The year of 2017 has just begun, however, thus far with two weekends on the books two players, Craig Rubinstein and Daniel Buzgon, have stood out from the rest of New Jersey's online poker players.
Craig Rubinstein has been crushing the year thus far. Last Sunday, he passed the $250,000 online career poker tournament cashes total as tracked by PocketFives thanks to a pair of runner-up performances in the WSOP.com NJ/888poker NJ $50,000 Ultimate Warrior for $7,875 and the PokerStars NJ Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd. for $5,758.
This Sunday, Rubinstein turned it up a notch and improved on last week's impressive performance with victories in the Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd for $9,391 and in the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com Sunday Seconds $10K Gtd for $3,319. To add to this already spectacular Sunday, Rubinstein finished in second place in the partypoker NJ/BorgataPoker.com Sunday $40K Gtd for $6,011 and in eighth place in the PokerStars NJ Nightly Stars $100, $12,000 Gtd for $416.
Rubinstein told PokerNews that his good fortune came from enjoying the jam-band Phish for four straight nights at Madison Square Garden leading into the New Year.
"I saw Phish play four nights at MSG [Madison Square Garden] over NYE, and during the last show they played, their opening song was 'Your Pet Cat,' which is where my PokerStars online name came from," explained Rubinstein. "I thought that was a good sign of things to come and I have run like God since then."
Rubinstein said he plans to hit his first World Poker Tour Main Event when the tournament hits the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa on Jan. 29.
"It will tough to get me to leave my house these days the way online is going," he said laughing.
Daniel Buzgon
Meanwhile, Daniel Buzgon's accomplishments this year are almost equally impressive to that of Rubinstein. Last Sunday, he notched a win in the Sunday High Roller [6-Max], $15,000 Gtd for $8,521, a second-place finish in the Sunday $40K Gtd for $5,603 and a seventh-place finish in the PokerStars NJ Sunday Special, $50,000 Gtd for $1,750.
This past Sunday, Buzgon secured his biggest online score of the year after finishing in first place in the PokerStars NJ Sunday Special, $50,000 Gtd with Robert "ActionBob" Hwang to collect $9,550. Buzgon padded his $2.6 million in career online tournament cashes according to PocketFives with an eighth place finish in the WSOP.com NJ $25,000 GTD - Winter Poker Classic Event #1 for $1,419.
Not to be overshadowed was Brian "pure__reason" Wood, who recorded his first online score of the year in a big way when he took down the WSOP.com NJ/888poker NJ $50,000 The Ultimate Warrior for $13,500. This was the weekend's single biggest cash by any player on New Jersey's regulated online poker networks.
Daniel "AvaGray" Lupo also deserves a mention. In addition to winning the Nightly Stars $100, $12,000 Gtd on Sunday for $2,980, Lupo won this tournament when it featured a $10,000 guarantee twice in the past week on Jan. 5 for $2,744 and on Jan. 9 for $3,020. Lupo also found a way to win another tournament on Sunday at PokerStars NJ when he took down the Nightly 2nd Chance $100, $4,000 Gtd for $1,708.
If you play regulated online poker tournaments in New Jersey and would like your real name appearing in future articles, please contact Jason Glatzer via email at [email protected] or via Twitter under @JaxonPoker.
