Justin Bonomo sealed the best year of high-roller results that any tournament poker player has ever had by winning the World Series of Poker's $US1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop and its $US10 million first-place prize last night.
"Disbelief. Happiness. All over the place," Bonomo told ESPN ofhis emotional state following the victory. "The adrenaline has been going through me like crazy."
With that payday, in addition to his Super High Roller Bowl wins in China in March and Las Vegas earlier this summer, Bonomo pushed his winnings for the year to just shy of $US25 million, which moved him past Daniel Negreanu for the top spot on the all-time poker tournament money list with $US42.98 million.
Though the total gross isn't quite an accurate tally of actual dollars pocketed, it is an indicator of how well Bonomo has played and how fortunate he has been to this point. His success earlier in the year allowed him to take a bigger piece of his own action, rather than relying on others to invest a bigger stake in his buy-in. With this victory, Bonomo was able to repay the confidence of those willing to take a chance in staking him.
"Because of the wins this year, I absolutely do get to take bigger pieces of myself," Bonomo told ESPN. "This was a million-dollar buy-in, so I was not able to put up anywhere close to even half the money myself. It honestly made this even more special; I get to share this win with literally hundreds of people, because I sold action on the internet, as well. Also, some of my closest friends in the world who helped me prepare for this tournament [had pieces], and I'm so happy to give back to them."
And Negreanu had this to say about the possibility of Bonomo passing him on the money list:
Probably the best thing for my quality of life is for Justin to pass me today. I’ve been in that spot for the majority of my poker career and it feels like time to stop hanging on to it. Good luck everyone! https://t.co/Zge4cT4C5j
Despite all his success this year, with the ESPN cameras running and so much on the line, Bonomo said he was feeling the nerves as the tournament wound down. Even so, he was well-prepared for this life-changing moment.
"It's more money than I ever played for in my life, so I buckled down," Bonomo said. "I studied. I took the day off the day before and just studied all day. Meditation every single day. I took this as seriously as I possibly could."
