It’s been just a little more than a year ago that I ran into Justin Bonomo for the first time. As I wandered the floor at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, I kept heading back to the table where a young man with spikey green hair was advancing through the field. Word on the street was he was a tough, young online poker prodigy who called himself ZeeJustin. He went on to cash in the PCA and over the next several months I ran into him time and time again on the European Poker Tour circuit. Later, I saw him final table in Deauville, France at the French Open event. His game never changed, even if the color of his hair did.
Bonomo at the French Open
Since then, I’ve run into Justin several more times in various exotic locales. The young Magic: The Gathering player turned poker pro has never failed to impress me with his ability to turn online success into live wins in major tournaments.
In recent months, Justin has been on a bit of an online rush, hitting big win after big win. That was no big surprise. Still, he managed to startle me once again.
I just returned from a poker blogger convention in Las Vegas (attended by Team PokerStars’ Wil Wheaton). Because I was in an airport, I missed out on watching the PokerStars $500,00 Guarantee as I usually do. Still, I checked in on the results and found that Justin bested the entire field and won first place outright.
Once again, the young stalwart has proven he is a force with which to be reckoned. Now it looks like Justin is on his way to compete in the PCA for a second time. So, if you’re one of the fortunate folks heading down to Atlantis next month, be careful of the guy they call ZeeJustin.
Here are the rest of the final table results.
PokerStars $500,000 Guaranteed Results
1. ZeeJustin (Shermon Oaks, CA) $136,920
2. Kometen1(Stavanger, Norway) $82,152
3. omfgyfish (Oslo, Norway) $51,345
4. Krispen (Evanston, IL) $39,706
5. rarely sober (Tuscon, AZ) $30,807
6. -BBJ- (Florida) $23,961
7. 777toome (Reykjavik, Iceand) $17,799
8. Mattster24(Brownstone, IN) $12,322
9. luetch1 (South Hampton, UK) $7,393
