Winner’s Circle: Players Take Home Bracelets, Trophies, Rings in US Legal Online Poker Markets During September Action
Online poker players had a lot on the line in September in the US regulated markets. These include players grabbing World Series of Poker bracelets, WSOP Online Circuit championship rings, PokerStars USCOOP trophies, and BetMGM Online Championship title.
A few online crushers like Carlos Welch, Jeff Stellwagon, and Jeremy Sissman continued dominating tournament fields.
Each month USPoker highlights standout online poker winners and notable players from the legal online poker states. PokerStars, BetMGM/partypoker US, and WSOP.com generally all offer monthly tournament series. Here’s a look at some of these online felt warriors.
Current legal states
In the US, online poker is legal and running 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
A look at bracelet, Online Circuit series
WSOP.com is wrapping up the online bracelet hunting this fall, but the Online Circuit Series continue to run each month throughout the year. In September, a few familiar names popped up collecting some hardware.
These offer a combined series in New Jersey and Nevada markets. Pennsylvania and Michigan also host separate monthly Circuit Series.
Bracelet winner and legendary “homeless traveling poker player” Carlos Welch grabbed his first ring when he took down a NLHE turbo tournament. He won $16,177 after topping a field of 239 players on the Nevada/New Jersey platform.
Welch went heads up against Ethan “Rampage” Yau to secure the victory. The win apparently came after plenty of study. Poker pro and coach Faraz Jaka was impressed with his student’s win.
“Congrats Jaka Coaching student Carlos Welch on shipping a WSOP Circuit ring and $16,177,” he noted on Twitter. “Carlos stands out as one of the more active students asking questions, responding with answers in class, not afraid to be wrong.”
Former top online grinder from the pre-Black Friday days, Kenneth “KennyRaps” Weinstein, reemerged last month. He found a ring and $24,142 after taking down a $100,000 guaranteed tournament.
“I’ve been trying on and off for years to win a ring,” Weinstein says. “I am glad to finally bring home some hardware.”
Another grinder, Daniel “RedSoxNets” Sewnig, was tired of getting second place. He came up second in a NJCOOP and a WSOP Circuit event earlier in the month. On Sept. 20 he found the winner’s circle and scored $12,106 for his first WSOP Circuit ring.
Two-time bracelet winner Martin Zamani also scored his second ring in a MonsterStack for $21,692.
Michigan, Pennsylvania winners
In the Michigan market, Kevin Ruscitti got his second ring when outplayed the competition in the Online Circuit Main Event. The title brought him a nice $15,923.
Christopher Childers stood out as well, winning two rings in the same series for a total of over $20,000.
In Pennsylvania, Andrew Porter found another victory in the series for $9,856. He now has three rings, one bracelet, and 39 WSOP cashes to his name.
Also in the Keystone State, James Gilbert grabbed his fifth ring. He had three final tables during the series. Michael Lavin also joined the five-ring club, taking down Event 10 for $6,612.
Some other Online Circuit winners included:
- Colin Faherty– Event 2, $11,357 (NJ/NV)
- Eric Ethans – Event , $22,863 (NJ/NV)
- Dan Sindelar – Event 6, $16,531 (NJ/NV)
- Corey Thompson – Event 1, $8,427 (PA)
- Matthew Javitt– Event 4, $6,998 (PA)
- Zachary Gruneberg– Event 7, $14,253 (PA)
- Eli Perlman– Event 9, $7,195 (PA)
- Aubrey Williams– Event 11, $6,604 (PA)
- Dhimitri Lleshi – Event 4, $6,160 (MI)
- Nicholas Shock– Event 11, $5,224 (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
Platinum Pass and COOP Events
The famed Platinum Pass is now up for grabs for poker players in the US. A pass is valued at $30,000 and earns players a $25,000 buy-in for the PSPC in the Bahamas as well as a complete travel package.
A few players have already scored a seat in the big event via the USCOOP (US Championship of Online Poker) leaderboard. The competition saw the top 500 players in Pennsylvania, top 300 in Michigan, and top 200 in New Jersey entered into a Platinum Pass freeroll.
The top two winners of each freeroll received a coveted Platinum Pass. The six players earning the prize include:
- Barrett Lipkin (PA)
- Joseph Nicholas (PA)
- Scott Brown (MI)
- Jason Brown (MI)
- Ramon Liriano (NJ)
- Corey Hersch (NJ)
Nicholas’s performance was especially impressive. He took down the PASCOOP $300 Main Event for $37,636. A day later he also won the freeroll to lock up a Platinum Pass.
Jeremy “PokerJermz” Sissman has been one of New Jersey’s top online grinders for years. In September he grabbed a leaderboard title and went back to back to grab multiple wins.
BetMGM/partypoker/Borgata Poker
Online Championship series winners
BetMGM ran the Online Championships in September and saw some big wins along the way. Pennsylvania’s $1,000 Championship winner was “ItsSykkunoHere,” who took home a nice $37,500.
Another grinder that came up big was Raymond “caratocara” Caceres. He topped well-regarded New Jersey pro Daniel Buzgon heads up for the title in the $2,500 High Roller for a cash of $42,120.
“It feels awesome to ship a major trophy event,” Caceres says.
Jeff “Shiphappens” Stellwagon won a trophy and $5,648 for his run in the $15,000 guaranteed event at BetMGM. Derek Sudell also picked up a nice score by taking down the $1,000 Championship in the Garden State.
BetMGM is going the extra mile in shipping players their champion trophies.
“Attention to all winners of our Online Championship,” the company noted. “The trophies for each winner are being personally engraved and will be sent out soon!”
USPoker will update big winners each month in the “Winner’s Circle” feature. Please tag @uspoker on Twitter with your wins.