Last level, with the blinds still at 150/300, Gershon “jets613” Distenfeld was sitting with 93,00 when Robert "Nvrstsfied" Natividad raised to 700 from the lojack. Distenfeld called from the cutoff with the and David "goldwatch" Weisberger came along from the big blind to make It three-way action to the flop.
Weisberger checked, Natividad bet 1,726, and only Distenfeld called to see the turn.
Natividad checked and Distenfeld bet 3,150 with the nuts. Natividad then check-raised to 14,700 and Distenfeld just called. A paired the board on the river and Natividad jammed for around 35,000. Distenfeld called only to see Natividad roll over for a full house.
Distenfeld took a big hit on that hand and wound up going but before the end of the level.
Bhaskar "Orange007" Aryasomayajula three-bet to 2,720 from the cutoff over a raise to 800 and a call from two players. Ryan "Protential" Laplante called as did "IAmDestroyer" and "Melawarrior".
The flop came the . It checked to Aryasomayajula who bet 2,100, Laplante folded, "IAmDestroyer" called and "Melawarrior" folded.
The turn was the . Action went check-check to the river which came the . Aryasomayajula bet 7,620 and got called.
Lee "smallmytable" Gale raised to 2,500 from the cutoff only to have Matthew "HuniDeGrande" Stone three-bet jam for 9,072 from the small blind. The big blind folded and Gale made the call.
Lee "smallmytable" Gale:
Matthew "HuniDeGrande" Stone:
Stone had a kicker problem and it didn't get resolved as the board ran out . Stone was felted on the hand but opted to re-enter.
Columbus, Ohio's Ross "BlueTang" Gottlieb recorded four cashes in last year's WSOP.com Online Bracelet Series, but it was one huge run that defined his series, and brought him agonizingly close to earning his first career WSOP Gold Bracelet.
In Event #8: $500 NLH Freezeout, Gottlieb found himself at a final table of absolute crushers, including Robert "bustinballs" Kuhn, Scott "miamicane" Davies, and Randy "StayAlive" Ohel among others. Gottlieb was on the shorter side of the counts at the start of the final table, but took the majority of Kuhn's chips with queens to take a commanding lead with five players remaining.
When heads-up play commenced, Gottlieb was back in a 2:1 deficit against Alan "GladiusIII" Goehring, but looked poised to take back command of the battle when the final hand of the tournament took place. Gottlieb, holding king-nine, flopped a king-high straight, while Goehring held ace-three of clubs for a higher straight draw and a flush draw. Gottlieb went from retaking the chip lead to out in one card when the turn was a club, and Gottlieb was forced to settle for $73,942 for a second-place run.
Gottlieb, who describes himself on his Twitter bio as a "full time veterinarian, part time button clicker", is back in action for this year's series, and looks to have a full schedule of events to play in his quest to finish one spot higher in an event this year, and lay claim to a WSOP Gold Bracelet.
Andrew "Wutruthinkin" Legg raised to 1,200 from the cutoff. The blinds both called.
The flop came the . Legg bet 2,070, the small blind folded and "Bella0827" jammed 18,479 from the big blind. Legg called and turned over the set with the while "Bell0827" had the .
The turn was the and the river came the , to force "Bella0827" to re-buy.
One player who has been doing quite well on playing online in recent years is bracelet winner Daniel “centrfieldr” Lupo, 37, of West Milford, New Jersey. You might recall in 2019, Lupo topped a 1,767-entry field to win the WSOP.com Online $500 NLH Turbo Deepstack for $145,274 and a gold bracelet. Last 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.
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. (Photo c/o Daniel Lupo)
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.
Lupo is in action today looking to make a run at his second gold bracelet.
and David "goldwatch" Weisberger came along from the big blind to make It three-way action to the 
flop.
turn.
paired the board on the river and Natividad jammed for around 35,000. Distenfeld called only to see Natividad roll over 
for a full house.
. Action went check-check to the river which came the 
. Aryasomayajula bet 7,620 and got called.
to win the pot.
. Stone was felted on the hand but opted to re-enter.
. Legg bet 2,070, the small blind folded and "Bella0827" jammed 18,479 from the big blind. Legg called and turned over the set with the 
while "Bell0827" had the 
, to force "Bella0827" to re-buy.
