Making five final tables last weekendon the virtual felts in New Jersey was David phatchoy888Cheng (pictired), who hails from Paramus. Cheng plays under the handle Phatdaddyon most of the New Jersey regulated websites. A longtime PocketFiver with over $3 million in recorded online cashes, he couldn’t be happier that online poker has returned to the Garden State.

Some of Cheng’s accomplishments include a win in the PartyPoker/Borgata Poker$50,000 Guarantee on December 16 for $8,250, two wins in the Party/Borgata $10,000 Guarantee for over $2,000 each, and a third place finish in the WSOP.com $25,000 Guarantee for $2,325. Visit PocketFives’ New Jersey poker community for the latest news and discussion from New Jersey players.

PocketFives: Congrats on your five final tables in one weekend. Tell us how you’re feeling.

David Cheng: I’m feeling a little bittersweet. Obviously, making all of those final tables is awesome, but I feel like I should have won the WSOP.com $25K. I would have cashed for more by winning that tournament than I ended up making with the five final tables combined. And I should have gotten higher than eighth in the 888 Poker $10K.

PocketFives: Are there any hands that stood out for you in any of the five final tables?

David Cheng: A couple hands in the WSOP.com $25K stood out. I was a pretty short to medium stack for most of that tournament until about 40 or 50 people left, when I was able to suck out on the river with J-J to K-K. That hand doubled me up and catapulted me to my third place finish. The hand that crippled me was right before I busted out in third. I got it in with A-Q on an ace-high flop versus a flush draw.

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

David Cheng: My favorite site to play on is WSOP.com. I put almost all of my cash game and sit and go volume on there. The software reminds me of Full Tilt Poker, which was my favorite site back in the day before they screwed us over.

WSOP also has, in my opinion, the best promos out there. The site had a sit and go leaderboard, which is important for an SNG grinder such as myself. Hopefully, they keep that going permanently. They’ve also been giving a lot of reload bonuses and I enjoy their Main Event satellites.

I play MTTs on all four of the sites. I like 888 because that’s WSOP’s sister site and runs the same software. But, 888 is a distant second because they don’t have as much traffic or as many promos as WSOP.

PocketFives: To what do you attribute your success in online poker?

David Cheng: I attribute most of my online success to my wife. My kids keep me grounded as well. When I quit my job and decided to give this a shot, most people would’ve thought I was insane. She saw that I had a passion for it and supported my decision. All she wanted from me was to make sure I brought home a monthly paycheck. That was reasonable enough.

The first couple of months at it were a struggle. We had bills to pay and she held down the fort since she worked. My breakthrough in online poker came when I found out about rakeback. I didn’t know anything about it until someone told me about it. Ever since then, my online poker career took off.

As a lesson to all you poker guys out there, make sure you get a trophy wife who also works so you get benefits for you and your kids. That second income also comes in handy during the down months.

PocketFives: Do you plan on playing in the WSOP in Las Vegas this year?

David Cheng: I do. I would love to be there for the entire series, but with two kids, that’s just too hard. I missed it last year, so I’m definitely itching to go this year. I plan on going for the Monster Stack $1,500 all the way until I win the Main Event!

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