Mike Webb (mikewebb68on PocketFives, pictured), who mostly plays under the screen name cantbeatyou, loves the fact that regulated online poker has launched in New Jersey. With close to $500,000 in tracked online cashes, he has already made several final tables since the November launch. He won the WSOP.com $5K Guarantee on December 30 for $1,325 and, the same week, came in fifth in the WSOP.com $10K. Prior to Black Friday, his biggest score took place on Full Tilt Poker, coming in second place in the $75,000 Guarantee for a little over $21K.

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

Mike Webb: I am extremely excited about it. The gray market sites, although I had some success on them, all had one or more major flaws, in my opinion. And I never kept much money on any of those sites out of fear of another Full Tilt situation. Now, I can play on a variety of excellent sites, confident that my money is secure.

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

Mike Webb: WSOP.com is my favorite since the poker interface is top-notch. They’ve run excellent promotions ($250K freerolls? Outstanding!) and the rewards program is simple and straightforward. But, I play on Borgata/PartyPokerand 888 Pokeras well. I haven’t played on Ultimate Poker much, but I might now with the new NO-verlay promotion. I’m just delighted as a US player to have so many quality choices again!

PocketFives: To what do you attribute your current online success?

Mike Webb: As a recreational player whose opportunities to put in volume are limited, I am nowhere near some of the best New Jersey PocketFivers who seem to run deep night after night, but any success I do have is attributable to one thing: training.

I had some success pre-Black Friday, but despite far less volume, I have actually had better results post-Black Friday solely due to joining a training site. It can be a humbling experience, though. I thought I was a decent player, but learned right off the bat that I was far from decent, and I continue to learn to this day. I highly recommend that everyone spend money on a good training site or coach; it may be the best ROI you ever experience!

PocketFives: Since the launch of regulated online poker in New Jersey, what has been your most memorable cash or win?

Mike Webb: Most certainly my ship of the WSOP.com daily $5K. I had actually taken the $5K off my schedule since it ends so late, but I had been running deep in almost everything I played for about a week, so I decided to give it a shot. Well, I found out that you don’t mind the middle-of-the-night finish to the tournament when you win it!

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

Mike Webb: I actually started out in live poker in Atlantic City in the mid-1990s when they pretty much only spread Stud, and I was one of the worst Stud players on the planet! However, I did have a love for the game and certainly a desire to learn and improve.

With increasing job and family responsibilities, I drifted away from live play, but continued to watch poker on TV, fascinated by the WSOP and other events where people would win large sums of money from a game I never even played back in Atlantic City: No Limit Hold’em. I still had no time for live poker, but eventually came to realize that online poker was far less of a time commitment. I took the online plunge in 2009 and never looked back.

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