When Black Friday struck three years ago, it prevented Americans from playing at some of the world’s largest online poker sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt. Some pros still managed to make a living by playing at smaller US-friendly sites and/or in live poker rooms. But many other professionals moved abroad to Canada, Europe and Mexico in order to continue playing at Stars and Full Tilt.
Jamie Kerstetter, who’s part of the poker-famed ‘Grindettes’ group, is one of the players who moved away. She resided in Rosarito, Mexico, a haven for ex-pat online poker players looking to continue grinding in the largest cyber tournaments. But now that internet poker is legal and regulated in New Jersey, Kerstetter has come back to the US to continue her career.
Philly.com recently covered the former law school student’s transition from Mexico to New Jersey, and how she got into poker in the first place. Kerstetter got her first taste of the game while an undergraduate at Rutgers. Despite her growing love of poker, she took a job during her stint at University of Michigan Law School that saw her researching tax law and writing wills and trusts. She continued down this path of long hours spent in the law firm until she got laid off. Despite getting another job, Kerstetter soon found herself gravitating more towards poker.
Unfortunately, her days of living in the US and playing online poker were short-lived as she quickly moved to Rosarito with her boyfriend, Zach Donovan, following Black Friday. During her time in Mexico, Kerstetter built an impressive resume through both online and live tournaments. As for the latter, she’s made $359,313 in live tourneys since 2009.
But today, the bulk of Kerstetter’s play is dedicated to the internet game, especially now that she’s sponsored by PartyPoker (Borgata) New Jersey. She’s already off to a good start after final tabling PartyPoker’s nightly $10,000 Guarantee four different times, good for over $5,000 in winnings. Kerstetter also has more than $3,000 in cash game profits, though she knows to expect some future variance. “That amount won’t stay consistent,” she says. “It’s too early to tell after only one month how much I can possibly expect to earn.”
If past results are any indication, Kerstetter won’t have to worry about her first-month winnings falling off too much in the future. This is especially true in the New Jersey market, where mainstream advertising is bringing lots of fish to the pool.