It’s been a tough time for poker players recently, especially in the United States. Casinos around the country were closed for most of 2020, and options stateside have been limited to online play in just a few states, primarily Nevada and New Jersey.

One player who knows plenty about playing in both states recently is Ryan Hagerty. The young East Coast pro is fresh off his best career poker cash, finishing fourth place at the World Series of Poker Main Event in December, taking home $387,130.

Hagerty has carried the momentum from that finish into the recent partypoker US Network Online Players Choice series, where he won three of the major events in just four nights. For his efforts, he scored first place prizes of $4,154.80, $9,223, and $6,071, earning over $20,000 in total. Hagerty said that his wealth of experience on the platform set him up nicely for success.

“Mainly I just played my game. I’m playing with a ton of confidence now coming off the WSOP Main event final table, and my bankroll is as high as it’s ever been so that always helps a lot. As far as playing style in the events, I’ve been grinding on New Jersey ever since the start so I know the field pretty well at this point, but I’m always making adjustments in game depending on my tables,” Hagerty said.

The series was exclusively short-handed play, with all tournaments being either Six Max or  Eight Max. Hagerty finished first in Event #4 ($15,000 Guaranteed Turbo), Event #5 ($30,000 Guaranteed PKO Six Max,) and Event #8 ($25,000 Guaranteed Eight Max). Hagerty went into a bit of detail on how each final table went differently for him.

“The first final table I entered as the chip lead. No wins come easy but I would definitely say I coasted in this more so than the others. The PKO final table, I also came in with chip lead and I relinquished it a couple times and eventually got head up with Dan Lupo who is one of the tougher regs and we went back and forth before I coolered him for the victory.” Hagerty continued, “The final one was for sure the hardest as I came in as one of the short stacks and had to grind my way up making a couple big hero calls, most notably one where I was put in a really tough spot on the river with second pair and tanked a long time before calling off correctly.”

Undoubtedly, a huge part of Hagerty’s recent success online can be credited to the confidence he gained with his huge run at the WSOP in December. He spoke a bit about the unique experience leading up to this latest partypoker series.

“That was an amazing once in a lifetime type of experience. Playing at a final table like that is something you dream about coming up in the game and I enjoyed every bit of it. It definitely gave me tons of confidence coming back into the online streets with a huge accomplishment under my belt as well as my biggest score to date by a lot,” Hagerty said.

Hagerty was also quick to point out the quality of the New Jersey partypoker software, saying that his experience on that site has been much better than what he has played in Las Vegas.

“I love the partypoker software. I think it is tremendous and miles better than WSOPs outdated software. I haven’t played on GG so I can’t speak to that. I have no plans of traveling, for now I’m just going to hang in New Jersey and grind online.”

Hagerty’s bankroll is at an all time high following his recent string of big results, but he is doing his best to save that money and not splurge on much, saying that his family is his priority at the moment.

“Nothing too crazy for me as far as the money is concerned. I’ll probably splurge on some things, invest and treat my family. Other than that it’s just nice to be really comfortable and have a nice bankroll to grind with.”

Hagerty hopes to repeat his success from this series in the next major series on the site. That is set to take place from February 21st-28th, with buy-ins ranging from $109 to $535, and all of the events will be using the increasingly popular Progressive Knockout Bounty format.

For now, Hagerty will continue to run the online streets in New Jersey while he waits for casinos to open up more. A hugely successful WPT event at the Seminole Hardrock recently shows that despite the pandemic, poker isn’t going anywhere, and Ryan Hagerty seems to be a name that you will want to remember in 2021.