Our very own Jesse Fullen and Matt Hansen are currently embarking on an East Coast Road Trip, visiting local card rooms and checking out the poker scene. There are three main states they’ll stop through this coming week — Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Thanks to the Hendon Mob database, we’ve compiled an all-time live poker tournament top 10 list for each of those states. In each of the states, there’s a mix of World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champs, high roller crushers, players we haven’t seen much of lately, and some names you may have forgotten. Let’s take a look at the current top 10 all-time in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Former World Champ Merson Near the Top in Maryland

In 2012, Greg Merson had a memorable run to the WSOP Main Event title for $8.5 million. Months prior, he began his journey to sobriety. Those who followed the WSOP that year recall Merson wearing his Baltimore Orioles jersey at the final table.

He’s a proud native of Maryland and has had more success in tournament poker than just that one tournament. The former world champion has over $11.4 million in cashes, which is quite impressive, but not as impressive as Anthony Gregg, who leads the state with $12,016,191.

Gregg’s a bracelet winner himself and took down the $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Roller in 2013 for $4,830,619, a career-best score. There are some other familiar names on the Maryland Top 10 list, including 2005 WSOP Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenmann (fifth place) and Phil Galfond (ninth place), who has always been more of a cash game specialist.

Maryland All-Time Money List Top 10

Phil Ivey is the GOAT in New Jersey, and Everywhere

In New Jersey, it’s Phil Ivey and everyone else, but there are many other great players from the Garden State, including once again, the second place player being Tom Marchese.

Ivey has compiled over $38 million in live tournament scores, which is even more impressive when you consider he’s been an online and live cash game crusher for years, and he’s scaled back the tournament play since 2014. The 10-time bracelet winner has double the cashes of second place Marchese ($19.1 million), and more than triple third place, Darren Elias, who is the GOAT of the World Poker Tour (WPT).

In fifth place is another past world champion, Scott Blumstein, whose $8.1 million won in the 2015 WSOP Main Event represents about 95% of his overall cashes. Tom “durrrr” Dwan also made the list — sixth place with $6.3 million in cashes — despite having always been more of a cash game and online poker specialist.

New Jersey All-Time Money List Top 10

Accused Cheater Leads the Way in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s Top 10 list isn’t competitive, although some might argue the leader should have an asterisk by his name. Jake Schindler, who was accused last year of cheating during live events and colluding and using RTA’s online, tops the charts by a wide margin with $35.4 million in career cashes. For years, he’s been one of the top high rollers in the game, although it will likely be quite some time before we see him again in action, if we ever do again.

Right behind him is, you guessed it, a former WSOP Main Event winner — Joe McKeehen who has just under $19.6 million in cashes. McKeehen became world champion in 2015 and has been a tough competitor on the tournament circuit ever since.

The New Jersey list also includes Poker Hall of Famer and legend of the game, John Hennigan (fourth), Matt Glantz, and Matt Berkey. At the bottom of the list is Bin Weng, who has been on the heater of a lifetime the past few months.

Although Weng currently has $3,526,746 in cashes, he’ll almost certainly be adding a ton more to that total as later this month he will be at the final table of two WPT events, and he has the chip lead in both. There’s a solid chance he could jump all the way up to sixth place in New Jersey in a couple weeks.

Pennsylvania All-Time Money List Top 10

Only four players in history have managed to win back-to-back World Series of Poker Main Events, and it is a feat that has not been managed since 1988. Espen Jorstad is hoping to become the fifth person to win consecutive WSOP Main Events, joining Johnny Moss, the late Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, and Johnny Chan.

Players want to head into the WSOP in good form, and that is certainly the case of Jorstad, who this week triumphed in the PokerStars Spring Championship Of Online Poker edition of the $5,200 Titans Event. Jorstad’s reward? A cool $165,317 plus a significant confidence boost. The victory was Jorstad’s second of the series, with the UK-based Norwegian winning the $215 NLHE 7-Max Turbo PKO for $35,543 at the start of the 2023 SCOOP.

SCOOP 39-H: $5,200 NHE Titans Final Table Results

The $5,200 Titans saw 164 players create an $820,000 prize pool that the top 20 finishers shared. Day 1 concluded with only nine players in the hunt for the title and the six-figure top prize, with Day 2 commencing under the watchful eyes of the PokerStars Twitch stream on May 15.

