Mike Kosowski, a 53-year-old former New York policeman, took up poker just for the sake of killing time after his retirement back in 2004. The fact that poker, asides from being an interesting pastime, can be quite lucrative became clear when Kosowski took part in the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge.
PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge
The success story began when Mike decided to enrol into a multi-table tournament with a field of 16,000 poker players. As a fourth-place finisher Mike was asked to submit a video to the producers of the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge, explaining why they should let him take part in this televised poker event.
Lucky Substitute
Although at first it seemed Kosowski wasn't going to make it to the Challenge, at the last moment he was asked as a substitute and he and his wife were flown to Los Angeles. Once he arrived at the scene Kosowski got down to business and won two consecutive 4-person sit&go tournaments.
Heads Up Against Kid Poker
With this achievement Kosowski paved his way up to the heads-up final against top poker pro Daniel 'Kid Poker' Negreanu. Kosowski certainly did his homework, as he read Daniel's book and closely inspected the available video footage to even discover a new tell on the Kid.
Kosowski's hard work finally paid when he managed to beat Negreanu, win the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge, and take home the $1,000,000 in cash. The former detective stated that he owed his victory to a combination of good cards and his ability to read people.
The Prize Money
Kosowski still can't really grasp what has happened to him with this amazing win, and each day he and his wife feel like they are living a dream. With the $1 million cash prize the winner will pay off his mortgage and a part of the prize money will go to charity.
