“Norma Jean is Marilyn Monroe’s real name and ‘normajean’ was already taken, so I put an ‘L’ in front of it,” Josh lnormajeanHart candidly told PocketFives in an exclusive interview when asked about the origins of his user name on our site. “I have no idea why I picked that, to be honest. I guess it was just a phase.” What’s not a phase is Hart’s success online, where he recently claimed his $1 million cash badge and took down the PartyPoker $200,000 Guaranteed for $38,000.

“Both are very exciting for different reasons,” Hart told PocketFives about his two recent claims to fame. “I had a rough start to the year, but had a pretty good heater over the last couple of months with a chop in the Sunday Kickoff too, so it was nice to get back to winning. The Party major was the icing on the cake.”

The past five times Hart has registered for the $200 buy-in $200,000 Guaranteed on PartyPoker, he’s recorded 1st, 24th, and 50th place finishes. That’s a pretty electrifying track record considering that when Hart won it, the $200,000 Guaranteed attracted 1,200 players. “There were a lot of good players who were difficult to play against,” Hart told us, “notably donut604and rdcrsn. I was fortunate to win a big flip four-handed against rdcrsn to bust him and put me in a good position.”

Despite his recent success in the $200,000 Guaranteed, the September 2 running marked his first big tournament win on PartyPoker. On why the score went down when it did, Hart speculated, “It was probably a combination of running good and a boost in confidence from recent scores.” You can find him on PartyPoker under the user name tunacanoe.

On September 5, just three days after his PartyPoker victory, Hart was rewarded with his highest position ever in the PocketFives Poker Player Rankings at #176 worldwide. He said of the leaderboard, “As long as I’m winning as much as possible, I’m not too concerned with my ranking.” He is now at #266.

Hart came into the game like many other members of our community did, by playing in home games with friends and eventually depositing online. However, he didn’t start out in Hold’em. Instead, Triple Draw was his game of choice: “I taught myself Triple Draw mostly from watching the high-stakes Triple Draw player oogee, learning from his betting patterns and value ranges in various spots. Then, it was just a matter of practicing.”

We rarely get to discuss Triple Draw on PocketFives, so we asked Hart for a crash course: “You want to always be drawing to the nuts, which means you want to start with a deuce most of the time. Hands like 3-5-7-X-X are far inferior to 2-4-7-X-X because if you pull a four or six on the first draw, then you have a straight draw and lose some outs. Generally, you want to be betting if you are a draw ahead, so you if draw one and your opponent draws two, you should bet regardless of whether you improve.”

When this author attempts to explain craps to his friends and family, he is often met with blank stares and confused faces. The same appears to be true when Hart discusses Triple Draw with others: “It’s quite a complex game to explain to someone who hasn’t played it before, but once you get the hang of it, it’s fun and there’s lots of action.”

Outside of poker, Hart is focused on traveling and enjoying life. He gleaned, “The appeal of poker to me is the freedom of it, so I try to get as much traveling and fun in as possible. Being English, I’m naturally a big fan of football and, this summer, I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Champions League final in Munich and the quarterfinals and semifinals of the European Championships in the Ukraine.”

His football viewing included a match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, which Hart said was “awesome” since it featured three of the top players in the world, including Ronaldo (pictured). The game occurred during EPT Barcelona and PokerStars arranged tickets for the Newcastle Under Lyme resident. As luck would have it, Hart also took 87th in the EPT event for €11,550.

If you don’t already have an account on WPT Poker or PartyPoker, you can sign up through PocketFives to get a 100% up to $500 first time deposit bonus and one free month of PocketFives Training with the sign-up fee waived, a $65 value. Create your account through our links here.