Daniel “SmilleThHero” Smiljkovic sat down with less than three big blinds, and was eliminated on the first hand.

Ilya “Leqenden” Anatsky busted soon after Smiljkovic when he committed his last 6.5 big blinds with ace-six of diamonds, and lost to the dominating ace-ten of Renan “Internett93o” Bruschi.

The final seven became six when Latvia’s Daniil “NVoskob1986” Kiselev crashed out. Espen “Hym2Ninkasi” Jorstad made it 154,000 to go from the button with pocket tens, and called when Kiselev three-bet all-in for ten big blinds from the small blind with king-queen. The tens held on an ace-high board, and Kiselev was gone.

Team PokerStars’ Sam “SamSquid” Grafton sent bruschi to the rail in sixth place half an hour after Kiselev crashed out. Bruschi min-raised to 140,000 in the cutoff with ace-seven of hearts, Grafton three-bet to 420,000 in the big blind with pocket tens before calling the 1,237,292 jam from Bruschi. Grafton’s hand remained true, and Bruschi bowed out.

Grafton then sent “DNegs98” to the rail in fifth, a finish good for more than $60,000. Grafton opened with pocket queens, DNegs98 shoved 11 big blinds with pocket deuces, and Grafton called. The five community cards provided no drama, and the Titans Event was left with only four players.

Pavel “silentm0de” Plesuv was the chip leader going into four-handed play, but he was the next player heading to the showers. Plesuv lost a chunk of his stack with pocket eights against Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira’s ace-ten — Ferreira turned a boat – and nothing much went right for the Plesuv from that point on.

Plesuv’s final participation in the PokerStars SCOOP Titans Event saw him all-in for 12 big blinds with pocket nines, which lost to the ace-eight of diamonds in the hand of Jorstad.

The tournament progressed to the heads-up stage when Grafton ran out of steam. Grafton was short-stacked at the start of three-handed play, and he made a move with pocket queen for his 6.5 big blinds, and lost to the hot-running Jorstad’s ace-nine.

Jorstad held a substantial two-to-one chip lead over Ferreira at the start of the one-on-one battle and it took less than 20 minutes for Jorstad to get the job done.

The final hand saw Jorstad rip it in with king-jack, and Ferreira call off his short stack with jack-six of diamonds. King-high was good enough to bust Ferreira and crown Jorstad the SCOOP Titans champion.

Daniel Aziz Crowned SCOOP Sunday Million Champion

A $530 buy-in SCOOP edition of the ever-popular PokerStars Sunday Million saw Brazil’s Daniel “dani aziz” Aziz come out on top of a 2,580-strong field to bank $166,765 after a heads-up deal with Bulgaria’s “vladulaNko.”

Navigating your way through such a massive field is no mean feat in its own right, but more impressive when you consider Aziz contended with the likes of Patrice “pAtcAsh83” Brandt, Donald “donald0404” Duarte, and Domenico “ziototo94” Gala at the star-studded final table.

The Sunday Million ended in a heads-up chip between Aziz and vladulaNko. Both players locked in $156,765 – despite Aziz holding a two-to-one lead — and played on for $10,000 and the title. The final hand saw Aziz shove with ace-five, and vladulaNko call off their 13 big blinds with king-eight. Aziz’s hand held, and he scooped the Sunday Million title.

SCOOP 39-M: $530 NLHE Sunday Million Final Table Results

*reflects a heads-up deal

The Merit Royal Diamond Hotel in North Cyprus is playing host to the Triton Super High Roller Series, and some massive prizes have found their way to some of poker’s brightest stars. Michael Soyza is one such player. He just helped himself to a $1,735,000 score, the second-largest of his illustrious career.

Only two months ago, Soyza finished second to British grinder Talal Shakerchi in the $100,000 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam Main Event. Soyza’s runner-up finish padded his bankroll with a career-best $2,207,000, with Shakerchi banking $3,250,000.

Soyza now has the fourth seven-figure haul of his career after coming out on top of the $75,000 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed event in Cyprus.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/05/high-stakes-poker-daniel-negreanu-43566.htm

$75,000 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed Final Table Results

Fifty-five unique players and 32 re-entries resulted in a $6,250,000 prize pool that the top 13 finishers shared. Denmark’s Henrik Hecklen was the unfortunate soul that popped the all-important money bubble, his pocket tens losing a coinflip against the suited king-jack of Dan Smith.

