Just in case you’ve had your head in the sand for the last week, interstate poker is now a reality in New Jersey. That’s right, on May 1 the poker scene changed for the better as WSOP.com NJ welcomed players from Nevada and Delaware.

Unsurprisingly, the first few days of action have been jam-packed with bets, bluffs and big bonuses. Indeed, with WSOP.com’s promo team putting up new schedules and more than $15 million in added value, there really is no better place to play poker this summer.

In conjunction with a daily slew of satellites to the World Series of Poker, WSOP.com has launched a new tournament series. Essentially a celebration of interstate poker and all that’s to come, the Coast to Coast Classic is your chance to win a share of $1 million.

Kicking off on May 11 at 7 p.m. ET, the new series will see players from coast to coast converge for a 32-MTT series.

Play from coast to coast without leaving home

For those with big aspirations, the Coast to Coast Main Event gets underway on May 20 at 6 p.m. ET. The entry fee for this one is $500, and re-entries are available during the opening stages of the tournament.

Now, we know what you’re thinking: $500 is a lot to spend on a single MTT. That’s true, but there are two positives here. Firstly, the prize pool will be at least $200,000. Secondly, there are a ton of qualifiers running right now!

If you’re looking to build up your bankroll and collect some cash before the Main Event, the schedule is littered with intriguing options. Event #3, the $15,000 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack, is great for those that like to play fast and loose. With a buy-in of just $50 and a start time of 9 p.m. ET on May 11, this one could see you bank a few thousand dollars just after the midnight bells toll.

For something more intense, we love the look of the 4-max. Going down on May 12 at 8 p.m. ET, this rebuy and add-on affair is your chance to show your short-game skills and win a share of $20,000. Finally, for something a little different, The Omaha 50 is perfect. Starting at 8 p.m. ET on May 19, this is a Pot Limit Omaha showdown with at least $10,000 up for grabs.

Bag a WSOP bracelet for free

Of course, our top picks are a small sample of what you can sink your teeth into this month. For a look at the full schedule, all you need to do is log in to your WSOP NJ account and check out the Coast to Coast tab. However, as you’d expect, the WSOP NJ gambling website team couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass by without going the extra mile.

To give you another reason to ante-up (even if we don’t think you need one), you could win a free shot at a bracelet. By playing three or more Coast to Coast events, you’ll get entry into the WSOP Event #10 freeroll on May 22.

With 20 seats in the $365 online bracelet event guaranteed, the chances of you getting something for nothing are pretty good. In fact, even if you come up short in three Coast to Coast MTTs, you could still bag a coveted bracelet without busting your bankroll.

Better rakeback rewards at WSOP NJ

Away from the latest online series, WSOP.com is rolling out the red carpet for its tristate newbies. As we’ve said, the summer tournament schedule has $15 million in guaranteed prizes.

On top of that, daily freerolls to the WSOP are a must. If that’s not enough to pique your interests, how about the new loyalty scheme. Completely revamped and even more lucrative, the Power Rewards system is your chance to earn 32 percent rakeback every month:

• Player (monthly): 0-199 APP’s ($0-$99 in rake) = 0% rakeback
• Bronze (monthly): 200-749 APP’s ($100-$324 in rake) = 8% rakeback
• Silver (monthly): 750-1,499 APP’s ($325-$749 in rake) = 20% rakeback
• Elite (monthly): 1,500-19,999 APP’s ($750-$9,999 in rake) = 25% rakeback
• Champions Club (annual): 20,000+ APP’s ($10,000+ in rake) = 32% rakeback

What’s rakeback? In simple terms, it’s cashback based on the amount you wager each month. Every time you play a cash game pot (from the flop onwards) or enter an MTT, you’ll pay a small fee. This fee is known as the rake and that’s what you can get back at the end of the month.

Unfortunately, WSOP NJ isn’t offering you 100 percent rakeback. However, 32 percent at the top end is impressive.

For example, if you raked $2,000 in a month, you could get $640 put back into your account. What’s more, rakeback is playthrough-free. In other words, you don’t have to bet XX amount to release your bonus funds. This, in our opinion, is fantastic and just one more reason you need to join WSOP.com’s tristate party.

If you don’t have a WSOP.com NJ account, follow our secure sign-up link to receive $10 free and a $1 freeroll ticket. Then join the Coast to Coast Classic and see how far you’ll go.

If happy hour for you means taking time out from the drudgery of the day to enjoy drinks and snacks at rock bottom prices, you probably know where to go. Simply head to your favorite bar or restaurant at your favorite Atlantic City casino any day in the late afternoon or early evening.

Or here’s an alternative you might like even more. Stay where you are and play your favorite cash games on WSOP New Jersey. While you’ll have to supply your own refreshments, WSOP.com offers a different and potentially much more lucrative happy hour without your having to leave the comforts of your home.

Best of all, you can celebrate Happy Hour on WSOP NJ every day in January.

Each day you log in to play brings you new opportunities to win big. You even get to choose which special reward you want: either double Action Player Points (APPs) or a special mystery prize that could be as much as $100.

When is Happy Hour on WSOP NJ?

Happy Hour is every day in January from 8 p.m. to midnight. The promotion is open to registered WSOP NJ players only and is valid only for cash games.

Upon opting into the promotion either via messaging or email (see the WSOP.com website for details), you will be presented with two possible special offers.

However, you can only pick one, so choose the one you prefer. If you are not clear about how to opt in or have any other questions about this promotion, don’t hesitate to contact Customer Support for assistance.

Option A: Earn Double APPs

This NJ gambling website promotion is valid for any cash game. The acronym APPs stands for Action Player Points, which are a basic component of the WSOP.com player’s rewards program.

Since APPs, once you accumulate enough of them, can be converted into WSOP points, which are redeemable for cash, earning double points on your play is a great way to build up your point total quickly.

For example, any day that you play for the full Happy Hour period (four hours), you earn the same number of points that you would ordinarily earn after playing eight hours.

How the WSOP.com rewards program works

Every time you contribute to the rake in a cash game or pay a fee for a tournament, you add to your APP total.

For most players, the number of APPs you earn each month is the basis for determining your monthly level. There are 12 monthly levels in all, ranging from Copper to Diamond +. In addition, there are two top levels — Elite and Seven Stars— for which a minimum number of yearly APPs is required.

Your goal should be to earn enough APPs each month to reach at least Silver status. Silver is the minimum level where your APPs are converted to WSOP points, which can be redeemed for real cash credited to your account.

Each higher level up the ladder not only requires a higher minimum number of APPs, but comes with a higher multiplier when converting the APPs to WSOP points.

Clearly, earning double APPs can go a long way to helping you reach the Silver level or higher faster.

Option B: Play at least three days in any week and win a Mystery Prize

Each week, WSOP NJ players who have opted into this promotion will be eligible for that week’s Mystery Prize if they play at least three days during Happy Hour that week. Each week runs from Sunday to Saturday. Week 1 (Sunday, Jan. 7 to Saturday, Jan. 13) is over, but you can still qualify by playing during any or all of the following weeks:

• Week 2: Sunday, Jan. 14 to Saturday, Jan. 20
• Week 3: Sunday, Jan. 21 to Saturday, Jan. 27
• Week 4: Sunday, Jan. 28 to Saturday, Feb. 3

Minimum play requirements

Apart from the statement that in order to qualify for a prize, you must play at least three different days, the minimum play per day and per week is not entirely clear.

On the one hand, the terms and conditions state that you must wager a minimum of $1 on any given day. However, the terms and conditions further state that a player who wagers a total of $100 or more during the Happy Hours in any given week would qualify.

At the very least, you would need to wager a total of $3 for the three days combined, but it is possible that the minimum play for the three days combined is not $3, but $100. To be on the safe side, I recommend either wagering at least $100 or reaching out to Customer Support and clarifying what exactly is the minimum play.

What you can win

 As long as you fulfill the wagering requirements, whatever they may be, you are guaranteed a prize. But for now, that is a mystery, too. It can be any of the following:

• $1 BLAST Tournament ticket
• $5 BLAST Tournament ticket
• $100 cash

When you will get the prize

According to the website, all prizes will be awarded “at the end of the promotion period.” It also states that players will receive their tournament tickets or $100 cash in their account “within 72 hours of the end of the promotion.”

Presumably, “end of the promotion” means the end of the week in question and not the end of the entire monthlong promotion period. However, I wouldn’t rule out the latter as a possibility. In either case, the prizes are valid for a year.

Which of the two Happy Hours at WSOP NJ is better?

Option B would be great if all you have to wager in any one week is $3, but from the NJ gambling website’s standpoint, that wouldn’t make much sense. I have a strong suspicion that $100 in wagers is required.

We also know nothing about the distribution of prizes. Maybe only one player or a handful of players will win $100 and everyone else will win the token prize of a $1 or $5 tournament ticket.

Option A, on the other hand, offers a sure thing — double APPs. So if you play every day or nearly every day, your points can add up to an amount really worth celebrating.

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Participants in a reality TV show might not like it when they find themselves in the “hot seat,” but every time this week the WSOP New Jersey Multi-Table Hot Seat prizes are being given out, the hot seat is exactly where you want to be!

Best of all, during the Jan. 14-20 WSOP online NJ Multi-Table Hot Seat promotion, not just one player wins extra cash, but everyone in the hand at the randomly selected hot table. And if you happen to be playing in a cash game at one or more other tables simultaneously, you win additional money.

How the Multi-Table Hot Seat promotion on WSOP NJ works

The Multi-Table Hot Seat promotion on WSOP.com is in effect through Saturday, Jan. 20. On each day, one cash game table will be selected at random at a predetermined randomly picked time between 5 and 8 p.m. All players who are seated at the winning table and dealt into the first active hand thereafter will receive one of the following prizes:

• $1
• $2
• $3
• $5
• $10
• $15
• $20
• $25
• $50
• $100

The amount of each player’s prize is determined randomly and has nothing to do with whether the player wins or loses the hand. However, there is a way for a player to win a larger prize. Any player at the winning table who is multi-tabling — simultaneously playing at one or more other cash games — will receive an added bonus.

The size of the bonus can vary, as it is also randomly determined.

When are the prizes awarded?

All players who have won a prize will be informed of the amount via email within 72 hours. They will then receive the prize money in their account within 72 hours thereafter.

It is not clear from the terms and conditions whether the same 72-hour wait to learn the amount of one’s prize also applies to finding out whether one is seated at the winning table, or if that information is relayed immediately. If the winning table is revealed immediately, it is not clear whether players at other tables are privy to that information, too.

Is the Multi-Table Hot Seat promotion worth your time?

If you are going to play cash games on WSOP online NJ between now and Saturday, Jan. 20, the ideal time to do so is between 5 and 8 p.m. when this promotion is in effect.

Multi-table to maximize your winnings, but know your limits

If you are comfortable multi-tabling, by all means do so. The more tables you play, the better your chances to be in one of the hot seats. However, be careful not to take on more games than you can comfortably handle simultaneously. If you are new to multi-tabling, try playing at just two tables.

If either of them is the randomly chosen winning table, you only need to be seated at one other cash game to receive the Multi-Table Hot Seat Bonus!

Long wait for the prize seems unnecessary

Why the winners of this promotion have to wait up to six days to receive their prize (72 hours for the email and another 72 hours for the money to be credited to their account) escapes me. The money should be awarded instantly or within 24 hours at the latest. Imagine waiting six days and then only receiving a dollar!

Hopefully, players at the winning table are notified that they have won right after the applicable hand occurs. If I were playing on this site and seated at the winning table, I would definitely want to know immediately even if I have to wait to collect the prize.

If I were playing at another table, I would also want to know it is not the winning table so I would not get my hopes up. Once the Multi-Table Hot Seat promotion is over for the night, some players might want to quit, just as many players call it a night when the time period for a High Hand promotion is over.

This NJ gambling website promo is going to be fun

Aside from my criticism about the long wait for the prize, the WSOP.com Multi-Table Hot Seat is not only a fun promotion, but a potentially rewarding one.

Just be careful about the amount of multi-playing you do. You need to be able to play fast enough so you don’t miss your blinds and well enough to make good decisions even without as much information as you would have being seated at one table exclusively. Multi-tabling also costs more, so make sure it doesn’t exceed your budget.

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He turned his competition into minced meat.

Thomas Pomponio, a butcher from Stafford, New Jersey, won the World Series of Poker Colossus III $565-buy-in event in Las Vegas earlier this month. He beat out more than 18,000 others for the $1 million first-place prize.

When Pomponio spoke with the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the tournament, he was still in a victor’s daze.

“I’m just waiting to wake up from the dream, but I don’t think I’m going to, so it’s pretty good,” he told the paper. “I come to every tournament thinking I can win. I know as a poker player it’s not a reality, but I play the best I can, make all the right moves and try to give myself the best chance.”

Californian Taylor Black finished second, while Texan John Hanna finished third.

Pomponio’s road to the final table of the WSOP Colossus III

WSOP’s official article about the tournament noted Pomponio entered the final table with the fifth-most chips.

The butcher knocked out two players on the way to his heads-up battle with Black. At that point, he had half as many chips as Black.

However, he was able to turn the tables pretty quickly on the fourth hand of heads-up, dealing a decisive blow to Black’s A-10 with A-K. From there, several accounts say Pomponio was able to wear Black down until he won the tourney with an ace-high hand against Black’s J-6.

Pomponio told WSOP he planned on heading home to New Jersey for his regular shift and that he’d put some of his earnings toward some bills and give some of it to his parents.

Pomponio’s WSOP background

While the butcher’s $1 million purse was certainly his biggest, it wasn’t his first.

Pomponio’s WSOP profile reveals he’s won cash prizes at four WSOP events and two circuit events. His winnings before Colossus III totaled $13,628.

The butcher says he is a regular on New Jersey gambling websites.

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