New Jersey completed its fourth full year of regulated online play last week. Tournaments have played a major role in having the state be formally recognized for the poker talent living within the borders. Scott Blumstein winning the WSOP Main Event certainly helped. The grinders who make up the online rankings did their part as well. With the calendar officially turned, Michael ‘Gags30’ Gagliano starts 2018 as the #1 player in the New Jersey Online Rankings.

Gagliano played a selective schedule in December with seven cashes to his name. The best of the group came in the 888poker NJ $15,000 guaranteed Tuesday Showdown where Gagliano placed second for $4,932 on December 13. 2017 proved to be a good one for Gagliano, who made two WSOP final tables and boosted his career online tournament earnings to over $3 million.

Staying at #2 for another month is Yong ‘ykwon17’ Kwon. The artist also known as ‘LuckySpewy’ won seven MTTs in December. During the PokerStarsNJ Half Price Sunday on December 3, Kwon won the $250 Sunday High Roller for $7,754.

Taking his place as the last member on the podium is David ‘dehhhhh’ Coleman. The 24-year-old spent most of 2017 among the top echelon of New Jersey online players and opens 2018 in the same position. Coleman is $120,000 away from cracking the $1 million mark. Should he put up a few strong months, he will likely hit that target in the first half of the year.

Batting cleanup is Daniel ‘centrfieldr’ Lupo. In the past year, Lupo remained in the top 10 for nearly the entire campaign. Lupo surpassed $1 million in lifetime online earnings in October and is less than $60,000 from breaking that barrier on New Jersey sites.

In the fifth position, Jeremy ‘Jermz’ Danger resides. The all-time leader in career New Jersey online winnings is over the $1.5 million landmark as 2018 starts. In December, Danger racked up five victories to pad his total.

John ‘Selurznug’ Cosgrove ends his breakout year in sixth place. The New Jersey teacher finished his 2017 by winning 10 tournaments. Three of his gold medals came in the PokerStarsNJ Midnight Express Hyper.

Another familiar screen name is in the top 10 with Michael ‘JohnnnyDrama’ Haberman. Who climbs one spot to #7. Haberman earned himself some holiday cash by winning the 888poker NJ $20,000 guaranteed Ultimate Warrior on Christmas Day. The triumph booked Haberman $6,060.

Fred ‘BigDaddy’ Ferrell moves down a notch to #8 and Andrew ‘Mergulas’ Glauberg remains at #9. Only 20 points separate the two players, who finished in the winner’s circle a combined 16 times in December.

Glauberg won back-to-back Super Tuesdays on PokerStarsNJ between December 12 and 19, earning $6,000 and $6,151, respectively.

Back in the rankings after a month away is Mike ‘Lav519’ Lavenburg, who closed this year in a big way. Lavenburg defeated the partypokerNJ Sunday $40,000 guaranteed field of 118 for a Christmas bonus worth $6,570. Then, on December 27, Lavenburg shipped the 888poker NJ $500 Tuesday Showdown for $6,739 more.

The Borgata Winter Poker Open starts in the middle of this month and it will be interesting to see how the live game changes the look of the rankings by February.

New Jersey Online Poker Ranking Top 10

1. Gags307– 4,248.45 (-)
2. ykwon17 – 3,961.73 (-)
3. dehhhhh– 3,482.38 (-)
4. centrfieldr – 3,423.78 (-)
5. Jermz – 3,282.78 (+1)
6. Selurznug – 3,177.63 (-1)
7. JohnnnyDrama – 3,132.01 (+1)
8. BiggDaddy – 3,072.99 (-1)
9. Mergulas – 3,052.23 (-)
10. Lav519 – 2,893.34 (NR)

Dropped Out of Top 10 – donnysack
Just Missed – shipthesherb (#11), donnysack (#12), senor stinks (#13)