PokerStars NJ Player Wins $100k on Spin & Go

In 2015, New Jersey resident James Piccolo moved to Las Vegas in order to pursue a career as a professional poker player, but last month the 27 year-old scooped a massive $100,000 Spin & Go prize on PokerStarsNJ.com after paying a visit to his parents in the Garden State.
Piccolo had returned to his family home in order to lend support to his father who is suffering from cancer, and was scheduled to have surgery the following day. On the 29th of January, James Piccolo then entered a Spin & Go game on PokerStarsNJ.com, and as he explains:
“I had been playing for a couple of hours when a notification popped up that two other players and I would be playing for $120,000. My brother and my mom and dad were home, and I let them know. My brother shot video of me playing, and he was teasing me and talking to me the whole time. It was pretty distracting, to be honest.”
Not too distracting, though, as James Piccolo eliminated one of his competitors from the contest after just 10 hands, although the head-to-head battle didn’t go quite as planned with James at one stage going behind by 300 chips to his opponent’s 1,200. However, he then managed to chip ahead and eventually reduce his opponent to a short stack when the deciding hand was played.
In the hand in question, his opponent went all-in preflop with Q-7, and after making the call holding a dominating K-7, Piccolo took down the top prize worth $100,000, while his two competitors received $10,000 each for taking part in the contest.
Previous to hitting the jackpot, James Piccolo had earned $110,454 playing online poker, mostly in Las Vegas, under the screen name VintageATL. By contrast, he has won just $8,102 playing live tournaments, and commenting on his
poker career so far, explained:
“I play mostly online, and I’m getting ahead and making a decent living. I play about five or six hours a day, and it’s definitely a grind at times and you have your ups and downs. But I love the game. Online poker is more about decision-making, and live is a lot more ‘feel’ in reading your opponents, which I don’t do as well.”