Take 5
Players are on a quick five-minute break.
partypoker US Network Online Series (Nov. 29 - Dec.6)
$215 Main Event NLH ($50K GTD)
Day: 1
Get to Know New Jersey's Daniel "centrfielder23" Lupo
The partypoker US Online Network – which is comprised of partypoker US, Borgata Poker and BetMGM Poker – has been gaining momentum in New Jersey.
One player who has been doing quite well on the network is bracelet winner Daniel “centrfieldr23” Lupo, 37, of West Milford, New Jersey. You might recall that last summer, Lupo topped a 1,767-entry field to win the WSOP.com Online $500 NLH Turbo Deepstack for $145,274 and a gold bracelet. Earlier this year, he added a ring to his résumé by taking down the WSOP.com Online Circuit Event #3: $320 NLH 6-Max for $32,595 and a month later won the WSOP.com $100,000 GTD Sunday for $50,715.
A couple months ago, Lupo’s success continued when he bested a 305-entry field to win the partypoker US Network Online Series $50K GTD NLH 6-Max Main Event for $14,792.
PokerNews caught up with Lupo, who went to NJIT for Architecture and baseball, to ask him about poker, which he squeezes in between working for an Architecture firm in Bridgewater specializing in single-family residential and smaller commercial projects and his family, which includes three kids ages 2-5 and his supportive wife Laura.
Q&A with Daniel “centrfieldr23” Lupo
PokerNews: When and how did you learn to play poker?
Lupo: I started playing/learning in college during the Rounders and Moneymaker boom with a bunch of the baseball guys. Within a year I found myself hosting games at college, at home on breaks and basically anywhere I could find or make a game. I didn’t play much online early on, regrettably.
What sort of poker do you play these days?
Mostly online MTTs playing like three sessions per week on average with buy-ins typically from $50 to $1k with the occasional $2-$3k buy in for a big event. I average around 500-600 MTTs a month despite not playing full time, I tend to put in a lot of volume when I’m on. The games are mostly NLH and some PLO MTTs, but love when StarsNJ runs a series as they run a fun 8-Game MTT with a bunch of other mixed variants.
What’s it like to play poker while raising young children?
It’s been a constant evolution. I could probably write a book about all the highs and lows and life adjustments I’ve had or chose to make. It gives me a lot of inspiration to succeed while also adding some weight to my losses as it's like 'not only was I way from my kids for all of Sunday afternoon but I lost (insert obnoxious Sunday schedule cost here)'.
What are some of your poker goals?
Try and win everything I play. Actually, my biggest current goal is trying to optimize my MTT game selection. Since quarantine began the schedules have been exploding site to site and while it's been great, with lots of new players and lots of live players playing online it has also drastically increased my average buy-ins and session costs as well as the field size which further increases variance.
I'm trying to optimize the balance of table quantity and expected value vs individual session costs and the variance that comes with it. Having an average buy-in of $250 adds up pretty quickly when it's spread across 60+ entries on a Sunday. My biggest ongoing and long-term goal is to win enough to help my family live comfortably.
How did it feel to take down the partypoker US Network Phased Main Event last month?
I was pretty stoked about the partypoker US win. I love their structure and it was a very tough field when we were deep; I was fortunate to run pretty well and the be able to leverage my chip stack at the final table. I had made a bunch of top 18 runs in their series Main Events but couldn't crack a solid finish lately so this felt a little extra special.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
197,139
19,879
|
19,879 |
"JefBlue" Slow Rolls "BigDickRick"
In Level 14 (2,000/4,000/500), "JefBlue" raised from middle position and "BigDickRick" three-bet jammed for 88,562 from the cutoff.
Action folded back around to "JefBlue" who took some time in the time bank but ultimately made the call.
"JefBlue": 
"BigDickRick": 
"JefBlue" was ahead with his cowboys and improved after a king appeared in the window on the 
flop.
