There’s a new breed of online poker players emerging in the United States, namely those thriving in the few regulated markets out there. One of them is Dan “mj23style” Sewnig, who has proven himself one of the most accomplished players among the New Jersey contingent.

The 29-year-old Sewnig, who graduated from Ramapo College with a degree in math and a concentration in education, has amassed well over a million in earnings playing online, where he’s also known as “RedsoxNets5”.

Finding His Way to Poker

Sewnig learned poker at 11 years old when his cousin taught him the rules to Texas hold’em. In 2003 when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker, Sewnig was in seventh grade and playing $5 SNGs with his friends.

“I'll always remember our friend's mom asked us who we thought was going to win. There were about 50 players left in the TV coverage and Ivey and Farha were the popular answers. I said, ‘I don't know, I've got a good feeling about that guy Moneymaker.’ She gave me a look at the time that I thought meant she thought I was stupid. I had no idea at the time that these shows were prerecorded and she already knew that he had gone on to win!”

In 2014, Sewnig was on track to become a teacher, even doing some student teaching. However, the call of poker was too strong to ignore.

“I decided to test the waters of the relatively new regulated online poker sites in New Jersey. I've been playing poker professionally ever since,” said Sewnig, who lives in New Jersey with his girlfriend of two years, Amy. “I'm a full-time professional poker player and put most of my volume into online tournaments. I do play live tournament series when they run at Borgata and Parx and head out to the Vegas for the WSOP each summer.”

In the live realm, Sewnig has amassed nearly $150K in earnings including a career-best $27,276 for finishing fourth in the 2016 WPT Borgata Poker Open Event #12: $1,060 NLH 6-Max.

Taking His Game to the Next Level

While Sewnig plays on all the New Jersey online sites, he’s become a familiar and successful player on the partypoker US Online Network.

“There's a lot of great value on partypoker,” he told PokerNews. “The site appeals to all sorts of different types of people and leads to a bunch of very fun tournaments. You truly never know what you're going to see in these MTTs and I am very grateful for that.”

One of the reasons we continue to see Sewnig crushing is because of the progress he’s made in poker over the past 18 months, which he ranks as his proudest accomplishment.

“I've put more work into studying and improving over that timespan than I have in the rest of my career combined. I've also done a much better job of dealing with adversity. Downswings are inevitable in poker and people react to them in all different types of ways.”

He continued: “For a long time, I'd react to them by taking way too much time off, sometimes even weeks at a time. From 2019 on, I've bounced back from tough stretches way more quickly and healthily and I think that's what I'm most proud of, more so than any individual tournament score or win.”

When asked who he thought was the best player among the New Jersey online crowd, Sewnig actually named a Borgata Poker Ambassador.

“I'd have to say Michael Gagliano. You could argue a few different people for best cash player in the state and a few different people for best tournament player, but I think he is the only name that comes up in both conversations. There are a few cash guys, such as Sean Ruane and Jake Toole, who could also fall into that category but just don't put in much tournament volume. Honorable mention to David Coleman.”

If he continues on his current trajectory, don’t be surprised to see Sewnig’s name mentioned among New Jersey’s best.

You can follow Sewnig on Twitter @RedsoxNets5.

Level 18 has begun with blinds of 2,000/4,000 and an ante of 500, and with it marks the final eight minutes left in the registration period. All who wish to enter or re-enter must do so this level: registration will close at 10:13 p.m. ET.

Thirty-eight players currently remain from 119 entries.

