Known around the world as “ZeeJustin”, Justin Bonomo has made a successful transition from online poker to live tournament play.  He is not simply regarded as just an up-and-coming young player, but rather a flourishing, dangerous seasoned veteran.

Born on September 30, 1985 and growing up in Virginia, Bonomo’s progression to an elite professional poker player started at an early age, long before the cards were ever dealt.  At the age of 9 years old, Bonomo found Magic:  The Gathering, a collectible card game which requires a great deal of strategy to be successful.  As his competitive nature began to set in, Bonomo began to become a serious Magic player at age 12, and found himself touring and participating in the top Magic tournaments around the world.  Through stops in Chicago, New Orleans, New York, France and Italy, among other worldwide stops, Bonomo was competing against the top professionals in the world for prize pools ranging up to $250,000.00.  What made touring special for Bonomo, was that despite being considerably younger than other participants, he was seen as an equal and able to compete at the highest level.

Magic provided the natural progression towards the online gaming world.  Upon seeing the success of fellow Magic players transitioning over  to poker and through his desire for continued competition, Bonomo entered a weekly $.50/$1 game in early 2002.  Despite graduating to $1/$2 and eventually $5/$10 stakes, Bonomo was struggling with both his bankroll and learning curve.

While participating in a Magic Tournament in San Diego, CA, Bonomo decided to spend some extra time with family and friends in Los Angeles, CA.  While visiting, he caught a glimpse of the World Poker Tour on television.  Inspired by the experience, Bonomo purchased a few books on poker, mostly just to kill time on the flight home.  By the time he arrived back home, he had read all three books and found an online poker forum in one of them.  Reverting back to previous experience in tournament settings with Magic, Bonomo approached the game with a more critical mindset, that every decision is crucial.  Through tutoring from close friends and intense poker studying sessions, Bonomo was quickly graduating to higher and higher stakes online, on his way towards notorious results.

In September of 2004 and after building a successful online playing portfolio, Bonomo headed to Aruba to participate in the World Poker Tour (WPT) event, as his first major Live Tournament.  Despite not making it to Day 2, his overall experience would prove to be beneficial in his young career.

In January of 2005, Bonomo again stretched his playing abilities by traveling overseas to compete in the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at The Atlantis in The Bahamas.  For Bonomo, everything seemed to fall into place.  For half of Day 2, Bonomo resided as the tournament’s chip leader and was growing confidence.  Bonomo wound up finishing in 30th Place for $15,600.00 in total prize money. 

Moving forward, it remained a challenge to find live events to play in, since Bonomo was under the age of 21.  However, he was able to discover the European Poker Tour (EPT).  On February 19, 2005, Bonomo exploded onto the live tournament poker scene by becoming the youngest player to ever make a televised final table at 19 years, 5 months, and 20 days at the French Open in Deavuille, France, where he finished 4th. 

Since the French Open, Bonomo has been on a tear reaching several final tables including; five overall Final Tables at the Bellagio Five Diamond (WPT) in 2006 and 2007, Caesar’s Palace H.O.R.S.E. (WSOP Circuit) in April of 2007, WSOP Event 10 – No-Limit Hold’em in June of 2007 and the 2007 Caesars Palace Classic in October.

Bonomo is known for his concentrated, analytical approach to the game.  His aggressive style, ability to quickly read opponents, passion for continued studying of hand histories and opponent playing styles are what proved to bring success.  With over 3 million hands played lifetime, he has “come to intuitively understand the math and most situations he will encounter” (Bluff Magazine).

Bonomo credits his learning curve to intense studying of the game through dozens of poker literature and a network of advanced poker players.