Justin Bonomo on Pace to Surpass Fedor Holz��s Breakout Year

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May 31, 2018 4 min read

Two years ago, the poker world was abuzz about a German wunderkind named Fedor Holz, who racked up 24 cashes, 15 final table appearances, six titles, and $16,093,402 in winnings. It��s only halfway through 2018, and Justin Bonomo��s heater has him on pace to blow Holz's out of the water.

Bonomo��s recent win in the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl for $5 million brought his yearly stats up to 16 cashes for $13,907,138, 14 final tables, and six titles. He��s already tied Holz for wins and only sits behind eight cashes, one final table, and $2,186,264 in winnings.

Interestingly enough, back in 2016, Bonomo (who had $4,228,457 in winnings �C he passed that with $4,528,569 in 2017) and Holz often battled for the lead in the 2016 GPI Player of the Year before David Peters swooped in to win that title. Call it a friendly rivalry.

A Look at Bonomo��s Heater

Bonomo ended 2017 on a high note by winning the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic $25K High Roller for $140,000. After the holidays, he was down at the 2018 PCA where he kicked things off in a big way; first by finishing runner-up to Cary Katz in the $100K Super High Roller for nearly $1.1 million and then less than a week later placing fourth in the $25K High Roller for another $310,150.

Five days later, he nabbed another $197K for taking third in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open $50K Super High Roller. Five days after that, he won the $25K High Roller at the same stop for $556,873.

In February, Bonomo won the first event in the US Poker Open for $190,400, and then headed to across the world to win March��s Super High Roller Bowl China for $4,823,077.

Let that sink in for a minute, Bonomo is a back-to-back Super High Roller Bowl champ for a combined $9,823,077 in winnings�� all within a 71-day period. That means Bonomo averaged $138,353 per day. That��s more than a pharmacy manager makes in a year!

That means Bonomo averaged $138,353 per day. That��s more than a pharmacy manager makes in a year!

In April��s EPT Monte Carlo, Bonomo continued to tear it up cashing four times for $1,534,353 and winning a pair of �25K High Roller titles. In between that trip and his Super High Roller Bowl win, he also placed fourth for $75,000 in the ARIA $25K High Roller 85.

Bonomo currently sits third on the all-time money list with $31,941,297 in earnings, behind only Daniel Negreanu ($39,546,095) and Erik Seidel ($34,507,095).

Here's a non-comprehensive look at Bonomo��s year thus far, including only six-figure cashes and above:

^{*prize converted to USD equivalent}

A Look Back at Holz��s ��Once-in-a-Lifetime�� Year

As for Holz, his run in 2016 is well documented; in fact, it was our No. 2 story of the year here on PokerNews.

Like Bonomo, Holz had ended the previous year with a big score, taking down the 2015 World Poker Tour Alpha8 Las Vegas for $1,589,219, his first live seven-figure score (remember he won $1.3 million for claiming victory in the 2014 WCOOP Main Event the year before). He also got off to a strong start to the year by winning the $200K Triton Super High Roller Philippines for $3,072,748.

Similar to Bonomo, Holz had a strong showing at the EPT Monte Carlo cashing five times for $525,875, though he didn��t manage a win. Around this time two years ago, Holz finished runner-up to Rainer Kempe in the Super High Roller Bowl for $3.5 million.

Less than a week later, he won the ARIA Super High Roller 9 $50K for $637,392, and a week after that a $25K ARIA High Roller for $393,130. Amazingly, he won another ARIA $25K a week later for $276,012 before placing third in an ARIA $50K for another $407,310.

At the time, he said his ��once-in-a-lifetime heater�� was ��just insane.�� It didn��t stop there.

In the 2016 WSOP, Holz topped a field of 183 players to win the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop for $4,981,775. A month later, he was at the EPT Barcelona where he won the �50K Super High Roller for $1,473,127.

The German notched his last cash of the year in October when he finished fourth in an ARIA $100K Super High Roller for $299,880.

Holz currently sits sixth on the all-time money list with $26,310,621 in earnings. Daniel Colman ($28,925,059) and Antonio Esfandiari ($27,628,047) are the only two players between him and Bonomo, though they��re separated by $5,630,676 in prize money.

Here's a non-comprehensive look at Holz's year, including only six-figure cashes and above:

^{*prize converted to USD equivalent}

PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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