The tournament has moved into Level 17 with blinds of 1,800/3,600 and an ante of 450 and has now reached its second five-minute break of the night. Thirty-nine players remain out of 118 entries, and the following players are no longer in the tournament.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ross "Thehebrewhammer" Gottlieb	Busted
TheTerminator1	Busted
Sridhar "sri100k" Sangannagari	Busted
Karibou	Busted
gsripps	Busted
Alex "JinYang" Butcher	Busted
upayformypennys	Busted
judiallin	Busted
RiverMan	Busted
LondonE13	Busted
Brittanywins99	Busted
maori3666	Busted
Daniel "leinad" Buzgon	Busted
HodorHodorHodor	Busted
dadadada	Busted
Michael "IIIIIIIIIIIII" Haberman	Busted
Michael "Gags30" Gagliano	Busted
David "TheKing411" Coleman	Busted

BorgataPoker.com has a trio of Sponsored Pros, and one of them is Katie Stone.

Stone has more than $176K in lifetime live tournament earnings including a career-bet $33,305 for finishing 378th in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event. In addition, Stone has three Borgata Open titles including the 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open $300 Deepest Stack for $19,337, 2017 Borgata Summer Poker Open $300 Ladies Event for $2,867, and 2017 Borgata Fall Poker Open $300 Deepstack for $9,484. She also recently won the CSOP Borgata Winter Poker Open Event back in January.

However, where Stone has really thrived is online where she’s amassed more than $900K in lifetime earnings. Of that, $146,954 has come on BorgataPoker.com where she plays under the screen name “KatieStone.”

According to a Q&A she did with the Borgata Blog, Stone was born and raised in New Jersey, but after Black Friday in 2011, she relocated to Rosarito, Mexico in order to continue playing online. When New Jersey authorized Atlantic City casinos to offer online gaming within state borders, Stone moved back north to New Jersey and picked up where she left off — winning!

Recently, Stone took the initiative to create the Discord channel “Poker Peeps Affected By COVID19” and invited those in casino industry affected by recent shutdowns to join.

“I realized how tough it was going to be for everyone to keep up with everything and everyone, with so much changing so fast,” Stone recently told PokerNews. “So, I messaged my friend Cy Watson, who has been very active on social media as well regarding Coronavirus, asking him if he thought it would be a good idea to start a chat for people in the industry to be able to connect with each other for help.”

She continued: “I think the main thing poker players and everyone can do is to keep an open mind. Understanding that this is unlike any situation any of us have encountered before, and so thinking outside the box can go a long way. Taking the time to improve a skill, or learn a new skill whether it's a game or something else could be really beneficial not just financially, but mentally.”

Click here to learn more about Stone’s initiative.

Player	Chips	Progress
Katie "KatieStone" Stone	64,647 -41,074	-41,074

In Level 15 with blinds of 1,400/2,800 and an ante of 350, Chris "rumpthumper" White opened the action with a raise to 7,800 in middle position and was three-bet to 25,200 by James "Bagels" Lillis in the cutoff. Action folded back to White and he four-bet jammed for 88,000 effective, with Lillis making the call to put himself in a coin-flip situation for his tournament life.

James "Bagels" Lillis:
Chris "rumpthumper" White:

A nine-high runout of left Lillis high and dry, and he was eliminated from the tournament at the expense of White who has increased his chip lead in the process and now finds himself with a stack of 300,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Chris "rumpthumper" White	300,097 131,000	131,000
James "Bagels" Lillis	Busted

Play has moved into Level 14 with blinds of 1,200/2,400 and an ante of 300. Over 100 entries have now been logged, with 52 players remaining out of 103 total recorded buy-ins. Chris "rumpthumper" White is now atop the counts, and the top page of the leader board has been updated below.

Registration will remain open through the end of Level 18.

