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UW poker player wins $1.5M
He captures title at tournament
By Doug Moe
January 28, 2005

A 23-year-old UW-Madison philosophy student from Sheboygan is the poker world's latest million dollar baby.

Thursday night, in Tunica, Miss., John Stolzmann won the Jack Binion World Poker Open, and $1,465,944, topping a strong field of much better-known players including Chau Giang of Las Vegas, who finished second.

Reached this morning on his cellular phone, Stolzmann was asked how he felt and replied, "Pretty good, obviously."

The tournament was No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, the game popularized by the World Series of Poker held each spring in Las Vegas. The Binion World Open was part of the Travel Channel's World Poker Tour, and will be televised on that network later this year.

The Binion tournament ran all week and Stolzmann was one of six players to qualify for the "final table" showdown Thursday night. He came in holding the fourth most chips among the finalists, while Giang, who has won three World Series of Poker bracelets in his career, held the most.

A widely read poker Web site, pokerpages.com, said on its site this morning that Stolzmann has been playing poker about four years. His biggest score before Thursday, according to the Web site, was a fourth place finish at the 2004 Costa Rican Classic, worth $15,000.

On Thursday the site had noted: "Stolzmann is the youngest player at the final table - with the least amount of experience at this level. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the pressures of playing in front of World Poker Tour television cameras, against some of the top players in the game."

Stolzmann is the second young player from Madison to stun the poker world with a big money upset victory. In 1989 Phil Hellmuth Jr., a Madison native, captured the World Series of Poker championship. Hellmuth was 24 at the time and won $755,000. Hellmuth has since become one of poker's biggest stars, with book deals and a "bad boy" persona that sometimes overshadows his considerable talent at the table.

For Stolzmann, who was en route to the airport this morning, what he has accomplished is only beginning to sink in. He was asked what it felt like to win almost $1.5 million.

"Actually, I have to split it with my dad," he said. "He staked me."
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Have to make sure and catch this one. Also love watching Madison native Phill Hellmuth play cause he's entertaining as all hell and a great player to boot.