The New Jersey Online Poker Briefing: Jeremy Danger Ships Two Majors
It was an exciting week in New Jersey, as the official hard launch of PokerStars NJ took place on March 21 following a successful soft launch. This weekend marked the first in PokerStars NJ history with a full slate of action-packed tournaments.
Most players dream of shipping one tournament with a $50,000 guarantee on New Jersey regulated online poker rooms, but this weekend Jeremy Danger became the first New Jersey online poker player we are aware of to not only ship one, but two on the same day.
To start things off, under the screenname "FunkyJesus", Danger became the first player in PokerStars NJ history to win the Sunday Special, $50,000 Gtd after navigating through a field of 309 players to bank $11,121. Two notable players appeared on the final table in this event, including Ted "TobogganM.D." Ely grabbing third place for $6,322 and Zachary "xStickyKingx" Holzer snagging eighth place for $1,379.
Danger's next five-digit payday came in the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com $50,000 Guarantee, when under the screenname "Jermz" he outlasted a field of 262 entrants to take home $10,480. Also on the final table in this tournament was popular New Jersey poker player Daniel "mj23style" Sewnig, who padded his bankroll with $3,511 for his fifth-place finish.
Jeremy Danger's Reaction To Shipping Two Major Tournaments
Not too surprising, Danger was still in awe of his accomplishment days later, sharing with PokerNews, "I'm still in shock that I took down both $50Ks. Winning two of the biggest tournaments in NJ in the same day is insane. I could play these tournaments every Sunday for a year and not win either one of them. How is it even possible to take down both? After winning on Borgata, I was in shock and was questioning if it was real. I then woke up my wife and asked her if I was dreaming."
Even if Danger didn't go on to ship the two tournaments, Sunday would have been a day to remember for Danger just for winning the first PokerStars NJ Sunday Special in history.
"Well, let me put it this way," Danger started to say about winning this event. "After the last hand was played and the site announced that I was the winner I let out a yell, no, a screech about three times as high pitched as I thought I could reach. I nearly cried and probably would have if I wasn't still at another huge final table."
Danger also shared that his epic weekend brought him out of a slump.
"This was not just another big NJ tournament to me," he stated. "I've been on a dowswing as of late and was starting to question my poker abilities. Especially at playing heads up, so this was needed to get my mind feeling positive again. Also, its freaking PokerStars. I'm an online player and there is no bigger or better place to play online poker than PokerStars. A site I've been waiting to play on again for nearly five years."
When asked if he was doing anything differently this weekend than others which, Danger shared, "I actually credit a few things to my success that night. First, I studied the night before. I watched a few poker training videos and was mentally going over some tournament poker spots. Second, while watching Daniel Negreanu stream while I was grinding that day something he said stuck out. He was talking about how you have to value and treasure a big stack in a tournament. It actually changed my attitude and my approach to playing the big stack in a tournament. Which was extremely useful in the PS tournament. Finally, I got pretty angry at how my grind was going during the first half of my day. Instead of going on auto pilot and complaining how today wasn't my day, I did something different. I decided to play angry. Clearly it worked. I should probably get angry every time I play poker now."
Other Notable NJ Weekend Winners
The Sunday High Roller also produced some excitement along with a few big winners for PokerStars NJ players. The guarantee was more than doubled when 64 players ponied up the hefty $500 buy-in to generate a healthy $30,080 prize pool.
Three well-known players grabbed the top spots in this tournament, including Artim "Zhu1stOrLast" Zhuta (1st - $9,024), Keith "donnysack" Donovan (2nd - $6,016), and Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara (3rd - $4,512).
Donovan's day wasn't done here, as he also appeared on the final table in another $500 buy-in tournament, The BIG Deal - $30,000 GTD on WSOP.com NJ and 888poker NJ, taking sixth for $2,997.
The star of the show of this tournament, however, was Michael "myGAME" Lavenburg, who grabbed a lion's share of the $43,431 prize pool when taking it down for a huge $12,378 haul.
In addition to Lavenburg and Donovan, other notable players to find their way to the final table included Joseph "megolaman1ac" Liberta (4th - $3,474), Andrew "smaulerg" Glauberg (6th - $2,562), Isaac "Ikelove227" Matatan (7th - $2,128), and Jacob "Jakep474" Perry (8th - $1,477).
