We’re two months into 2014 and, already, we’ve awarded 39 PocketFives Triple Crowns. That means we’re on pace for 234 this year, which would be a record, surpassing last year’s mark of 208. One of the latest PocketFives Triple Crown winners is Derek Schwartz (pictured), who is known on PocketFives as domino20.

The New Zealand resident told us, “It feels great. It has always been a goal of mine to win a Triple Crown, but I haven’t been able to get it done. I have been close a few times, but always had something come up like having to travel the day after winning two tournaments. Heck, when I started playing, I didn’t even grind three sites. But, I always had an eye on one day winning a Triple Crown.”

On finally getting a Triple Crown to add to his already impressive poker resume, Schwartz said, “When I won the second tournament, I thought that was the third and final win, but I looked back and saw one of my wins was more than a week old. I went on to win the Nightly $33 a few hours after discovering I needed another win.” It was just the fourth Triple Crown ever recorded by a PocketFiver from New Zealand.

His January Triple Crown was the first for Schwartz, who has $3.4 million in tracked scores from over 4,100 in the money finishes. He has been a member of PocketFives since 2010 and raced to #83 worldwide on our site last year.

Since then, Schwartz has fallen back to #137 worldwide, which is still impressive, and is ranked #2 in New Zealand. On his ascension through the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings, Schwartz commented, “I recently have fallen back a bit after not playing much in the last few months. I spent the end of Thanksgiving in the United States and the whole month of Decemeber in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. Since it was mostly family vacation time, I didn’t grind as much as I wanted to.”

One of his major claims to fame in the poker world is winning the Full Tilt $1K Mondayin the first month of 2011 for $75,000. What’s on tap for 2014? What is he shooting for in the new year? “My goals are to bink a six-figure score, acquire a $4 million badge, and win another Triple Crown,” he explained. “And to do all of that while somehow maintaining a proper life balance such as socializing with friends, spending time with family, and working out.”

Schwartz attended college at the University of Iowa (pictured). While in Iowa City, a friend came to town and turned him onto the existence of PartyPoker. “Naturally, I was skeptical at first,” he recalled, “but after I saw him win a pot or two at the cash game tables, I wanted to create an account of my own. Soon, I was playing mostly Limit Hold’em. I would run my bankroll from a few thousand dollars to over $10,000, move up in stakes, get crushed, and do it all over again.”

He added that he had a full cheering section during his climb up the poker ladder: “My buddies would gather around my screen, beers in hand, while I played a few tables of $15/$30, which was huge money at the time. After the Moneymaker Boom, I saw all of the big tournaments on television and become interested in those. Since then, I have pretty much played MTTs exclusively.”

He is nearing 200 victories in tracked MTTs and checks in at over 500 top-three finishes. He final tabled the PokerStars Sunday Million on April Fools’ Day in 2012 for $88,000 after a chop and has multiple top-five runs in the Sunday Mulligan.

Schwartz closed by sending shout-outs to his family and friends back home and also to the New Zealand poker community here on PocketFives. He saluted, “There are a lot of friendly people here in New Zealand and I appreciate all of the gl’s and gg’s. Cheers!”

Visit the PocketFives Triple Crown Wall of Champions to learn how to get your own Triple Crown.

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