Players whose lives have changed after winning a Platinum Pass

A little less than two weeks are left until the largest offline tournament in the history of PokerStars – PSPC. The event will be held in the Bahamas from January 29 to February 3. The buy-in of the tournament is $25,000. For the past year, PokerStars has been playing Platinum passes worth $ 30,000, allowing to make a buy-in and pay for flight and accommodation expenses. On the eve of the PSPC, it is worth remembering the players whose lives changed after winning the Platinum Pass in 2019.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the PSPC tournament was held for the last time in 2019. It was then that Platinum Passes were first introduced. Many of the pass holders were absolute beginners, microlimit players and humble grinders who entered the world of high-stakes poker for the first time.

At a tournament, a not-so-lucky newcomer could find himself squeezed among the highest-level players, while poker legends could find themselves sitting at a table full of inexperienced players. Most of these players were defeated by experienced colleagues, but some achieved great success.

The winner of PSPC 2019, Ramon Colillas, got to the tournament only thanks to a Platinum pass. He managed to beat a huge number of rivals and win $ 5.1 million. After that, the Spaniard became a member of the PokerStars team, which participates in the most significant events around the world. Before PSPC, Сolillas had very little experience working as a personal trainer.

In the middle of the last decade, Сolillas opened a gym in his native village, where 4,500 people lived. Even though things were going well, Colillas dreamed of playing poker. The Spaniard devoted his free time to the game, progressed quickly and soon began earning enough money in poker to quit the gym. In 2018, he scored the most points in the overall standings of the Championship of Spain tournament and won a Platinum Pass.

PokerStars played 418 passes

Another player who was completely unknown before PSPC 2019 is the German Michael Robionek. He was a real micro-limiter, and his best result was $85, which he won in one of the PokerStars events for $ 1. Robionek lost his job at a steel company and then started a business. Things were not going too well in the new area, and money was needed for development.

During a difficult period of his life, Robionek won a freeroll at PokerStars and became the owner of a Platinum Pass. At the PSPC itself, Robionek took 23rd place and earned $150,600.

Having learned the game from friends at university, Bulgarian Atanas Pavlov played poker for only a year before he took second place in the MegaStack tournament at the Hippodrome casino in London, earning 17,477 pounds. Having become a runner-up, Pavlov missed a pass. However, he would not give up and regularly played in tournaments where a pass was played.

A month after the London tournament, Pavlov won the PokerStars Live London Series main event, receiving 10,363 pounds and the coveted Platinum pass. At PSPC, Pavlov finished in 30th place and earned $105,000. Since then, the Bulgarian has won about $800,000 more offline.

Surely this year, someone will repeat the success of the players described above because PokerStars played 418 passes.