Blinds: 350/700

There was 10,710 in the middle from preflop action with the rest of the chips going in on a flop of . "BigDickRick" was on the button and all in for their remaining 33,605, while "cenation" had given them action in the big blind.

"BigDickRick":
"cenation":

Nothing changed as the turn and river completed the runout and "BigDickRick" earned the double to amass more than a three-to-one chip lead in the match.

Meanwhile, Dan "mj23style" Sewnig finished off "stEWhUNger08" and "madroc" executed a come-from-behind victory over "redtongue1_" to bring the field down to 12, and moments later "BigDickRick" claimed the remainder of "cenation's" chips to bring the field down to 11 with three matches remaining.

Player	Chips	Progress
madroc	100,000 71,400	71,400
Dan "mj23style" Sewnig	100,000 18,017	18,017
BigDickRick	100,000 50,000	50,000
cenation	Busted
redtongue1_	Busted
stEWhUNger08	Busted

Blinds: 300/600

"stEWhUNger08" was in the big blind and fired a bet of 3,600 into a pot of 12,000 on a board reading . Dan "mj23style" Sewnig was on the button and went into the tank for a solid bit before finding a call.

"stEWhUNger08" showed for a bluff and Sewnig tabled , with his second pair proving good despite the four diamonds on board to take a commanding lead in the match.

Meanwhle, "dadadada" woin a coin flip versus "maniacalmonk" in an all-in preflop situation to bring stacks back to even on an adjacent table as 14 still remain.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dan "mj23style" Sewnig	81,983 31,983	31,983
dadadada	50,532 532	532
maniacalmonk	49,468 -532	-532
stEWhUNger08	18,017 -31,983	-31,983

Blinds: 250/500

Two matches have already played to their decisions in the opening minutes of Round Three, with "Gohednpopoff" and "kevino22" becoming the first two in-the-money eliminations while "pay4medsch00l" and "MegaWinner" are guaranteed spots in the final eight.

"upayformypennys" is also off to a fast start against "ChickenTendies", having amassed a three-to-one chip lead, while "redtongue1_" has done nearly the same to "madroc".

Player	Chips	Progress
pay4medsch00l	100,000 50,000	50,000
MegaWinner	100,000 50,000	50,000
upayformypennys	76,960 26,960	26,960
madroc	28,600 -21,400	-21,400
ChickenTendies	23,040 -26,960	-26,960
Gohednpopoff	Busted
kevino22	Busted

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Player	Chips	Progress
UAUTCU	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
madroc	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
stEWhUNger08	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
cenation	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
pay4medsch00l	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
maniacalmonk	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
upayformypennys	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
MegaWinner	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
a_stormy_knight	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
redtongue1_	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
Dan "mj23style" Sewnig	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
BigDickRick	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
kevino22	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
dadadada	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
ChickenTendies	50,000 -50,000	-50,000
Gohednpopoff	50,000 -50,000	-50,000

Read full

Blinds: 1,000/2,000

A full level has played to completion on the final match of the round and Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken continues to hang around despite "BigDickRick" having gained ground throughout the level.

Player	Chips	Progress
BigDickRick	66,992 9,912	9,912
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	33,008 -9,912	-9,912

Blinds 800/1,600

"ChickenTendies" shoved all in on the button to put "ScarletRaptor" all in for their last 19,547 and a call was made.

"ScarletRaptor":
"ChickenTendies":

"ScarletRaptor" hit the wrong one of their two unpaired cards that they needed to stay alive as the board ran out and resulted in a pair of sevens that remained second best to the pair of nines that "ChickenTendies" held in their hand. Their elimination in 18th place brings just one match left in contention between "BigDickRick" and Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken.

Player	Chips	Progress
ChickenTendies	100,000 17,527	17,527
BigDickRick	57,080 22,220	22,220
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	42,920 -22,220	-22,220
ScarletRaptor	Busted

There’s a new breed of online poker players emerging in the United States, namely those thriving in the few regulated markets out there. One of them is Dan “mj23style” Sewnig, who has proven himself one of the most accomplished players among the New Jersey contingent.

The 29-year-old Sewnig, who graduated from Ramapo College with a degree in math and a concentration in education, has amassed well over a million in earnings playing online, where he’s also known as “RedsoxNets5”.

Finding His Way to Poker

Sewnig learned poker at 11 years old when his cousin taught him the rules to Texas hold’em. In 2003 when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker, Sewnig was in seventh grade and playing $5 SNGs with his friends.

“I'll always remember our friend's mom asked us who we thought was going to win. There were about 50 players left in the TV coverage and Ivey and Farha were the popular answers. I said, ‘I don't know, I've got a good feeling about that guy Moneymaker.’ She gave me a look at the time that I thought meant she thought I was stupid. I had no idea at the time that these shows were prerecorded and she already knew that he had gone on to win!”

In 2014, Sewnig was on track to become a teacher, even doing some student teaching. However, the call of poker was too strong to ignore.

“I decided to test the waters of the relatively new regulated online poker sites in New Jersey. I've been playing poker professionally ever since,” said Sewnig, who lives in New Jersey with his girlfriend of two years, Amy. “I'm a full-time professional poker player and put most of my volume into online tournaments. I do play live tournament series when they run at Borgata and Parx and head out to the Vegas for the WSOP each summer.”

In the live realm, Sewnig has amassed nearly $150K in earnings including a career-best $27,276 for finishing fourth in the 2016 WPT Borgata Poker Open Event #12: $1,060 NLH 6-Max.

Taking His Game to the Next Level

While Sewnig plays on all the New Jersey online sites, he’s become a familiar and successful player on the partypoker US Online Network.

“There's a lot of great value on partypoker,” he told PokerNews. “The site appeals to all sorts of different types of people and leads to a bunch of very fun tournaments. You truly never know what you're going to see in these MTTs and I am very grateful for that.”

One of the reasons we continue to see Sewnig crushing is because of the progress he’s made in poker over the past 18 months, which he ranks as his proudest accomplishment.

“I've put more work into studying and improving over that timespan than I have in the rest of my career combined. I've also done a much better job of dealing with adversity. Downswings are inevitable in poker and people react to them in all different types of ways.”

He continued: “For a long time, I'd react to them by taking way too much time off, sometimes even weeks at a time. From 2019 on, I've bounced back from tough stretches way more quickly and healthily and I think that's what I'm most proud of, more so than any individual tournament score or win.”

When asked who he thought was the best player among the New Jersey online crowd, Sewnig actually named a Borgata Poker Ambassador.

“I'd have to say Michael Gagliano. You could argue a few different people for best cash player in the state and a few different people for best tournament player, but I think he is the only name that comes up in both conversations. There are a few cash guys, such as Sean Ruane and Jake Toole, who could also fall into that category but just don't put in much tournament volume. Honorable mention to David Coleman.”

If he continues on his current trajectory, don’t be surprised to see Sewnig’s name mentioned among New Jersey’s best.

You can follow Sewnig on Twitter @RedsoxNets5.

The four remaining players in Round Two are on a five-minute break.