Numbers were down across the board for regulated online poker tournaments in New Jersey with many major tournaments failing to meet their posted guarantees. However, many New Jersey players were able to take advantage of the smaller fields to win big.
New Jersey's "FilthyDiaper" took down the weekend's biggest single score after outlasting a field of 90 players in the WSOP NJ $40,000 GTD R&A Spring Poker Series Main Event to win a cool $12,000. Notable players on the final table in this tournament included Jimmy "mooseman1710" Reyes, snagging $3,200 for fifth place, and Artim "AcesZhuited" Zhuta, collecting $1,200 for ninth place.
However, the star of the show this weekend was none other than David Cheng who took down two huge tournaments. Cheng, under the screenname "phatdaddy", banked $8,250 after finishing on top of the 147-player field in the WSOP NJ/888poker NJ $30,000 GTD Weekly Sunday.
Normally winning this tournament would be very noteworthy in itself, however, Cheng, under the screenname "supadphat", piled up the cash by also winning the PokerStars NJ Sunday High Roller [6-Max] for $7,520.
Another player to score five digits over the weekend was "JKupz27", who shipped the PokerStars NJ Sunday Special, $50,000 Gtd for $10,765.
Meanwhile, the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com $50,000 Guarantee ended in a heads-up deal with "thehebrewhammer" officially being declared the winner to take home $8,377. PokerXFactor instructor Dave "johnsnow" D'Alesandro also scored big as part of this deal, collecting $8,208 for second place.
Despite the numbers this weekend being down, casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey are alive and well. According to the latest figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, casino revenue has increased by 3.1 percent from $579.9 million in the first quarter of 2015 to $598 million in the first quarter of 2016. This was propelled by a huge 27.7-percent quarter-over-quarter revenue increase, from $35.1 million in the first three months of 2015 to $44.9 million during the same period this year.
$40,000 GTD R&A Spring Poker Series Main Event - Ring Event
Buy-in
Entrants
Prize Pool
$185+15
90
$40,000
Place
Player
Prize
1
FilthyDiaper
$12,000
2
Kudos88
$8,000
3
boom81boom
$4,800
4
bbissick
$3,800
5
Jimmy "mooseman1710" Reyes
$3,200
6
johnnygolf78
$2,400
7
TYdonkman
$2,000
8
LuckyAndCute
$1,600
9
Artim "AcesZhuited" Zhuta
$1,200
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.
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!