Soren Turkewitsch

Total Winnings
$1,225,920

It's the type of story that could be a Hollywood movie. Soren Turkewitsch was working three jobs and trying to make ends meet. Most days were spent in an automotive plant. He'd taken one college course to learn about home inspection, but it didn't go anywhere. He liked playing blackjack, but he knew it was a not a winning proposition. He found poker and played $5-$10 limit for fun, but didn't have any dreams of becoming a pro. Still, he toyed with the idea of entering some cheap $90 satellites to the first World Poker Tour event in Canada.

Life got in the way, though. He was a busy man. Three jobs and a girlfriend took up a lot of his time and he didn't make it down to the casino. He'd just about forgotten about it when his girlfriend offered up a last-second reminder. Turkewitsch didn't have much time. So, he made it to the casino and put up his $90. It was enough to feed him into a bigger satellite. Sure enough, he won again. While the concept of putting up $10,000 of his own money to play in a poker tournament was downright silly, Turkewitsch now had a nearly free ride into Canada's biggest poker event.

From there, the story only got better. Over the course of the next few days, Turkewitsch worked his way through the field and made it all the way to the final table. Now, with more than $1 million in career winnings, the idea of working three jobs to make ends meet is history. Whether he'll ever decide to put up $10,000 of his own money for a poker tournament is still a matter of some debate. Regardless, for $90, he has one of the best return-on-investment stories in the history of the World Poker Tour.