PocketFives caught up with Frank savant111 Saraf (pictured, ranked 26th in New Jersey), who is a behavior analyst by day and poker player by night. Surrounded by various games growing up and making trips to Atlantic City with his family, his grandmother taught him Five-Card Draw, which sparked his interest for poker. Then, after watching the poker movie “Rounders”, Saraf was instantly hooked.

Amassing over $164,000 in tracked online cashes, some of his notable accomplishments include a fourth place finish in the PartyPoker/Borgata $100,000 Guarantee, a win in the network’s $5,000 Guarantee, and a win in the NJCOP $10,000 Guarantee PLO event for a total of $11,213.

Visit PocketFives’ New Jersey poker community for the latest news and discussion from New Jersey players.

PocketFives: Give us your thoughts and experiences of regulated online poker in New Jersey.

Frank Saraf: It’s great to have regulated online poker in New Jersey. It’s a relief to be able to deposit money online and know it is safe. There is far less to worry about for players, which is awesome. That said, I want everyone in the United States to have the same freedoms we enjoy. Black Friday was a blow to our civil liberties as well as crushing for the popularity of poker within this country. Restoring things back to where they were pre–Black Friday is the challenge still ahead of us. New Jersey’s success is an important piece of the puzzle.

There have been a lot of growing pains, but the sites have finally started to get their act together. The tournament schedules are much improved, disconnections and geo-location are less of an issue these days, and payment processing is also getting easier for customers. There is still plenty of work to be done, though.

What we really need now is an eco-system to bring new players online. The game is too challenging now for new players to jump in and compete. The most realistic way to accomplish this is through Twitch streaming. New Jersey poker needs public faces to represent it, we need free and entertaining education for new audiences, and effective marketing efforts catered toward potential poker players.

This can help maintain liquidity and hopefully create growth. This is all challenging in a market as small as ours, but hopefully now that things are running smoother we can shift our focus to setting up some type of system to accomplish this.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker originally? Why was it appealing?

Frank Saraf: Gaming is part of my family’s culture. I grew up taking trips to Atlantic City with my family. I would play in the arcades as my family took turns playing in the casino. We would hit up the boardwalk and beach after. Those are some of my fondest memories growing up.

At home, we would always be playing something: chess, Monopoly, etc. Eventually, my grandmother taught me Five-Card Draw and the seed was planted. I was soon running bluffs playing Five-Card Draw for comic books and baseball cards with my friends.

In college, the movie “Rounders” came out and sparked a more serious interest in the game. The movie made it look really exciting and easy to do. Everyone always credits poker’s growth to Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP Main Event, but there was a mini Rounders Boom that came before it that provided a kick-start as well. I was part of that group.

PocketFives: What are your favorite New Jersey online poker sites to play and why?

Frank Saraf: I like them all, but for different reasons. PartyPoker/Borgata has been the most collaborative with the player base. 888 understands the market better than the other sites. WSOP brings a household brand name to the state, which is huge for attracting new players. Hopefully PokerStars will come to our market in September.

As far as poker offerings go, I play a little more on WSOP/888. They have a better late night offering with the High-Rollers, $5,000 Guarantee Rebuy, and $1,500 Deepstack. I do play on Party/Borgata as much as I can, though. I particularly enjoy the $10K, $5K, the $75 Six-Max. Also, Party easily throws the best poker series in our market, which I’m both thankful for and love playing.

PocketFives: What has been your most memorable cash or win on the New Jersey sites?

Frank Saraf: My most memorable win was fourth place finish in the Party/Borgata Weekly $100,000 Guarantee in late 2014. I was considering sitting it out because Borgata was having horrible disconnection issues that day. I couldn’t even log on from my home.

I called my father, who said the site was running fine for him. I decided to play the tournament from my parent’s house. I gave my dad a 10% stake and he watched me play the whole thing. I finished fourth for around $7,500. Seeing my dad at the edge of his seat, sweating out every hero call and light jam was pretty cool.

PocketFives: Is there anyone who helped change how you approach the game?

Frank Saraf: The people who support me are the ones I don’t want to let down. They are what motivate me to review extra hand histories, plug the leaks in my game, and work as hard as I can on improving. My parents have always been my biggest cheerleaders and love it when I hit a decent score.

My fiancée Jackie is super supportive and has sacrificed countless Sundays to let me pursue poker. When GSSS comes around, she sacrifices more than that. Even when the tournaments are on break, if things aren’t going well, she’ll say something encouraging like, “You got this” as I head back to my computer. It makes me come back from break and want to claw my way back in it.

On the poker side, PocketFiver Nathan Booshsquad Engle has helped my game a lot. We chat on PocketFives daily about hands and general poker theory. I think we’ve both benefited. He’s only been playing a year and is already holding his own in the bigger buy-ins and against the tougher opponents. In a few years, that dude is going to win all the money. He’s got the perfect mindset for poker and the right work ethic too.

PocketFives: What do you do away from poker?

Frank Saraf: I have a private practice providing home behavior therapy to children with autism and other special needs. There are actually more similarities between behavior analysis and poker than one might think. Being successful in both requires the ability to analyze variables, think about possible choices of action, and select the action that will have the best long-term outcome. Both require very similar skill sets.

At home, my favorite thing to do is relax with Jackie and our pitbull, Ninez (named after pocket nines). I’m a big fan of high-end TV shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Breaking Bad,” and “The Wire.” I follow UFC religiously and am the tragic combination of a Mets and Eagles fan. If any PocketFivers out there play X-Box, add me. My screen name is EightyTundra.