Winner’s Circle: Matt Berkey, Jamie Kerstetter Among Online Poker Players Scoring Big in March
Online poker traffic continues to grow and sites are offering tournaments monthly to entice players to grind online. Each month in regulated states, PokerStars, partypoker US Network, and WSOP.com are building some strong tournament series.
Several online players stood out this month with some big wins in March including poker pro and coach Matt Berkey finding a nice title. Jamie Kerstetter also took down yet another WSOP Circuit online title.
In the US, online poker is legally up and running in the following states:
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- Nevada
- Delaware
Winner’s Circle offers a recap and highlights from some recent action at the online tables.
♠♠♠ For online poker players winning big in major online tournament series throughout the month, please tag @USPoker on Twitter each month to be highlighted in Winner’s Circle. ♠♠♠
PartyPoker US Network
The partypoker is a combined effort of multiple skins including Borgata Poker and BetMGM. The operator is available in New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania but does not share a combined player pool at this time.
Berkey hosts Poker Mania, takes title
The site’s March Poker Mania was hosted by Darren Elias (New Jersey), Matt Berkey (Pennsylvania), and Andrew Neeme (Michigan). In the Keystone state, Berkey took down the Main event and won $31,250. He took out “Hisoka” heads up to claim the title.
Berkey is the founder of the Solve for Why poker coaching site. The final table was streamed live on the site’s Youtube channel. The tournament produced 88 players with a $100,000 guarantee.
In Michigan, Jason “tittybumpin2” Welsch also was a huge winner and had an incredible run last week. He took the top spot in three tournaments in one day for a total of $5,382.
Michigan player “S7UDZ88” also outlasted 92 entries to score $31,250. This player also won Event 19 and scooped $7,375 for his win.
In New Jersey, “GogoYubari grabbed $29,330 when he defeated 80 entrants in the Main Event.
Also in Pennsylvania, “ Phillytaxguy” reported his biggest win to date when he won a $109 Half Price tournament.
WSOP.com Online Circuit ring races
Monthly WSOP Circuit events continue at WSOP.com leading up to the annual live festival this summer. The series currently run in the combined New Jersey and Nevada markets with a shared player pool.
Pennsylvania also hosts a monthly ring circuit separate from New Jersey/Nevada. With WSOP.com also launching in Michigan this week, an Online Circuit series is also coming to that state as well in April. Here’s a look at some winners in the March Online Circuit series.
Pennsylvania
In the Keystone state, “Belieber_” grabbed his first ring and $12,435 after KOing the competition in the knockout event.
“5betchet” also raised his way to a win, when he took down a nice PKO event. He scored a championship ring and a $11,652 payday.
“Schwibbs1” grabbed his second ring when he was victorious in Event 8 for $9,807.
New Jersey/Nevada
New Jersey and Nevada had some notable names grab some hardware. Jamie Kerstetter went back to back the last two months by winning another Circuit event.
She won $14,232in a No Limit Hold’em Deep Turbo event. The poker pro and commentator was pretty pleased with her success lately.
A few other circuit ring winners included:
- Bob “BobMerwald” Merwald – Event 5, $16,907
- Mark “Muckyourfom” Rolan – Event 8, $21,961
- Michael “Hankdatank” St. John – Event 12, $16,053
- Miachael “Thank_a_vet” Raynor – Event 13, $19,353
- Shaun “nyjets23” O’Donnell – Main Event, $51,300
Rampage in the Sunday $100,000
YouTube poker vlogger Ethan “Rampage” Yau destroyed the competition in the Sunday $100,000 tournament on March 20. On WSOP.com, he goes by the name “Rampunts” and scored $27,984
Tournament of Champions Million Dollar Freeroll set
WSOP.com will award all 2022 bracelet and ring winners, live or online, a ticket for a Tournament of Champions event. The $1 million freeroll event is set for July 18 in Las Vegas.
The tournament will have a few more entries with Michigan WSOP.com players in Michigan now in the mix. Here is a look at the structure sheet for the upcoming freeroll.
PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP)
The Pokerstars SCOOP series is currently running into April. Online poker players can jump in the action in all three states. Each state runs independently of the others. Here’s a look at the guarantees”
- Pennsylvania (PASCOOP) – $2 million
- Michigan (MISCOOP) – $1.5 million
- New Jersey (NJSCOOP) – $1 million
PASCOOP
Some early winners emerging included Michael “$toopid7” Hammers. He claimed a win in the $5,000 kickoff event for $1,300. USPoker will update some other big SCOOP winners in April’s “Winner’s Circle” feature.