A History of the New Jersey Poker Open
Updated January 17, 2009
The New Jersey Poker Open has the prestigious history of having been a part of the JSOP Circuit schedule since 2006. Until recently, it wasn't the official name of the 2006 Circuit tournament it was assigned to.
July 2006 saw the first running of this event. This was one of the first outdoor events for the JSOP. A total of 10 players participated in the first running of this event which saw Frank Ermel, the eventual winner of the 2006 JSOP Player of the Year, take down the event in thrilling fashion when he tore up the field once down to the final four players.
The second annual event was held in May of 2007 and was eventually turned into an indoor event. The second time around, the turnout of players was down by one and 9 players turned out for the event. The winner of this event was Tom Taylor who went on a tear in the summer months as this was the first of three straight Circuit events that was taken down by Tom, w00t.
The third time around, the event was held in March of 2008. This event had its third venue change, which I believe is a record. The eventual winner, Gary Wise, was a UPL players playing in his first JSOP tournament. He won this event coming from behind from Mike Leatherwood. On a related side note, Mike Leatherwood has almost earned the title of "2nd Place King" with what has been a string of 2nd places in Circuit events, haw haw.
As with most events on here, this is most likely going to show up as part of the 2009 Circuit schedule. Maybe more players will attend in the 4th inception of this event and break more records, only time will tell!
