On Sunday, March 16, Anthony Cofone (Parmakeron PocketFives) from Oakland, New Jersey outlasted a field of 342 players to win the Party/Borgata $50,000 Guarantee Sunday Major. He took home a cool $12,021 for his efforts. Cofone, who is new to the PocketFives community, also had a deep run in the Party/Borgata $100K Guarantee on March 2, finishing 71st out of 786 players, banking $712.

PocketFives: Congrats on your win in the Party/Borgata $50K. Tell us how you’re feeling.

Anthony Cofone: I hate to answer this like everyone else has, but it’s true about feeling numb and it will take days to set in.

PocketFives: Do any hands from the $50K stick out to you?

Anthony Cofone: There is one hand I didn’t play well. It was a non-premium hand played out of position, which left me crippled with 6,300 in chips. We were several hours deep in the tournament with over 3 million chips in play and the average stack of almost 40,000 with 83 players left. Of course, I will always remember the winning hand, calling an all-in bet heads-up pre-flop with 6-6.

PocketFives: Do you play on any New Jersey online poker rooms other than PartyPoker and Borgata Poker?

Anthony Cofone: I also play on WSOP.comand 888 Poker if there is any sit and go action or a good tournament going on. The graphics are great and truth be told, I love the “Throw Item” feature on 888. I think it is great to throw an egg or snowball at someone who makes you make a hard fold or lays a bad beat on you. I even like when they throw stuff at me.

PocketFives: What have your friends and family said about the win?

Anthony Cofone: Everyone is very excited and happy for me. Almost as good as winning was getting to have my cousin Joey sitting next to me for the final seven hours. He is the best rail you can have. My wife June has not only been supportive, but also downright encouraging of my poker and I thank her for that.

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

Anthony Cofone: I grew up in the 60s and 70s in a family and neighborhood where it seamed like everyone played cards. My mom, dad, and I shared a two-family house with my grandparents and uncles. The men mostly played gin. My grandmother, Daisy, ran a $0.05/$0.10 poker game for the ladies in the neighborhood.

My first memory of playing poker was at 13. We would play after mass on Sunday at Mrs. Trisolini’s house for pennies. I started to play Texas Hold’em eight years ago on a PlayStation WSOP game before depositing on Full Tilt and PokerStars until Black Friday. I love the pure game of tournament poker, love playing live at Borgata, and hope to make it out to the World Series again soon.

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