Player	Chips	Progress
Chris "rumpthumper" White	169,097
Ryan "TheSims" Hohner	164,575 66,088	66,088
Dan "mj23style" Sewnig	160,853
gsripps	152,413 35,125	35,125
Kevin "sofcknsick" Campbell	152,320 112,320	112,320
Matthew "gailums" Gailums	143,327 34,819	34,819
kfbackflip	142,037
TheTerminator1	121,670
kgkg510	117,016 -50,447	-50,447
yolegacy	111,296 57,581	57,581
BlckJck	109,465
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	109,224
Yong "IReadYrSoul" Kwon	101,544 36,891	36,891
juansolo10	99,846
Orson "borgatcha" Young	92,836
Alex "JinYang" Butcher	90,150 50,150	50,150
Don "dhimp20" Himpele	89,516 -550	-550
Jermz	82,670 18,420	18,420
James "Bagels" Lillis	82,135
Daniel "centrfieldr23" Lupo	81,658 -4,263	-4,263

In Level 13 with blinds of 1,000/2,000 and an ante of 250, "RiverMan" opened to 4,000 on the button and Jaime "mooseman1710" Reyes three-bet shoved for 22,300 in the small blind. "RiverMan" called upon it becoming their turn to do so.

Jaime "mooseman1710" Reyes:
"RiverMan":

Reyes found no help as the runout came , unnecessarily improving "RiverMan" to a full house and earning them the pot and knockout.

Player	Chips	Progress
RiverMan	612,584 542,709	542,709
Jaime "mooseman1710" Reyes	Busted

If you’ve ever played poker either at Borgata or online in New Jersey, there’s a good chance you’ve crossed paths with Don Himpele, who has more than $630K in online lifetime tournament earnings and $89K in live scores on HendonMob.

Himpele, a father of five who has been married for 24 years, graduated from Gettysburg College with a degree in Business and Economics, and for the last 25 years he has worked as a trader on the New York Stock Exchange as a Managing Director for Goldman Sachs and IMC Trading. So how did the professional family man find poker?

“I began playing as a teenager,” he told PokerNews. “My mother was an early influence and taught me many ‘gameplay skills.’ I have combined that and my skills as a trader to make strong decisions on the felt.”

He continued: “I consider myself a recreational player, as family and work obligations don't allow for a robust live game tournament schedule. I do play the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main yearly, and many Parx Big Stax tournaments. I am a regular online tournament player who targets buy-ins usually ranging from $200-$2,000. I play in local cash games – usually $5/$10.”

While he only plays when his schedule allows, it’s worth noting Himpele has been playing for a long time. In fact, one of his favorite poker memories stems all the way back to the 2004 WSOP Main Event.

“My most notable experience was my first WSOP Main Event in 2004 and sitting at ESPN feature TV table with top pros,” he recalled. “Also, I cashed in the 2010 WSOP Main Event after being sponsored by Absolute Poker.”

While his Absolute Poker days are behind him, Himpele does spend a fair amount of time competing on the partypoker US Network, which is comprised of partypoker US, Borgata Poker and BetMGM Poker.

“partypoker US brings a strong level of competition and I particularly like when they run a series as it brings a variety of games and a strong turnout with a commensurate prize pool,” said Himpele. “I have a lot of respect for New Jersey's top pros such as Mike Lavenburg, Mike Gagliano, Katie Stone and David Coleman. I enjoy the challenge of battling against them as a test of skill.”

Player	Chips	Progress
Don "dhimp20" Himpele	90,066 13,330	13,330

In Level 12 with blinds of 900/1,800 and an ante of 225, preflop action saw 16,200 in the middle with three-way action between "maori3666" in the small blind, "Brittanywins99" in early position, and "gsripps" in the hijack.

"maori3666" led out for 5,400 on the flop and "Brittanywins99" raised to 18,900. "gsripps" three-bet jammed for 47,000 and "maori3666" immediately folded to send action back to "Brittanywins99", who called just as quickly.

"gsripps":
"Brittanywins99":

"gsripps" had gotten their stack in with top two pair but had plenty of outs to fade against "Brittanywins99"'s royal flush draw. Such a task proved to be no problem as the turn and river completed the runout and the pot of 117,000 was shipped their way.

Player	Chips	Progress
gsripps	117,288 117,288	117,288
maori3666	46,213 -7,687	-7,687
Brittanywins99	37,037 -34,476	-34,476