PocketFives had the opportunity to catch up with Jim jerzrepNadolski (pictured), who mostly plays under the handle nigock on 888 Poker and currently lives in Bayonne. A realtor by trade, he plays online poker as a hobby and started back in 2009 when a friend of his recommended he give it a try since he was always watching poker on TV.

Nadolski has over $56,000 in tracked online cashes, with his most notable victory coming on March 1, 2015 in the 888 Poker/WSOP $25,000 Guarantee Sunday Major where he earned $10,638. Visit PocketFives’ New Jersey poker community for the latest news and discussion from New Jersey players.

PocketFives: What got you started playing online poker and how long have you been playing?

Jim Nadolski: I started playing online poker in December 2009. I remember watching poker on ESPN for a long time and can remember as far back as Stu Unger’s victory in 1997. This stands out because I remember the final table was outdoors. Some of the other memories that stand out from watching on TV include Scotty Nyugen and, of course, Chris Moneymaker.

Anyway, my brother died at the age of 34 in March 2009. I always enjoyed watching poker and wanted to play and a friend of mine at work told me about online poker, so I gave it a try. My brother’s death motivated me to play because I felt I should start doing things that I wanted to do while I still could. I was terrible at first, and some people may attest that I still am to this day. I started reading some books and slowly improved to be the breakeven player I am today.

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

Jim Nadolski: I enjoy playing on 888 Poker and Borgata primarily. I would love to play on WSOP because of a few more MTT options, but for some reason that site won’t geo-locate me. Since 888 and WSOP merged, I can play most of the WSOP ones anyway, but am still missing out on a few that I’d like to play. 888, overall, offers me the best experience.

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

Jim Nadolski: My most memorable win was definitely the 888/WSOP $25,000 Guarantee Sunday Major I shipped on March 1 of this year. It was the culmination of a dream week in which I deposited $50 on the previous Sunday. I shipped a couple of $5 and $10 buy-ins between that Sunday and Wednesday and got my bankroll up to about $650 by Thursday.

I decided to take a shot at the $10,000 Guarantee that night and came in fourth for about $1,150. On Friday, I was like, “That’s great, let me take another shot at the $10K” and came in fourth again for about $1,050.

I withdrew about $1,800, went to breakfast that Sunday with a friend of mine, and since it was snowing that day I told him I’d probably take a shot at the $25,000 Guarantee on 888/WSOP and offered him half of my action. Luckily for me, he declined because I shipped.

I beat Connor nyr9414 Berkowitz heads-up and saw that he went on to win a bracelet at the 2015 WSOP in Vegas. Congrats to him on that. I saw that many other New Jersey online regs shipped bracelets this year and that gives me the confidence to perhaps take a shot next year and hopefully add a nice live win to my resume.

PocketFives: How do you prepare yourself before a tournament?

Jim Nadolski: Hopefully start off the day with a good workout. Ideally, I’d like to have eaten a good meal about one or two hours before I start playing. I usually don’t play great on a full stomach and would like to have digested a little.

I try to have an energy drink or some coffee so that I can maintain some focus in the event that I go deep and have to grind for long hours. Also, I try to get into a positive state of mind and doing the previous things I mentioned helps me to do that. I pray to the poker gods to try to ward off bad beats and suckouts and 90% to 95% of the time these prayers are not answered, but when they are it’s a great feeling as some of you know.

PocketFives: What do you do away from poker? What else interests you?

Jim Nadolski: I am first and foremost a dad to a great 14-year-old son. I enjoy spending my time with him away from work and playing poker. We play basketball, baseball, go to the beach, Yankees games, Great Adventure, and plenty of other fun activities.

As a job, I am a realtor in Hoboken. So, any of you New York grinders trying to find spot in New Jersey to do some online grinding or you New Jersey grinders trying to find a spot in Hoboken, downtown Jersey City, or anywhere else in New Jersey for that matter, inbox me for assistance with your real estate needs. I enjoy watching and playing sports and my favorite teams are Yankees, New York Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, and Nets.

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

Jim Nadolski: The way I approach the game of poker has definitely changed in recent months by way of the fact that I have definitely changed my focus more toward MTTs. The person I can offer the most credit to for this is Kevin Sofcknsickk Campbell. Just by watching him play and based on his advice to focus on MTTs has allowed me to fine-tune my game a bit and produce somewhat more consistent positive results.

Over the years, some in the game who I have been able to gather some wisdom from by watching them play and reading their offerings are Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Vanessa Selbst, Phil Helmuth, Michael Mizrachi, Noah Schwartz, Scott Seiver, Martin Jacobson, Pius Heinz, Greg Merson, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Colman, and many other pros.

Some New Jersey players I’d give credit to include my boy Eddie Pompiaa2Roman, Asher yasmellmeConniff, RivJ, Mike Gags30Gagliano, Bagel, Mergulas, Yong ykwon17Kwon, Mike JohnnnyDramaHaberman, Justin PocketProfits Wong, Jesse No_XcapeElliot, and Stephen sizzlinbetta Reynolds. All good players in my book. No offense to those I didn’t mention.

Shout out to my boys DADOMDADDA, humskip, ilyarash, and ECOMIKE. See ya at the final table!