Ben Heath, Santosh Suvarna, Christoph Vogelsang, and Jose “Nacho” Barbero, crashed out, leaving only nine players in the hunt for the massive first-place prize.

Double Elimination on Hand #2 of the Final Table

Mikalai Vaskaboinikau‘s time at the final table was limited because he busted in ninth on the second hand of the final table’s action. Artur Martirosian min-raised to 160,000 from under the gun, Soyza flat called a couple of seats across, and Vaskaboinikau called from the big blind. A jack-ten-six flop saw Vaskaboinikau and Martirosian check, but Soyza fired a 200,000 bet. Vaskaboinikau check-raised all-in for 1,100,000, Martirosian shoved for 1,430,000, and Soyza called.

Vaskaboinikau showed ace-jack, Martirosian pocket queens, but Soyza revealed a pair of aces in the hole. The turn and river bricked, busting both Vaskaboinikau and Martirosian, while propelling Soyza to the top of the chip counts.

Dylan Linde‘s tournament ended in a seventh-place finish when his king-jack couldn’t get there against Michael Addamo‘s pocket queens, before Matthias Eibinger lost a coinflip with pocket tens against the hot-running Soyza’s ace-king.

Talal Shakerchi Wins Triton Vietnam SHR Main Event for $3.2 Million

The final five became four when Viacheslav Buldygin‘s short-stack shove with ace-jack was called by Soyza and his pair of black tens. The community cards provided no drams, and Buldygin bowed out. Buldygin banked $502,500 only a couple of days after taking down the $50,000 NLHE 6-Handed event for $1,342,000.

Dan Smith‘s elimination on fourth came with $623,000 in prize money. Smith had fewer than 10 big blinds when he pinned his hopes on an all-in bet with ten-eight of hearts. Unfortunately for Smith, Soyza’s sun-run continued, and he woke up with pocket queens! Soyza flopped a set, and Smith was drawing dead on the turn.

Heads-up was set when Addamo dusted off his chips, and it was Soyza again who benefited. Addamo may have flopped top pair with his ace-nine when he was all-in, but Soyza’s pocket jacks improved to a straight, leaving Addamo drawing to runner-runner quads, which did not happen.

A Title-Winning Hero Call

Soyza held a 14,800,000 to 2,600,000 chip advantage over Mikita Badziakouski, or 99 big blinds to 17 if you prefer. Badziakouski managed to level things up, but the night belonged to Soyza.

The final hand saw Badziakouski complete the small blind to 250,000 with seven-six before calling a raise to 1,200,000 from Soyza, which he made with ten-five offsuit. Soyza check-called a 800,000 bet on the ten-eight-jack flop. The turn brought another eight into play, and Soyza check-called a 2,100,000 bet.

Soyza checked again on the deuce river. Badziakouski moved all-in for 4,100,000 into the 8,450,000 pot, sending Soyza into the tank. After much deliberation, Soyza found a call, and he discovered his ten was good, busting Badziakouski, and claiming the $1,735,000 first place prize.

Triton Super High Roller Series Cyprus Results So Far

Soyza was the seventh champion of the Triton Super High Roller Series Cyprus so far. Although his event was numbered eight, there is no event four due to superstitions surrounding the number.

Santosh Suvarna took down the opening event, a $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em affair, which netted him $700,000. Jason Koon ($663,000), Gregoire Auzoux ($1,050,024), Viachelsav Buldygin ($1,342,000), and Anatoliy Zlotnikov ($496,100) are the other champions to date.

*reflects a heads-up deal in the event

Espen Jorstad Gears Up for WSOP Main Title Defence with Huge SCOOP Victory

Upcoming Triton Super High Roller Series Cyprus Events

Next up is the eagerly anticipated $200,000 NLHE Luxon Invitational, a unique tournament that sees VIPs and professional poker players lock horns at high stakes.

Inspired by the Triton Million in London, the Luxon Invitational sees prominent VIPs play in a separate Day 1 to the seasoned pros, before the surviving players join together for an epic Day 2.

Tony G, Rob Yong, Elton Tsang, Phil Nagy, and Paul Phua are among the VIPs, while the likes of Justin Bonomo, Patrik Antonius, Timothy Adams, and Fedor Holz are representing the pro’s stable.

_{Lead image photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive}