Analyzepoker Justin Bonomo Net Worth, Private Life, Winnings and Losses
Justin Bonomo, also known as ZeeJustin among his online poker fans, is an exceptional poker player. He is best known for his exploits and winning at the World Series of Poker of 2018 during the Big One for One Drop event, which earned him a whopping $10 million USD. Justin Bonomo net worth has drastically shot up with this winning. And not only that, with his winning, he has surpassed Daniel Negreanu, the top earner in the poker world. Bonomo now occupies the number one position of the All Time Money List of poker with total winnings of close to $43 million USD in live poker career. All these earnings have significantly increased Justin Bonomo net worth within the last couple of years.
Early Life of Justin Bonomo
Born on the 30th September 1985, Justin Bonomo had spent his early years in Virginia. He currently occupies the first position on the All Time Money List with earnings close to $43 million USD. His winnings, so far, have indicated that Justin Bonomo is not taking it easy in the poker industry. In fact, he is taking the poker industry by storm.
Justin’s fixated study of the hand of his opponents playing styles and histories is nothing strange to people in the industry. Interestingly, this analytical approach and concentration on details have really helped in the course of his career.
Justin Bonomo Important Career Dates
In 2005, Bonomo became the first teenager to make an appearance at a poker event on the television. This was during the European Poker Tour French Open in the year 2005. Also in 2008, he earned his first victory at the Team Championship Poker Tournament. He participated in the No Limit Hold’em Dream Team Championship for $18,000, an event that took place in Las Vegas.
In the year 2012, he earned the first place during the Monte Carlo European Poker Tour (EPT) Super High Roller. At the end of the game, he made a winning of $2,167,588. In 2014, he won his first ever World Series of Poker Bracelet at the$1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed with a winning of $449,980 at the end of the event.
In the year 2017, he attained two different victories at the World Poker Tour High Roller at the Bellagio where he played at the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em. In 2018, Justin won his second World Series of Poker Bracelet and the Biggest Live Cash at the $300,000 No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Bowl. He made a winning of $5 million USD at the end of this event. All these earnings contributed immensely to Justin Bonomo net worth by the end of 2018.
Just Bonomo Early Poker Career
Since his early childhood, Justin Bonomo has been very active in games. While growing up, he took a strong interest in games and the first game he was passionate about was Magic: The Gathering. He began playing this game at the age of nine and by the time he turned twelve, he has started competing at the top Magic tournaments across the world. At the time he was very involved in the game of Magic, the prize pools for the game were close to $250,000. However, Justin realized that many of the Magic game players were also involved in online pokers and they were making really good amount of money from this game. He began to develop interest in poker and at one point; he decided to try the game out. However, he discovered that the game of poker was quite different from the game of Magic. One thing that really irked him was his inability to build a bankroll. Surprisingly, a Magic: The Gathering tournament that help in California became the turning point for Justin Bonomo and his budding poker career.
During the Magic Tournament, he decided to watch some events during the World Poker Tour on the television. While watching the event, he was caught up in the midst of the live action. Watching professionals playing at the table re-energized Justin to focus more on poker games. As a step towards becoming a professional poker player, Justin decided to purchase a couple of books on poker and he took his time to read them while flying back to Virginia. With his learning from the books, he began to see poker in a different light and to approach the game with revamped focus, motivation, and interest.
When he turned sixteen, Justin began to play online poker frequently. He became serious at the game and paid close attention to everything happening around him at the online poker platform. At a point, he sold off an MMORPG character, known as Everquest for the sum of $500. He deposited this money at Paradise Poker to begin to play for real money. He continued to study the game intensely and he worked up his way in ranks at the Party Poker. Finally, he was able to build his bankroll to the tune of about $10,000. From this point, Justin Bonomo net worth began to take shape.
In the September of 2004, Justin made his first appearance at live poker tournament and competed in a World Poker Tour event that held in Aruba. Unfortunately, he did not make it to the second day of the poker event. However, he learnt a lot in the few hours at the event and this learning brought him great success at his second attempt at the tournament.
In 2006, he made his second attempt at another tournament. This time around, he participated in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he finished at the 30th place with a winning of $15,600. After this game, it became difficult for him to find other live games to play at. The reason for this was because he was under twenty one years old and was living in the United States, which means he was not legally of age to play at live poker tables. In other to find a way to develop his skills and poker strategy, he took up the only available option and this took him to Europe. Interestingly, this was an amazing move in his part because it led to the beginning of his numerous successes in the world of poker. This move also contributed to the growth of Justin Bonomo net worth.
He participated at the French Open in the February of that same year and he made it to the fourth place. At this event, he became the youngest poker player to ever make it to a televised final table. This landmark event kick started his breakthrough in the industry as he went ahead to make it to many final tables. He made it to the World Series of Poker, where he won his first bracelet, and also to the World Poker Tour.
Highlights of Justin Bonomo’s World Series of Poker Events
In 2007, Bonomo made his first World Series of Poker appearance. He cashed at three different events and made it to the 4th place in one of the events. He finished at the fourth place in the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event and made a winning of $150,000. This happened to be his biggest cash at that stage in his poker career.
In 2008, he made it to two World Series of Poker cashes, which included a second place finish at the $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event. He made a winning of $230,159 at the end of the event.
In 2009, Justin made it to six World Series of Poker cashes, which included a final table of $40,000 No Limit Hold’em 40th Anniversary event. He made a winning of over $400,000 by the end of the event.
In 2011, he had four different World Series of Poker cashes and another runner up finish, which he had at the $2,500 No Limit 2-7 Triple Draw event. At the end of the event, he made a winning of $117,305.
In 2012, he also made it to six World Series of Poker cashes, which included the €20,150 gaming event. He finished at the 48th place during the World Series of Poker European Main Event.
In 2014, he placed first during the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed Event Number 11 and made a winning of $449,980.
In 2017, Justin placed second at the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship and made a winning of $801,048.
In 2018, he made it to the first place at the $10,000 Heads Up and cashed $185,965. All these earnings have made up what is today, Justin Bonomo net worth.
Justin Bonomo World Poker Tour Highlights
First, let us establish the fact that Bonomo does not have any World Poker Tour title. However, he has made about $890,800 from different World Poker Tour competitions. His largest cash in a World Poker Tour event was in December of 2016. He participated at the $10,000 + $400 No Limit Hold’em Number 17 Five Diamond Main Event and finished in the 5th place. He cashed a winning of $345,272 at the event.
His next appearance at the World Poker Tour was in 2017 where he participated at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas. He made it to the first place in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Bellagio High Roller Number 14 and Number 25. He won $310,500 and $140,000 respectively at the end of the game. He also made it to the 4th place during the Number 15 of the same WPT event and made a winning of $97,500.
Justin Bonomo Participations at other Tournaments
Apart from the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, Justin has definitely participated in other tournaments and his earnings from all these events have all contributed to Justin Bonomo net worth to a large extent.
For instance, he made a couple of appearances at the European Poker Tour events and he made some winnings at these events.
In 2012, he made his first winning at the European Poker Tour at Monte Carlo in a Super High Roller 8 Max Event. His take-home prize at the event was $2,165,217. In 2015, he also made his first winning at Malta during the €2,000 + 200 Number 47 No Limit Hold’em event. He won $106,370 at this event.
In 2016, he made it to the first place at the Monte Carlo tournament where he participated at the €2,000 + 200 No Limit Hold’em Number 47 event and made a winning of $126,568. In 2018, He also made it to the first place at the Monte Carlo tournament where he took part in the €25,000 No Limit Hold’em Number 24 event and won $457,356. He also participated at the €24,700 + 300 No Limit Hold’em Single Re-Entry Number 40 event and made a winning of $311,268.
Justin Bonomo Super High Rollers Events
In the March of 2018, Justin participated in the Super High Roller Bowl China and he won the title and the cash prize of $4,800,000. He won against Patrik Antonius at this event. Also in June of the same year, he beat Daniel Negreanu to win the Aria Casino Super High Roller Bowl and took home a cool cash of $5,000,000. Barely a month later, he beat Fedor Holz at the Big One for One Drop and won his biggest cash ever. At this event, Justin Bonomo net worth shot up by an additional $10,000,000 USD, which made him the top earner in the industry till date.
Justin Bonomo Global Poker League Highlight
Justin Bonomo joined the first Global Poker League and teamed up with Chris Moorma, Igor Kurganov, Sam Trickett, Vanessa Selbst, and Liv Boeree for the team London Royals. He currently ranked among top players of the 2018 Player of the Year Index. He also battled against Randy Lew, also known as Nanonoko.
Justin Bonomo at Online Poker Platform
Bonomo is not all about live tournaments. He is also very active at the online poker platform. He used to have an account with Party Poker and was known as the 12-tabler by many. This moniker came as a result of his ability to play twelve hours straight at online poker sessions. Justin’s shrewd ability to control Sit ‘N’ Go poker game at the Party Poker usually involved playing at eight different $200 + 15 Sit ‘N’ Go tables at a go. At the height of his online poker career, Bonomo participated at the $1,000 Sit ‘N’ Go’s and played eight at once. According to Justin, he made about $400 per hour when he is involved in games like this.
From this point, he moved higher and began to participate at the biggest Heads Up poker at the FullTilt and PokerStars, playing from $25/$50 to $100/$200. According to Justin, it is really exciting to play poker against the same player for about 3,000 hands on straight. He obviously uses this as a strategy to analyze each aspect of his opponent’s play. He went further to elaborate that each decision made at the game of heads up is very crucial as it can make or destroy your winning chances. For Bonomo, the ability to analyze his opponent and figure out each aspect of their play is what he enjoys most at the long game.
In 2010, Justin’s online poker career came to a sudden crash. This made him to stop playing at FullTilt till date. Following his unfortunate fiasco, Justin moved to Malta to take up his gaming career and from there, he began to experience better result at PokerStars. He later joined the ranks of SuperNova Elite at the site. In the year 2015, Justin Bonomo completed his big live cash, which was a much better score for him.
Between 2008 and 2010, Justin joined Jean-Robert Bellande, Evelyn NG, and David Williams as a member of the Bodog Poker online pro team. No doubt, this was a significant sponsorship deal and his earnings from this deal added up to Justin Bonomo net worth.
Justin Bonomo Multi-Account Scandal
In 2006, Bonomo was accused of cheating by Party Poker. According to the accusation, Party Poker stated that Bonomo was exploiting a bug in the platform’s software, which enabled him to open many accounts at the same time simply by clicking on the Party Poker icon rapidly. When this was discovered and verified by Party Poker, they seized a total of $100,000 from his account. This amount equaled about the same amount of money he had made in the week prior to when he won the Party Poker Big Sunday $600 + 40 tournament.
After an extensive investigation on Justin’s account, the poker platform decided that his winnings of $137,000 from the Big Sunday tournament were quite legal. At the end of the investigation, Bonomo apologized publicly for his actions. He also included a public statement on his website to explain that he felt bad about his behavior and went ahead to argue that he thinks that the response of Party Poker was exaggerated. Many of his fans and followers understand and support the argument he made about Party Poker blowing the situation out of proportion. However, many still felt somewhat disappointed at his behavior and opined that his act was really disappointing.
In 2011, Justin faced another scandal when he was accused by Prahlad Friedman of sharing an account with his friend, Isaac Haxton. According to the accusation, Bonomo and Haxton were both sharing the same account to play at an online poker platform. However, both Bonomo and Haxton denied the allegation. According to the duo, the only thing that happened was that Haxton was at that point coaching Bonomo and the situation was obviously misunderstood by Prahlad Friedman.
Justin Bonomo and the Hole Cards Debate
In 2016, Bonomo refused to reveal his hole cards during a televised game of the Super High Roller Bowl. This placed him at the receiving end of jabs from many players who publicly condemned his action. Leon Tsoukernik didn’t just condemn Bonomo’s decision at the event but went further to call him a scandal person and suggested that Justin should be disqualified from the game.
After his winning at the 2016 European Poker Tour Monaco Satellite Event in the month of November, Justin declined taking an official photograph because according to him, PokerStars stole $50,000 from him in rake by refusing to honor the prior SuperNova reward system via the termination of the calendar year in 2016. He later obliged to the request for the official photograph after he was told that the rules of the tournament legally bind him to obligate to the photograph request.
Justin Bonomo Net Worth
Currently, Justin Bonomo net worth is about $43,000,000 USD. He currently occupies the first position on the All Time Money List based on his total live earnings. Justin Bonomo net worth is an accumulation of his various earnings from the time he stepped into the world of poker. No doubt, he had lost some and won many at both the online and liver poker tournaments.
Private Life of Justin Bonomo
According to Justin, he is involved in consensual, responsible, ethical, and non-monogamy relationships. This type of relationship is also known as Polyamory. He is not shy or secretive about this. The fact is that he enjoys multi-partner non-monogamous relationships. According to him, he has seen his girlfriend’s play with others before and it is something he enjoys. He is not the possessive type and seeing his girlfriends with other people really turns him on. He went further to state that this, for him, is the strongest bond because when you are capable of being emotionally and sexually intimate with someone and you are still able to talk about their other relationships with other people without going crazy, then you have a strong and powerful connection with them. Well, that is Bonomo’s opinion and like he said, if he and his girlfriends are okay with it, then let the world keep going at its own pace.
Personal Life and Hobbies of Justin Bonomo
Justin currently lives in Las Vegas. Even though he lives in the midst of the glitz and noise of Las Vegas, he still prefers a more quite life. Before 2018, he was living in Panorama Towers, a three building complex that acts as home to more than seventy professional poker players. Top among poker pros that live in this complex are Barry Greenstein, Adam Junglen and the Binger brothers, David Williams, Joe Sebok, Nick and Michael. Justin is a close friend of Seiver and Haxton, and they were so close that the three friends usually get involved in each other’s action.
In the year 2010, during an interview with Bluff Magazine, Justin Bonomo claimed that although he really doesn’t go out and doesn’t visit night clubs, he still revel in the numerous delicacies available in Las Vegas. According to him, a night out for him is simply visiting a restaurant and ordering for, like six meal courses and just sitting down to savor it. He went further that he had made it a duty to discover all the best restaurants that Las Vegas has to offer and he has found out that there are eighteen Michelin-rated restaurants in the city and up till the time he gave the interview, he had eaten at twelve of them. He said his goal is to eat at all of the eighteen restaurants.
Apart from poker and exceptional eating habit, Justin also enjoys playing video games, especially Street Fighter and Heartstone. He also enjoys listening to live music and meditating. He regularly visits alternative rock concerts to enjoy beautiful music. Although he has not publicly declared an interest in specific philanthropic projects, Justin Bonomo had donated about $13,250 USD to SENS project. This is a life extension research project that is channeled towards the elderly.
Justin Bonomo Stance on Sexism
At some point, Bonomo ventured into the world of blogging and during his short phase of being a blogger, he developed two different posts on his BlogSpot account which he created in the year 2015. In one of the blogs, he recounted his Burning Man Festival experience, and in the second blog, he took a stance against Sexism and Misogyny in Poker. In this particular post, he mentioned that an unforgivably large percentage of male poker pros treat their women counterpart like ‘shit’. He elaborated further on the issue of sexism when re reported the inappropriate behavior of other players at a poker tournament in 2016. Using his Twitter account to report his experience and the specifics of what he saw during the 47th Annual World Series of Poker, he highlighted cases of ‘microaggressions, something he described as an understated but insulting comment or action intended for other non-dominant or minority group that often unconsciously or unintentionally strengthens a stereotype.
Recently in his response to the 2017 #metoo movement, Justin announced his support for this cause through social media and publicly tendered his apology for his personal role in enabling sexist stereotypes and other sexually aggressive actions.
Justin Bonomo has thousands of followers on social media, with about 36,400 followers on Twitter and 3,600 followers on Instagram. With the current Justin Bonomo net worth, it is believed that he is aiming for the star as many of his fans are eagerly anticipating his next appearance at a major poker tournament.