante of 500, there was a raise to 8,00 and multiple calls before Ryan "TheSims" Hohner three-bet shoved in the small blind for less than 10 big blinds. He received one call from "Pokeher" in the cutoff.

Ryan "TheSims" Hohner:
"Pokeher":

Hohner connected on the flop to pull ahead but the turn gave him three chop outs plus nine new flush outs to fade. He did so successfully as the river came and the pot of 90,000 was shipped his way.

Player	Chips	Progress
Pokeher	140,705 -61,895	-61,895
Ryan "TheSims" Hohner	90,290 -47,995	-47,995

In Level 15 with blinds of 1,800/3,600 and an ante of 450, all of the chips went in the middle with the under-the-gun "Turkeyleg" at risk for the 125,000 in their stack against Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd, who was on their direct left in middle position.

"Turkeyleg":
Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd:

The flop came to give the two players three immediate chop outs should a ten come to bring two pair on board. It didn't come, nor did a queen as the turn and river completed the runout and "Turkeyleg" doubled at Dodd's expense.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd	449,909
Turkeyleg	256,318