In the closing days of January, PocketFives.com member Justin Arsonist88 Shelton (pictured at right) snagged a coveted online poker Triple Crown after trumping the fields of three $10,000 prize pool non-satellite tournaments across three sites tracked for the Online Poker Rankings within the same seven-day period. On the 27th, Shelton, a New Zealander, took down the Cake Poker Daily $17,500 Guaranteed for $4,300. Three days later, he found victory lane again, this time in the PokerStars $10,000 Two Rebuys, One Add-On event for $6,900. Finally, he won the UB.com $50 Rebuy for $6,800. We locked horns with the Kiwi to recap his Triple Crown run.

PocketFives.com: Congratulations on taking down a Triple Crown. You shipped three different tournaments in three different formats. Which one suits your playing style the best?

Justin Shelton: I prefer rebuys, I guess, because it is so much easier to get a stack, but I really like the cubed MTTs on PokerStars because you are a lot deeper and have a ton of room to work with.

PocketFives.com: Talk about your strategy in the PokerStars cubed tournaments.

Justin Shelton: On PokerStars, I think it’s best to stay pretty tight until the add-on because of how deep you are, but I would still look for good spots to pick up chips because there is a lot of room to play. On Full Tilt Poker, I just treat it the same as a freezeout unless I am short around the add-on. Then, I will be pretty nitty.

PocketFives.com: Was winning a Triple Crown important to you?

Justin Shelton: It was huge for me, probably bigger than it should have been. I have a lot of friends that have them and when I got two wins pretty quickly on two sites, I really thought I had a good shot at it, so I started playing a lot of volume everywhere to try and get it.

PocketFives.com: Just a few days before winning the Triple Crown, you won the PokerStars $10,000 Two Rebuys, One Add-On and the Nightly Hundred Grand. All told, you cashed for $120,000 in tournaments tracked for the Rankings in January. Is it all coming together?

Justin Shelton: Yeah. I am back in the United States right now, but while I was in New Zealand, I lived in a house with my backer (Neil Puggy82 Stewart), thebeej, mathclub, and Chris moorman1 Moorman (pictured at left) was out for a couple of months as well. Living with them helped my game a ton. In the U.S., I am staying with some other friends, Drinking Buddy and Mike telks Telker, who just won the Sunday Brawl and a Triple Crown. With all of this going on, my game is getting better and better every day.

PocketFives.com: Can you talk about the influence of Neil Puggy82 Stewart (pictured at right) on your game?

Justin Shelton: He picked me up last March when I was just starting to come into the game. I had my fair share of scores and wins, but nothing like I do now. He has mentored me through the big downswings and big upswings. He has been more like a big brother than a backer.

PocketFives.com: How did you get started in poker?

Justin Shelton: I have the opposite of the wonderful story a lot of people tend to talk about. I became interested in poker a few years back from it being on television, so I decided to play a little online, but I would load $50 to $100 at a time and just blow it. When I got decent, I went through the times of building $100 into $2,000 and just blowing it in cash games or MTTs that were too big for my bankroll. Then, one of my friends started backing me and I started doing really well. Then, I found Poker-Allies, which is Puggy’s team, and here I am.

PocketFives.com: Is there anyone you’d like to send a shout out to?

Justin Shelton: Shout outs to Stewart, beej, mathclub, Moorman, Telker (pictured at left), Drinking Buddy, leanliones (my mom), Papa Arson, and Grandma Arson. That actually is one thing that helped me a lot. My whole family really supports me and backs me up on what I do. My mom always rails me and wants to know what’s going on at all times. I know a lot of people whose parents hate that they play poker and I think that would affect their mindset on the game a lot.

Check out the PocketFives.com Triple Crown Wall of Champions.