David
Lukaszewski, Poker Shift Manager at Desert
Diamond Casino, Wins Casino Employees
Event at 2003 World Series of Poker
"From
the very first hand, I thought I was going
to win it."
-- David Lukaszewski (2003 Casino Employees
Champion)
In
one of the most exciting and unusual poker
success stories in recent memory, David
Lukaszewski, a Shift Manager at the Desert
Diamond Casino in Tucson, Arizona won
the first event at the 2003 World Series
of Poker -- the Casino Employees Limit
Hold'em tournament. For Lukaszewski, age
33, this was not only his first time to
ever play in a world championship event,
it also marked the first occasion he has
entered a tournament with an entry fee
of over $50. Talk about some extraordinary
"beginner's luck."
But
this tournament wasn't about luck. It
was about skill -- more precisely, setting
goals and achieving them by recognizing
opportunities and then taking advantage.
In this, his first excursion into the
risky battleground of high-stakes poker,
Lukaszewski set modest goals for himself
every step of the way, hoping to acquire
a certain amount of chips at each stage
of the tournament. He shifted his play
in response not only on the characteristics
of his opponents, but also to meet his
chip count objectives. "At the first break,
I wanted to have $1,000 and ended up with
$1,200," he said. "Then, at the next break
my target goal was $2,500 -- and I had
$2,800, and so on." If Lukaszewski were
to author "The Making of a Champion,"
the first chapter would almost certainly
be his extensive background in the industry
-- as both a Poker Shift Manager and avid
cardplayer. The second chapter of the
story would be Lukaszewski's laudable
dedication to the concept of planning
and meeting goals. Goals in life and goals
in poker.
"Back
in January, I made up a list of the goals
I wanted to meet in my personal and private
life by the end of this year," said Lukaszewski.
"The first time I made up my list, I wrote:
To win a major event. After I thought
about it, I figured that sounded a little
too ambitious. So, I scratched it out
and wrote instead: To play in a major
event."
In
what amounted to a wire-to-wire victory
in the tournament, Lukaszewski has now
met both of those goals. He played, and
then he won. He made it look too easy.
Lukaszewski's
miraculous story actually started back
last weekend, when he, his brother, and
a group of friends in Arizona decided
to drive from Tucson to Las Vegas with
the intention of to playing at the World
Series of Poker. He earned his seat in
the $500 buy-in casino employees event
by winning a $65 single-table satellite
at Binion's Horseshoe three days ago.
"At the time, I thought to myself, maybe
I should just sell this off and keep the
$500 in cash," Lukaszewski said afterward.
"Then, I thought to myself -- why would
I drive all the way here to Las Vegas
and then not play?"
That proved to be Lukaszewski's single
best decision of the tournament. Incredibly,
the cheerful barrel-chested Lukaszewski
-- who plays mostly in cash games and
small tournaments in and around the Tucson
area -- was never in serious danger of
busting out of the tournament at any point.
"I was never below $500," he said in reference
to the amount of chips at the start of
the tournament. "On my very first hand,
I called a raise from the big blind with
K-10. I flopped a king, then caught a
ten on the turn (for two pair). That gave
me chips early and from then on, I was
never in jeopardy. I never went 'all in'
once during the entire tournament."
"I
think that first big hand really got me
charged. You get into a zone where all
the cylinders start to fire. When I sat
down, from the very first hand, I thought
I was going to win it. Everything went
right. Every time there was a chance for
me to get into some trouble, I managed
to avoid it. And, every time I had a monster
hand, I got paid off. Every time I laid
a trap, someone seemed to fall into it."
At
the dinner break, there were only 32 players
left (out of 208 that started).
Lukaszewski
was one of three players remaining with
the most chips. "That's when I knew I
was in perfect shape to win this thing.
I knew I could take a beat or two and
still survive. That's the great thing
about limit poker. There's no recouping
from a mistake in no-limit hold'em. But
in limit hold'em, you can make a mistake
and still stay alive. I think that gave
me some extra confidence to play more
aggressively in some spots."
Lukaszewski
also has an interesting theory about what
it takes to win poker tournaments. He
explained that during every tournament,
somewhere along the way, the eventual
winner will overplay a hand and get into
trouble. "There's always a time or two
where you start out behind and come back
and beat them. That's got to happen at
least once and maybe twice. If you can
catch a break or two like that, that puts
you in a good position to win."
Lukaszewski
arrived at the final table as the chip
leader with about $20,000 -- roughly a
fifth of the total chips in play. "That's
when I changed my style of play (by accident).
I had been aggressive all day, but then
went passive when we started playing for
the gold bracelet. During a break, and
I figured out that I had lost some of
my aggression. So, when (play resumed)
I went back to the more aggressive style
that got me there in the first place.
I raised and won seven pots in a row pre-flop
and only had a decent hand twice. That's
when I realized I could run over the table."
When
play at the final table became short-handed,
the three finalists put on a spectacle
that shall be remembered for a long time
to come. Paul Trieglaff (Palace Station),
John Arrage (Binion's Horseshoe), and
David Lukaszewski (Desert Diamond Casino)
began drinking Kamikaze shots while playing
at the table -- one after another. "It
was like I was sitting at home playing
in a private game," recalled Lukaszewski.
"We were all having such a great time,
sitting around playing poker that I think
we may have forgotten about the prize
money and the bracelet."
Despite
the lively atmosphere and a cheering mob
of casino employees in the grandstand,
there some very serious poker played at
the final table. "I defy any of the pro
tournament players to come to the final
table where we played and tell me it was
easy. It was hard! There was no checking-down.
We were playing serious high-level poker.
Anyone that says this is a junior event
that not as tough as the regular tournaments
is wrong. No way -- it was tough."
Lukaszewski
received $35,800 and the renowned gold
bracelet for his impressive victory. After
the tournament was over -- which came
nearly 15 hours after the start and fell
as the clock struck precisely 3 am --
Lukaszewski called many of his friends
and relatives to tell them the good news.
"I woke up everyone at like 4 in the morning
to tell them I won! All the poker players
that I called -- they knew what this moment
means. They know what the World Series
of Poker gold bracelet is all about. I
can now walk into to any cardroom in the
world and show this gold bracelet, and
everyone will know. You become part of
a very elite club. I feel like I just
won the Super Bowl!"
At
least for the moment, Lukaszewski is probably
the only poker player at World Series
of Poker right now who can honestly say
he's "one-for-one." He's entered one event
-- and won it. It was a perfect day for
the man who can now single-handedly declare
he is an undefeated champion.
-- by Nolan Dalla
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