Justin Bonomo is having a killer tournament poker run and it all shows that the player is anywhere near the end of it. After scooping nearly every single major high roller title since the beginning of the year, Bonomo is now aiming for another, higher, peak.
The poker celebrity emerged last night as the chip leader of the $1,000,000 Big One for ONE DROP after the prestigious event’s second day of play. Bonomo is leading a pack of elite fellow competitors with a huge advantage over the rest.
He put 48.95 million in his bag and is one gigantic gap ahead of Fedor Holz who ranks second on the temporary leaderboard with 22.125 million. Bonomo did not have an easy start of Day 2, but several bustouts and monster pots helped him accumulate a stack, emerge as the chip leader, and cement his spot at the top. Jason Koon, Matthew Siegal, and Dominik Nietsche were among Bonomo’s victims on Monday. The player then busted none other but absolute poker legend Phil Ivey to further pull ahead of the rest of the players left in contention.
Play concluded on Monday with Bonomo eliminating Nick Petrangelo in seventh place. The remaining six players bagged and tagged for the night and will resume play today at 5:30 pm Las Vegas time. The hopefuls will play down to a winner. But first they will have to burst the money bubble.
This year’s Big One for ONE DROP event drew 27 entries who generated a prize pool of $24.84 million. The top five finishers will get a share of the money and each of them is guaranteed a minimum cash of $2 million. Aside from Bonomo and Holz, Dan Smith (21.45 million), Day 1 overnight chip leader Rick Salomon (19.65 million), David Einhorn (12.3 million), and Byron Kaverman (10.525 million) are the other four players still in the mix for the title.
Bonomo Aiming for the Top
The winner of the 2018 WSOP Big One for ONE DROP will collect a hefty first-place prize of $10 million. With a bankroll totaling nearly $33 million, Bonomo will dethrone long-time all-time money list leader Daniel Negreanu who boasts more than $39 million in live tournament winnings. Bonomo himself said yesterday that he was really excited by the opportunity to pass Negreanu in this prestigious ranking.
A min-cash from the Big One for ONE DROP will see Bonomo push past Erik Seidel for second place in the all-time money list.
As mentioned above, Bonomo has had a great year so far, winning seven high roller tournaments, including the HK$2-million buy-in Super High Roller Bowl China for HK$37.83 million (approximately $4,823,077) and Aria Super High Roller Bowl for $5 million.
Earlier into the WSOP, the player took down the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship to claim his second gold bracelet from the series. He won his first one four years ago when he topped the field of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed.
Of his strategy for today, Bonomo said that he would not think about all the accolades and accomplishments that await the winner of the major tournament, but would rather think about how to maximize his expectations. It is to be seen whether that would help him climb one more poker peak.
