Winner’s Circle: Players Lock Up Big November Wins in Legal US Online Poker Markets

US legalized online poker sites produced some solid winners in November. A few familiar names such as Alex Rocha, Jared Halter, and Kyle Norton claimed some victories last month as WSOP.com, BetMGM, and PokerStars all pushed out major series in November.
Each month USPoker highlights online poker winners and notable players in the US market. Here’s an overview of players making waves on the virtual poker felt.
Current legal online poker states
In the US, online poker is legal in the following states:
♠♠♠ Winner’s Circle offers a recap and highlights some recent action at the online tables. For players winning big online events, please tag @USPoker on Twitter each month to be featured. ♠♠♠
WSOP.com
The official site of the World Series of Poker held double the action last month as the Fall Online Championships wrapped up along with the monthly Online Circuit Series.
The events offered a combined series in New Jersey and Nevada markets. Pennsylvania and Michigan hosted separate monthly Circuit Series.
In the shared player pool, Alex Rocha grabbed his third ring after beating four-time bracelet winner Ryan Leng heads up. Rocha snagged $22,420 for the win.
New Jersey resident and bracelet winner Minh Nguyen won his first ring during the series along with $20,741.
In Pennsylvania, bracelet winner Richard Ali scored a double victory after winning Events 1 and 8. In total he scored $15,017 for his efforts. Ali also made two other final tables during the Keystone State series.
Online grinder Michael Mcnicholas received his fourth ring along with $14,855 after topping the field in Event 5.
In Michigan, Kevin Ruscitti got his third ring and $5,273 in Event 2. In the Main Event, George Janson took the title for his third ring and $14,602. Nicholas Shock also won his fourth ring and $4,816.
Other ring winners
Numerous other players came up big in the November Online Circuit tournaments including:
- John Ripnick – Event 1, $10,105 (NJ/NV)
- Keith Kordowski – Event 2, $17.228 (NJ/NV)
- Dan Colpoys – Event 7, $35,595 (NJ/NV)
- Jason Algayer – Event 2, $5,152 (PA)
- Andrew Bernett – Event 3, $6,061 (PA)
- Cole Keenan – Event 4, $7,844 (PA)
- Joseph Downey – Event 6, $4,928
- Edward Leonard – Event 7, $11,348 (PA)
- Andrew Lockard – Event 9, $7,155 (PA)
- William Nunley – Event 11, $8,559 (PA)
- Joseph Kuczewski– Event 12, $19,561 (PA)
- Brian Gatliff – Event 1, $8,117 (MI)
- Zachary Vanmaldeghem – Event 3, $4,928 (MI)
- Nick D’angelo – Event 4, $7,578 (MI)
- Michael Paraskevin – Event 5, $11,540 (MI)
- Ryan Mercier – Event 6, $4,928 (MI)
- Brandon Weinlander – Event 9, $5,594 (MI)
- Christopher Morse – Event 10, $5,786 (MI)
- Dan Smits – Event 11, $8,050 (MI)
All bracelet and ring winners through July 2023 earn a seat in the WSOP Tournament of Champions. The $1 million freeroll is held during the live WSOP in Las Vegas as it was earlier this year.
PokerStars
In November PokerStars ran the Fall Fest and saw some big wins. The Main Event winners were:
- s3lfreliance– $9,976 (NJ)
- wilcohotel– $18,748 (MI)
- youbestnotmiss – $25,536 (PA)
PokerStars even streamed the two-day championship events on Twitch. The site also continued to award players with the coveted Platinum Passes. One of those recipients was Michigan Twitch streamer Jared Halter.
Platinum Passes award players with seats into the upcoming PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas in January. A Pass is valued at $30,000 and earns players a $25,000 buy-in for the PSPC as well as a complete travel package.
November Sundays proved to be profitable for online poker regular Dan “DrDadPoker” Schill. His three final tables on Nov. 6 helped lock up over $5,4000 in winnings.
BetMGM
This poker operator, which also include partypoker US and Borgata Poker, ran the Big Shot series in November. The site is also running online qualifiers for the live “Return” series scheduled for January at the Borgata in Atlantic City.
In New Jersey, Kyle “Kyleorto86” Norton took a night off from streaming and ended up shipping Event 2 for $18,460.
The one effin night I dont stream while playing… Decided to play the @partypoker bigshot #2 tonight and decided to also take it down… pic.twitter.com/TD44t4Weq4
— kyle norton (@ortonimous) November 14, 2022
Pennsylvania players had to pay the bill when “PhillyTaxguy” won Event 2 for $3,680.
In Michigan, “Pawel99” went back to back and won Events 9 and 11 for just under $8,000 in total. This was also his third BetMGM “C-Note” tournament victory of the month.
USPoker will update big winners each month in the “Winner’s Circle” feature. Please tag @uspoker on Twitter with your wins.