17 Years in the Making: Justin Bonomo’s Fortunate Run

Justin Bonomo has been near the top of the leaderboard for the majority of the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl as he looks to add to the staggering $9.5 million he’s managed to win in live tournaments over the last six months. Bonomo currently ranks fifth on poker’s all-time money list, and win in the Super High Roller Bowl could make him the third player ever to cash for more than $30,000,000 in their career.

We spoke to the Day 3 chip leader on the second break with 11 players remaining, and he emphasized that his impressive streak of recent success has been a long time coming.

“To be honest, and I would feel bad saying this at any other point in my career, but I do think that for a lot of my career I have gotten unlucky. If you look at like the hand histories of my deep tournament runs it was just bad beat after bad beat after bad beat.”

Bonomo surely has made up for it by winning Super High Roller Bowl China for $4.8 million along with wins at the U.S. Poker Open, two at EPT Monte Carlo, and a Lucky Hearts Poker Open High Roller, all in 2018.

“I’m incredibly grateful and It’s been an incredible experience,” Bonomo reflected on the success of the last six months.

“I don’t want anyone to think I was complaining about the rest my career. I realize how fortunate I’ve been in so many areas of life and where I am in the poker world. like I’m grateful for that too, but it does feel like this run was 17 years in the making.”

It’s safe to say Bonomo is carrying a lot of momentum and confidence as he looks to lock down the biggest first prize of his career in the PokerGO Studio, and he adds that he’s as ready and prepared as can be.

“At this point in my career I just have a ton of experience getting deep in tournaments, I don’t feel rusty in any of these deep tournaments spots, and I definitely feel like things are in my favor versus someone who doesn’t have the same level of experience.”

Along with winning big money over the last few months, Bonomo also added some nice trophies to his mantle, and despite the financial benefits outweighing the fame, he still appreciates the accolades.

“Anyone who says they don’t care about the prestige at all is lying. I care what other people think and I like it when people respect me and think good things about me, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. However, I try not to get too focused on it. I understand that winning a tournament doesn’t prove you’re the best, as well as winning a leaderboard doesn’t, but it’s nice. It’s still fun.”

One of the players Bonomo clashed with on Day 2 had a similar amount of experience with going deep in big buy-in events. Bonomo clashed with Fedor Holz in one of the biggest pots of the tournament, which you can watch in the video down below.

A flush for @JustinBonomo, a bust for @CrownUpGuy.
Bonomo wins the biggest pot of Day 2 to take the #SHRBowl chip lead.
▶️ https://t.co/PvbqIV8aRS pic.twitter.com/4Q1df1hS7J

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) May 29, 2018

Reflecting back on that hand, and regarding Holz enquiring whether his river decision was a slow roll, Bonomo said the following.

“I’m playing my game, and I do care if a player thinks that I did something to insult him because I respect Fedor and I didn’t want to insult them in any way, but I don’t think I did anything wrong in the hand.”

“It was a pot worth almost three million dollars U.S. I’m going to take my time and think it through. I certainly don’t feel bad about thinking through a giant decision like that.”

Along with plenty of confidence and results, Bonomo also thrives with his family following him every step of the way.

“My brother was here yesterday and just had a child so he doesn’t get to travel that much and just to have him here with my nieces and that was great for sure. My mom gets in tonight, and she’s gotten to see me at a lot of final tables. She’s my biggest poker fan and I just love having her on the rail cheering me on and she’s a huge supporter of me.

“To Be honest even when my mom’s home I feel like she’s always there with me. She’s always checking updates if I do well, and she calls my grandparents and neighbors to brag about how well I’m doing. Regardless of whether they’re there in person, knowing that I have this huge rail behind me supporting me is a huge help for sure.”

But does Bonomo, with a top chip position, 17 years of experience at the highest level and the support of his family, believe can now be considered as the best No Limit Hold’em tournament in the world?

“I do not think I’m number one, but I definitely think I’m up there right now.”

Watch Justin Bonomo and the other remaining hopefuls live on PokerGO right now. The Super High Roller Bowl plays down to its final table today.