The New Jersey Online Poker Briefing: PokerStars In, Yong "LuckySpewy" Kwon Wins Big
It was a huge week in New Jersey this week as poker players are celebrating that both PokerStars and Full Tilt have been approved by the state's gaming regulator, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE), to offer online gaming services throughout the Garden State.
Amaya Gaming, the parent company of both online gaming sites, is obviously thrilled that after almost two years since the launch of regulated online gaming in New Jersey and over four years since Black Friday they will be able to offer gaming service to players in New Jersey.
Chairman and CEO of Amaya David Baazov commented on the PokerStars Blog that, "I want to thank the DGE for their thorough and fair review of our business. We look forward to bringing our popular brands, innovative technology, marketing prowess and world-class security and game integrity to the growing New Jersey online gaming market. We anticipate providing additional details of our launch plans in the near future."
It was also a big week on the felts, as the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com $50,000 Guarantee transformed itself from a regular freezeout into a reentry event. The new format proved to be a huge success as for the first time in recent memory, this tournament surpassed the $50,000 guarantee with 297 entrants generating a $59,400 prize pool.
Yong "LuckySpewy" Kwon was the first player to take full advantage of the new format, taking home the top prize of $11,113. Kwon is currently ranked in ninth place on the PocketFives.com New Jersey Online Poker Rankings, and he is bound to move up after this win, along with two others on Friday hosted on WSOP.com NJ and 888poker NJ in the $10,000 GTD Nightly [R&A] for $3,862 and in the $2,500 GNTD - NJ High-Rollers for $1,474.
New Jersey's "Donate_here" snagged $7,674 for finishing in second place in this tournament. This player took down this tournament less than three months ago, when on July 19, 2015, he outlasted a field of 272 players to win $10,064.
As usually the case, the weekend's second biggest winner came in the WSOP.com/888poker NJ Sunday $30,000 Guarantee when "mdubsdeezee" finished on top of a 188-player field to claim the first-place prize of $9,391. The second-place finisher in that tournament, "Beejay", banked a solid consolation prize of $4,725.
In other news, the long-anticipated Garden State Super Series III (GSSS) kicks off its exciting 43-event schedule with $800,000 in guaranteed prize pools on Sunday, Oct. 11, at partypoker NJ and BorgataPoker.com.
Here's a full look at the New Jersey weekend results on partypoker NJ, BorgataPoker.com, WSOP.com NJ, and 888poker NJ:
Daily $10K
| Buy-in | Date | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100+9 | Oct. 3 | 92 | $10,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charlie "seedload" Zimmerman | $3,000 |
| 2 | brownmagic | $1,680 |
| 3 | jimlarry | $1,320 |
| 4 | mrdadio488 | $1,110 |
| 5 | Nate-Dogg-42 | $920 |
| 6 | sansara52 | $740 |
| 7 | Jtheace2 | $570 |
| 8 | JokerAA | $400 |
| 9 | mixedfish | $260 |
Daily $10K
| Buy-in | Date | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100+9 | Oct. 4 | 127 | $12,700 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony "Flawlessbinkage" Maio | $3,495 |
| 2 | treetrap | $2,321 |
| 3 | Misssfire | $1,625 |
| 4 | Pokageis | $1,079 |
| 5 | Dozer22 | $793 |
| 6 | smoothhustler | $635 |
| 7 | ThreeBetYou | $508 |
| 8 | Jamie "JamieKerstetter" Kerstetter | $400 |
| 9 | ZEEETart | $317 |
$50,000 Guarantee
| Buy-in | Date | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | Oct. 4 | 297 | $59,400 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yong "LuckySpewy" Kwon | $11,113 |
| 2 | Donate_here | $7,674 |
| 3 | TENAFLY_BILL | $5,464 |
| 4 | numbnuts | $4,514 |
| 5 | pink17 | $3,861 |
| 6 | Michael "RyansWorld" Ryan | $3,267 |
| 7 | pokeraddict81 | $2,673 |
| 8 | ill_advised | $2,079 |
| 9 | youngkoi | $1,485 |
$10,000 GTD Nightly [R&A]
| Buy-in | Date | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| $27.50+2.50 | Oct. 3 | 144 | $10,128 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cajun_Turk | $2,785 |
| 2 | Steven "stevenmadara" Madara | $1,621 |
| 3 | SickBastard | $922 |
| 4 | Tommygotcha | $719 |
| 5 | brownmagic | $618 |
| 6 | Brian "Deusexmachin" Willis | $517 |
| 7 | Tom "Tommyshiff77" Shiffler | $395 |
| 8 | Atsashame | $253 |
| 9 | jmadey | $182 |
$30,000 GTD Weekly Sunday
| Buy-in | Date | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| $185+15 | Oct. 4 | 188 | $34,780 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | mdubsdeezee | $9,391 |
| 2 | Beejay | $5,478 |
| 3 | James "nigock" Nadolski | $3,130 |
| 4 | Moose4Life | $2,435 |
| 5 | TimmyKGB | $2,087 |
| 6 | Basile28 | $1,739 |
| 7 | Fred "BiggDaddy" Ferrell | $1,322 |
| 8 | CeeLos86 | $835 |
| 9 | JingboSlice | $591 |
$10,000 GTD Weekly Sunday
| Buy-in | Date | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| $91+9 | Oct. 4 | 132 | $12,012 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baruch "gamblegamble" Krieger | $3,303 |
| 2 | Chris "c.m.e" Ebbe | $1,922 |
| 3 | Geno "acesfull32" Raman | $1,093 |
| 4 | Michael "LeftSid3" Haberman Jr | $853 |
| 5 | Ted "olmuggins" Ely | $733 |
| 6 | Paul "easymoney82" Silva | $613 |
| 7 | KevDurant35 | $469 |
| 8 | Jake "schaf4206" Schafer | $300 |
| 9 | Patrick "Pr3mium" Kilburn | $216 |
If you play regulated online poker tournaments in New Jersey and would like your real name appearing in future articles, please contact this editor at [email protected].
*Special thanks to PocketFives.com for some of the data in this article.
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