The 
turn left "BigDickRick" drawing dead and the 
turn sent them to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
288,897
288,897
|
288,897 |
|
|
Busted |
Level 15 Chip Leaders
The start of Level 15 sees "Stripebass" still atop the chip counts as 218 players remain from the 467 total entries.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
807,348
229,616
|
229,616 |
|
|
761,736
343,711
|
343,711 |
|
|
620,542 | |
|
|
599,768
209,333
|
209,333 |
|
|
595,103
208,500
|
208,500 |
|
|
586,323
296,875
|
296,875 |
|
|
583,956
155,488
|
155,488 |
|
|
564,377
89,771
|
89,771 |
|
|
562,659 | |
|
|
535,074 |
"OneOuts" Flushes Stone on River
In Level 15 with blinds at 2,500/5,000 and an ante of 625, "OneOuts" opened for 12,500 from the hijack and then called Katie "KatieStone" Stone's 45,541 three-bet jam from the button.
"OneOuts": 
Katie "KatieStone" Stone: 
Stone was ahead but didn't like the 
flop that took away one of her outs as her opponent picked-up a gutshot straight draw.
The 
turn was another bad card for Stone as it gave her opponent the club draw and the river ended the sweat as it completed "OneOuts" flush forcing Stone to rebuy.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
310,173 | |
|
|
100,000 |
Kwon Falls to Ely and Fires Again
In Level 16 with blinds at 3,000/6,000 (750 ante), Michael "Gags30" Gagliano raised to 13,800 from under the gun, Yong "IReadYrSoul" Kwon three-bet jammed for 112,500 from the next seat over and Ted “roystalin” Ely isolated from the button.
Ted “roystalin” Ely: 
Yong "IReadYrSoul" Kwon: 
Kown was way behind and nothing changed after the 
runout as he re-entered the tournament.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
358,301
110,733
|
110,733 |
|
150,276 | |
|
||
|
|
100,000 | |
PokerNews is Giving Away iPhone 12 Mini, Xbox Series X and More in December
Christmas is fast approaching and it’s the season to be jolly, as the song goes. Never mind jolly, some of you are going to be over the moon if you win some of the awesome prizes on offer in our Social Media Giveaways.
We’ve got some fantastic prizes to giveaway to you throughout December, our fantastic PokerNews readers, and they’re coming at a perfect time with the holiday’s fast approaching. There are Amazon gift cards worth between $50 and $300, tournament tickets, an Apple Watch, an iPhone 12 Mini and the much sought after Xbox Series X for you gadget lovers to win.
This promotion runs throughout December across all our social media channels so it’s definitely worth following us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and our Twitch channel so you don’t miss out on the chance to bag a Christmas prize.
Register your email in the box below and we’ll send you the full December Giveaway schedule direct to your inbox. All you need to do then is keep an eye on our social media channels on the dates shown in the schedule and await instructions on how to be in with a chance to win a cool prize.
If you’d like to be in with a shot of winning one of the amazing prizes on offer, get ahead of the game by following us on the social media sites below:
Break Time
Players are on a quick five-minute break.
Level 18 Chip Leaders
The last level before registration ends sees 170 players remaining from the 534 total entries and here are the chip leaders.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
897,094
635,486
|
635,486 |
|
|
839,642
239,874
|
239,874 |
|
|
815,978
253,319
|
253,319 |
|
|
810,836 | |
|
|
797,973
-9,375
|
-9,375 |
|
|
786,304 | |
|
|
771,597
187,641
|
187,641 |
|
|
749,160 | |
|
|
714,086 | |
|
|
661,614
529,666
|
529,666 |
|
|
611,313 | |
|
|
586,822
160,616
|
160,616 |
Prize Pool and Payout Information
The numbers are in!
The registration period has officially closed with 537 total entries which generated a $107,400 prize pool.
This means that 74 players will be in the money for at least $353.68 while the winner will walk away with $18,795.
This is what the remaining 162 players are still playing for:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $18,795 |
| 2 | $13,392.78 |
| 3 | $9,343.80 |
| 4 | $7,464.30 |
| 5 | $6,229.20 |
| 6 | $5,155.20 |
| 7 | $4,081.20 |
| 8 | $3,114.60 |
| 9 | $2,255.40 |
| 10-12 | $1,718.40 |
| 13-15 | $1,331.76 |
| 16-18 | $1,031.04 |
| 19-27 | $741.06 |
| 28-36 | $547.74 |
| 37-45 | $429.60 |
| 46-54 | $386.64 |
| 55-63 | $365.16 |
| 64-72 | $343.68 |