A Dream Come True - 74 Year Old Doctor Wins WPT World Championship Ticket

Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Live Events Executive
3 min read
Josef Strazynski

2022 has been a bit of a swingy year for poker, with much of the game's discourse centring around alleged cheating scandals.

Accused poker cheaters Jake Schindler and Ali Imsirovic were suspended from the PokerGO Tour while Bryn Kenney was accused of running a cult-like online poker cheating operation. And then out of nowhere, more cheating allegations emerged following a hand between Garrett Adelstein and Robbi Jade Lew on Hustler Casino Live.

But as always with poker, amongst the darkness, there is always a shimmer of light and one of the year's feel-good stories has just been discovered!

Strazynski Snr Bags $10,400 WPT World Championship Ticket

74 year-old doctor Josef Strazynski, the father of Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski, found out he had won a $10,400 ticket to this December's record-breaking WPT World Poker Championship courtesy of the World Poker Tour and WPT Global.

Strazynski Snr, who lives in Israel, has always been a cash game player and has never played a poker tournament in all his years of playing the game. Now, of course, that is all about to change as he has booked his spot in one of the most highly anticipated poker tournaments to ever take place.

The video above starts off with Strazynski saying "It's a dream," in relation to playing at a stop of the WPT. WPT Global member Amanda Botfeld then hit Strazynski with a fake-out saying he was "not selected as a finalist," for the ticket. Strazynski understood that his chances were slim and at this point, he thought his dream would just remain as a dream.

Botfeld then pulled the switcheroo and added "but, you were selected as a winner. You are going to Vegas to play the $10,400 tournament."

Strazynski's reaction was as pure as it gets and he was left open-mouthed and with his head in his hands in unbridled joy after processing the information.

Win Your Seat to the WPT World Championship on WPT Global

WPT World Championship

In case you missed it, WPT Global is offering more than $1 million in WPT World Championship packages on the platform, with players being able to book their place at the event for just $5!

Qualifiers to the largest guaranteed ever tournament run every day on the operator, with one package up for grabs daily from Monday to Saturday while a massive 8 packages are dished out every Sunday!

What are you waiting for? It's time to secure your seat!

The WPT World Championship package includes:

  • A $10,400 WPT World Championship entry
  • $2,000 travel stipend
  • WPT Global merchandise
  • A special WPT Global Player Experience during the WPT World Championship

Arm Yourself With a Welcome Bonus Worth Up To $1,200

What better what to start your WPT Global journey than by helping yourself to a welcome bonus worth up to $1,200. Download WPT Global via PokerNews, create your free account, make a deposit of at least $20, and WPT Global matches your initial deposit 100% up to a maximum of $1,200.

The bonus money releases into your playable account balance in $5 increments each time you contribute $20 to the cash game rake or pay in tournament fees; you have 90 days to release as much of the bonus as possible.

Lead image courtesy of Moshe Friedline photography

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Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Live Events Executive

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

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