All In

In January, John Stolzmann, a Wisconsin senior with a 3.5 GPA, won $1.4 million after finishing first at a tournament in Tunica, Miss. He turned pro.

"By winning I got invited to a lot of World Poker Tour events, with my buy-in exempted, for the next three years," says Stolzmann. "I couldn't really justify missing that much school to play in those events, but I couldn't really justify missing those events, either."

"I'm not a genius," says Stolzmann, who played thousands of hands on a computer program (Turbo Texas Hold 'Em) before he ever played with cash at stake. "I just studied the game. I know so many college kids who think they can play -- and they can't."

Excerpted from the Sports Illustrated article "All In" by John Walters - June 2005