Bodog Beat

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last three years you know about Justin Bonomo. (Bodog Beat Images)

The Bodog poker pro has been making headlines since he was a teenager, and now at the age of 23 he’s already considered a top-notch poker veteran in any game he decides to play. Since becoming old enough to play in casinos, he’s earned over $1.5 million in tournament winnings and he just missed his first WSOP bracelet last year, finishing second to Erick Lindgren in the $5000 Mixed Hold’em event.

Bonomo was signed as a Bodog team member in early 2008 and has six final table appearances since that time, including an eighth-place finish for $31,600 in the 2009 Caribbean Adventure at Paradise Island last month. Bonomo still hasn’t had a big tournament win thus far in his career. He’s playing well enough to get close numerous times, but still lacks that big tournament win to put him into the elite player category.

His latest endeavor as a Bodog Team member has been his open question forum called “Ask Justin Bonomo”. You can find the Q&A section at http://poker.bodog.com/poker-questions/justin-bonomo/ where Justin takes questions and writes up his opinions on the subject. He offers a new answer every couple of days, and so far the topics that he’s addressed are sit-and-go tournaments, transitioning from NLHE to Omaha PL, situational play, and tournament preparation. Anyone can ask a question of him if they have an area of their game that needs improvement. Just send it in and wait to see if he answers it.

In his most recent entry on sit-and-go tournaments Justin explains how opponents need to play a “mathematical game of chicken” in the later rounds of these events to be successful. In his situational question he outlines how creating a false betting pattern can pay off when no other play possibly can. He goes on to explain the importance of recognizing the level of play a particular opponent is at, and then taking advantage of what you know they know.

The forum is another way for Bonomo to show that he is indeed one of the best poker minds in the world. He also donates a percentage of his poker profits to charity, specifically SENS research.