Platinum Pass Winner John Orlowski��s First Time on a Plane Results in $53,400 Score!
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The 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold��em Championship (PSPC) is in the books. While Aliaksandr Shylko wound up winning the prestigious tournament for $3,121,838, there were 175 players who walked away with a piece of the $24,843,000 prize pool, including some of the more than 400 Platinum Pass winners.
One of them was 50-year-old John Orlowski, who hopped on an airplane for the first time in his life to travel from frigid Michigan to the luxurious Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas!
��I've never flown. I've never left Michigan, pretty much just Canada by driving,�� he said. ��First time being on a plane. I had to rush my passport. I was going to come by myself but my nephew decided he wanted to come, so he came with me.��
The part-time home game dealer won his Platinum Pass on PokerStars Michigan via a ��Golden Ticket�� giveaway that got him into a freeroll satellite, which he won.
��I played micro stakes, like $5 $10 tournaments, knockouts, and stuff,�� Orlowski told PokerNews. ��I played some like 20-cent slots on there. And then the ticket thing and all the little treasure things you build up from playing. I clicked on it and it said that I won a golden ticket. I was scheduled for the tournament, it was supposed to be on a Tuesday in November I think, but for some reason, they changed it to a Saturday. Not sure whether or not enough people registered. There were only 30 people in it when I won it.��
He added: ��I got short-stacked in that tournament too. I didn't think I was making a comeback.��
But he did, and the victory came at a good point in Orlowski��s life as in the preceding years he experience some health issues.
��I can't do too many things because of my health. I��ve gotten along a lot better than now than I used to. Like last year, I might not have been able to do this, for sure two years ago I wouldn't haven��t been able to physically.��
With his nephew in tow, Orlowski traveled to Nassau to compete against the world��s best where he wound up finishing in 76th place in a field of 1,014 runners, good for $53,400.
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Battling Poker's Best
Orlowski learned to play penny poker with his family when he was six years old, and it wasn��t until Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker (after qualifying via PokerStars) that he was introduced to Texas hold��em. So, what did he do to prepare for the biggest poker tournament of his life?
��I watched a lot of stuff on YouTube about positions, stuff like that, raising in position, how they pick on your blinds,�� he explained. ��So, I used some of that during the regular part of the tournament, but then when it got towards the bubble, I couldn't do much when they were doing it. I know they were picking on me, but I never had many hands.��
Orlowski survived Day 1, but it didn��t come easy.
��It was crazy, it was strenuous,�� he admitted. ��Much more strenuous later tournament. Poker pros really hammered to get the fish pretty much.��
Among the pros Orlowski had to battle were reigning WSOP Main Event champ Espen Jorstad, Jeremy Ausmus, Jared Jaffee, and Conor Beresford. While that may have been a bit intimidating, Orlowski held his own.
In fact, on Day 2 Orlowski won a flip to double through Beresford. It happened in Level 14 (2,000/5,000/5,000) Orlowski raised from early position to 11,000 and was met with a three-bet from Conor Beresford to 26,000 in the cutoff.
The rest of the table folded before Orlowski slid out a four-bet to 86,000. Beresford took some time before five-betting enough to put Orlowski at risk. The call was made and both hands were revealed.
John Orlowski: 10?10?
Conor Beresford: A?K?
Beresford was behind but picked up additional outs on the Q?J?J? flop. The 5? turn and 3? river left Orlowski in front to stay alive and double his stack.
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Making the Money
From there, it was on to Day 3 with the money bubble looming.
��I started Day 3 with like 300k, which was over the average stack. I probably could have just walked away and made the money,�� said Orlowski. ��This tournament was way different than playing in a small home game. People call your raises here. They think about their decisions more, which makes sense given it is more money.��
On Day 3, Orlowski not only cruised into the money but instead of min-cashing for $35,100, he began to ladder up. With 77 players remaining, Orlowski eliminated another Platinum Pass winner in Level 20 (10,000/20,000/20,000) when Germany��s Bastian Hess was all in and at risk in a heads-up pot against Orlowski.
Bastian Hess: J?J?
John Orlowski: K?K?
Hess couldn't hit a jack despite calling for one on every street as the board ran out 8?Q?4?4?10? to mark his elimination in 77th place for $53,400. Unfortunately for Orlowski, he followed him out the door a short time later in 76th place for the same payout.
��It was a great time,�� Orlowski told PokerNews the next day. ��Everybody with PokerStars, from the top down, they helped us with a lot of things. If we had any questions, they answered them. We got taken care of very well.��
As for the money, that��s going to come in handy.
��The reason I started playing online as I used to live in the Detroit area so I could go anywhere and play the casinos there, but now I��ve moved up north,�� Orlowski explained. ��There are no places near me with games. So, you gotta drive and they got one charity room up there but it's just not worth driving to �� I gotta fix up my new place. I just bought a truck. Where I live it��s snowing and cold, so you��ve got to have a truck.��
It started with a Golden Ticket, turned into a Platinum Pass, and ended in the poker adventure of a lifetime�� plus $50,000 in cold hard Michigan cash!
