Mike Kozowski thought the river card had already fallen on his million dollar dream.  The man was ready to change his clothes, and prepare for the trip back home to Staten Island, New York, having been vanquished from the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge in the first round by celebrity defender Joanna Krupa.

Just then a producer reminded Mike that there was a chance – a very slim one – but a chance.  If, by some longshot,  the other three contestants slated to play that day failed to make it past round one, per show rules there would be a sit n’ go for the final seat at the million dollar table.

Mike knew he had a math problem.  Just over 50% of contestants had been able to make it through round one on the show thus far, and he knew he had already missed.  He basically had to win three consecutive coin flips with his tournament life on the line.  Anyone who has played any amount of tournament poker knows how tough that can be.  Oh, by the way, let’s assume he had won all three of those coin flips, he then had to win two consecutive Sit n Goes (The consolation bracket and the Million dollar table), and THEN beat Daniel Negreanu heads up to get the million.  Talk about needing some help.

But Kozowski had seen people survive against some incredible odds.  A NYPD cop, Kozowski was one of the first people on scene when the planes hit the towers on 9/11.  The events of that day weighed heavy on Mike, and indeed one of the things that started to bring him out of his funk was him discovering poker in 2004.  Here's a pretty intense video where Kozowski talks about his 9/11 experience.

In fact, Mike had foreseen an event that, at this point he thought wouldn’t happen.  While watching the 2004 WSOP on TV, Mike had a revelation he told to his wife.  Mike relayed the story to me.

“We're sitting there one night and the World Series of poker comes on, I said I gotta watch this, this guy is amazing.  My wife says ’Oh, Daniel Negreanu, he's a really super nice guy.  He's great’. And I said you see that guy there?  I'm gonna play him some day, and I'm gonna beat him.  And I'm not kidding, about a week afterwards, it had to be a week or two, I dreamed that I was playing him head to head and I beat him.”

Sitting in the players lounge, Mike’s 2005 dream had to seem so bittersweet.  He’d come so close to actually getting to Daniel, and yet it now seemed like he would need a miracle to get to face him.

The next contestant came out, and was beaten by Tito Ortiz, then another contestant fell to Krupa.  The last contestant was Dwayne Buth.  As anyone who watched the last episode of the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge saw, Buth had celebrity defender Tito Ortiz drawing ultra thin three or four times.  Each time, Ortiz pulled a miracle out of the air, and Kozowski’s dream had survived.  When Ortiz finally beat Buth, the consolation sit n go was on.  Kozowski had won three straight coin flips.

The players, all of whom had already lost their matches that day, gathered in a production office to play the Sit N Go under the watchful eye of show producers and staff, including myself.

Kozowski ran sooooo good in the sit n go, there was little doubt who was going to win it after the first few hands.  After Buth eliminated a player, Kozowski played a 10 5 on the button.  The flop came 10 10 x, with two diamonds.   Mike’s opponent put all her chips in with a flush draw, and missed and we were down to heads up.  In heads up play, Buth played middle pair a little strong on an A 10 x board.  Kozowski had slowplayed pocket Aces, and when the money went in, Buth needed both tens in the deck to come on the turn and the river to win, which they didn’t.  Three coin flips?  Check.  Sit n Go number one?  Check.  Kozowski’s miracle was still alive.

Speaking of miracles, I won’t reveal too much about the million dollar table, except to say Kozowski hit a one outer to eliminate one opponent.  Check out the final episode of the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge this weekend on FOX to see how it plays out.

So, since the results have leaked, you all know that Mike wins the Million, beating Daniel Negreanu heads up like he told his wife he would four years ago.  This will be a compelling program, and I do encourage everyone to watch.  As often is the case in poker, it’s much more interesting how the tournament played out, than the actual result.  I can’t imagine someone coming through longer odds to make this happen.

Having spent time with Mike and his whole family that day, I can tell you this.  Mike is a NYC cop straight out of central casting, with a cool wife and daughter that keep his head on straight.  “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy” is a cliché, but sometimes the cliché fits. 

Check out the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge this Sunday, December 27th, on FOX, immediately after NFL football.

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