Following a raise of 8,400 from Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski, and a call from "kingtaut", Chris “rumpthumper” White three bet it to 28,800. Tentnowski folded, but "kingtaut" wanted to play for it all, moving all in for 91,406. White snap called with , and he was miles ahead of the of "kingtaut."
White had the hand sealed by the turn, and he scooped a nice pot to keep him in contention for another partypoker title.
The partypoker US Online Network – which is comprised of partypoker US, Borgata Poker and BetMGM Poker – has been gaining momentum in New Jersey, most recently with last month's WPT Online Borgata Series.
One player who has been doing quite well on the site 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.
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)'.
Daniel Lupo and his family
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.
"BukkyMonster" would kick off the action for a raise, and after that, three different players would get all of their chips in the middle. "BukkyMonster" had all of those players covered, and he made the call.
"ShutUpnDANCE" shot out to the lead after the flop of , and though a deuce on the turn changed nothing, the on the river changed everything. That gave "BukkyMonster" a pot of nearly 300,000.
James ‘Bagels’ Lillis and "shpanac" got into a raising war preflop that saw a massive pot of 166,200 develop, with all of shpanac"'s chips in the middle. He had , and he was flipping against the of Lillis. The flop brought three over cards, , and while "shpanac" picked up some straight draw outs there, the board finished out with two deuces, sending a massive pot over to Lillis.
"chopsuey" open shoved for his final 28,000 and change from early position, and Josh “layitdown08” Rothberg called next to act. Rothberg was in great shape to score the knockout, as his pocket kings were well ahead of the of "chopsuey." The flop was clean for Rothberg, but an ace came right on the turn to send "chopsuey" into the lead.
No miracle king came on the river, and "chopsuey" scored the double, a small hit for Rothberg's big stack.
BorgataPoker.com has a trio of sponsored pros — Katie Stone, Daniel Buzgon, and Michael "Gags30" Gagliano — all of whom have been active this year in the partypoker US Network Online events.
In regards to the man known as "Gags," he has been playing poker professionally for a decade and has amassed more than $2 million in live tournament cashes. That includes a career-best $448,463 for winning the 2016 World Series of Poker Event #25: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em, good for his first bracelet. He also finished third in the 2017 WSOP Event #27: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em - 6 Handed for $210,139.
He also has more than $4 million in online scores. Of that, $338,315 has come on BorgataPoker.com.
According to his website, "before poker he worked in an elementary school, which has given him a great background to become a premier poker instructor. Coaching for more than seven years he has helped more than 50 students from all over the world improve their game. These students have gone on to win multiple championships including the WSOP Main Event. Michael has also worked as a consultant for several major casinos and online poker sites to help them improve their product and better serve their customers."
It's been a good day for Gagliano so far, as he has already doubled his starting stack. Stay tuned to find out if he can keep this momentum going!
A quick update on the prizepool shows that they have just crossed the $40,000 marker, meaning the guarantee should be met shortly. The clock says 204 players registered, with 137 players remaining.
The blinds are currently at 1,200/2,400, and the average stack is 111,000.
Katie "KatieStone" Stone had been knocked down to her final 18,000 and change, when she moved all in from early position. On the button, "ShutUPnDANCE" made the call with . Stone had him dominated with , and after both player missed the flop, a king on the turn sealed a much needed double for Stone.
, and he was miles ahead of the 
of "kingtaut." 
, and though a deuce on the turn changed nothing, the 
on the river changed everything. That gave "BukkyMonster" a pot of nearly 300,000.
of Lillis. The flop brought three over cards, 
of "chopsuey." The flop was clean for Rothberg, but an ace came right on the turn to send "chopsuey" into the lead.
. Stone had him dominated with