New Jersey online poker player Mitch Friedberg (money4baconon PocketFives) plays mostly under the name CharlieBrownon Borgata Pokerand WSOP.com. Friedberg has made nine final tables since December. Notable finishes include wins in the WSOP $5K Guarantee in December and February, a second place finish in the WSOP $10K nightly for $2,336, a third place finish in the Borgata/Party $10K Guarantee, and a 10th place finish in the Borgata/Party $100K Guarantee for $1,672. Visit our New Jersey poker community for the latest news and discussion from New Jersey players.

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

Mitch Friedberg: I was hooked during the poker boom, much like a lot of kids my age. I saw the big names on TV and whenever I came upon poker on TV, I couldn’t turn it off. I discovered there were websites where you could play poker online, so I gave it a shot.

I started with play money games on random websites and learned the basics. By this time, I was just starting college and ended up joining a fraternity. I got to know one of my brothers and discovered that he never really had a job over the last few years, but rather played online poker on PokerStars as his main source of income. This was about the time I decided to give real money games a shot. I thought, “Hey, if my college drinking buddy can do it, why can’t I?”

I had a rude awakening. I was not your typical success story that you often read about. I did not make one deposit and never look back. Instead, I made lots of deposits and looked back a lot. I lit student loan refund checks on fire. I had never read a book, blog post, or watched a video about poker. I was a gambler, not a poker player. One day, I actually calculated how much money I had burned on online poker and knew I had to change something. By the time I finally settled down and read a book, I had my first four-figure score.

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

Mitch Friedberg: I play mainly on WSOP.com and Borgata Poker. WSOP was the first site I could successfully geo-locate on and had success on. In the first week of playing, I final tabled the $5K and $10K on WSOP and the $50K Sunday on Borgata. I never really gave the other sites a chance, so I don’t have anything good or bad to say about them.

However, in an unfortunate series of events, I recently changed my internet service provider from Comcast to Verizon FiOS and am now having geo-location issues on WSOP and Borgata. My IP address appears to be coming from Virginia, which apparently is also an issue for other New Jersey residents that I have spoken to and we have yet to find a fix. I found out that Ultimate Poker seems to be working okay with my new provider, so this might give Ultimate Poker a chance to get some of my business.

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

Mitch Friedberg: There are a number of people who helped change the way I think about the game: all of the authors of books I have read, the players on training websites that I have watched hours of video on, and some of my friends.

If I had to name a close friend who has helped, I would say Joe (known online to some as PokerGymCoach). I randomly met Joe through a friend at a bar one night when I overheard him talking about poker. We shared some stories and I found out he had played at the WSOP that summer. We became friends, played more poker together, bounced ideas off each other, and before you know it, I had a mini heater and decided to head to Vegas with him to play some events in the 2013 WSOP. There are no big scores to report, sorry guys, maybe this year!

PocketFives: Do you play any live poker?

Mitch Friedberg: I do, mainly low-stakes cash games and small buy-in tournaments. I cut my teeth at live poker in the small dailies at Bally’s and Showboat in Atlantic City when I first turned 21. I haven’t had any major live scores, as I only dabble with large buy-in tournaments on special occasions.

I had one WSOP Circuit final table last year at Caesars in a $365 ring event where I busted in seventh place for just short of $5,000. I plan to take a few larger live stabs this year, including a possible WSOP Circuit Main Event in Philadelphia and/or New Orleans. If I have some luck there, maybe you’ll see me take a stab in the WSOP Main Event!

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