Here's a full look at the New Jersey weekend results on PokerStars NJ, partypoker NJ, BorgataPoker.com, WSOP.com NJ, and 888poker NJ:
Sunday Warm-Up, $10,000 Gtd
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $45.50+4.50 | 282 | $12,831 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dezu0 | $1,738* |
| 2 | Brandon "LuckboxKins" West | $2,078* |
| 3 | Felony99 | $1,669* |
| 4 | tcIrish13 | $1,603* |
| 5 | Skrelnick | $744 |
| 6 | bbissick | $577 |
| 7 | Andrew "BreweRonnie" Glauberg | $449 |
| 8 | Donk_bet_024 | $321 |
| 9 | MisAnnthr0pe | $244 |
*Reflects four-way deal
Sunday Special, $50,000 Gtd
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $186+14 | 309 | $57,474 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy "FunkyJesus" Danger | $11,121 |
| 2 | GivnUstrokes | $8,334 |
| 3 | Ted "TobogganM.D." Ely | $6,322 |
| 4 | RNigro_1105 | $4,742 |
| 5 | supremetny | $3,276 |
| 6 | hubbiee | $2,529 |
| 7 | ickytoy | $1,954 |
| 8 | Zachary "xStickyKingx" Holzer | $1,379 |
| 9 | El Zino | $1,006 |
Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $470+30 | 64 | $30,080 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artim "Zhu1stOrLast" Zhuta | $9,024 |
| 2 | Keith "donnysack" Donovan | $6,016 |
| 3 | Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara | $4,512 |
| 4 | 4Xavi | $3,008 |
| 5 | RosiesThornE | $2,256 |
| 6 | loxonbagel | $1,654 |
Daily $10K [Re-Entry]
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $100+9 | 180 | $18,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James "mooseman1710" Reyes | $3,700 |
| 2 | MYSTICMOUNTAIN | $2,213 |
| 3 | Deezer | $2,213 |
| 4 | Asher "misclick" Conniff | $1,370 |
| 5 | Eric "BOBBY_DIGITAL" Patrick | $1,013 |
| 6 | TheKing411 | $830 |
| 7 | goldysgirl | $664 |
| 8 | LaBomba | $523 |
| 9 | Scott "ScottBaumstein" Baumstein | $415 |
partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com $50,000 Guarantee
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 262 | $52,400 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy "Jermz" Danger | $10,480 |
| 2 | Rick_Grimes | $6,901 |
| 3 | KingofNJ | $4,978 |
| 4 | MistaMenza | $4,192 |
| 5 | Daniel "mj23style" Sewnig | $3,511 |
| 6 | Skip_2_My_Lou | $2,987 |
| 7 | pinesap1 | $2,463 |
| 8 | VARJAK | $1,939 |
| 9 | dhimp20 | $1,415 |
The BIG Deal - $30,000 GTD [Re-entry]
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $467+33 | 93 | $43,431 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael "myGAME" Lavenburg | $12,378 |
| 2 | CeeLos86 | $7,166 |
| 3 | Beastro | $4,343 |
| 4 | Joseph "megolaman1ac" Liberta | $3,474 |
| 5 | Keith "T1mB3y_B33F" Donovan | $2,997 |
| 6 | Andrew "smaulerg" Glauberg | $2,562 |
| 7 | Isaac "Ikelove227" Matatan | $2,128 |
| 8 | Jacob "Jakep474" Perry | $1,477 |
| 9 | jeterfan72 | $1,173 |
$10,000 GTD Weekly Sunday
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $91+9 | 145 | $13,195 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob "Jakep474" Perry | $3,629 |
| 2 | Fred "Elvissucks" Marra | $2,111 |
| 3 | Mediocre | $1,201 |
| 4 | Babyfroncis | $937 |
| 5 | James "mooseman1710" Reyes | $805 |
| 6 | David "phatdaddy" Cheng | $673 |
| 7 | Jason "margateman" Deutsch | $515 |
| 8 | RackAttack | $330 |
| 9 | njindal | $238 |
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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