Mike Kosowski and his daughter celebrate his million dollar prize (photo courtesy of Ray Mickshaw)
For those of you following FOX's poker TV show Million Dollar Challenge, you'll already know that the format of the show doesn't make it easy to actually win the grand prize. But in a heads-up match for all the cake, 9/11 first responder and former NY detective Mike Kosowski beat Daniel Negreanu to win $1 million dollars.
But though he's rolling in dough now, it's not exactly an easy path to the promised land. First he had to win a 16,000 person online poker tournament, then impress show judges with a bio video. Once accepted, he had to win a whole series of head-to-head and multiplayer games before finally earning the spot going up against Negreanu for the big prize.
Interestingly, he actually lost against one of the celebrity challengers on the show. Supermodel Joanna Krup beat him in an earlier head-to-head match. Luckily for Kosowki, Krup also beat all the other players that week, giving him a chance to continue on in the game by beating all the other contestants on that week's show.
When it finally got down to it, Negreanu was no match for the skill and luck of the former cop, and Kosowki walked away with the million bucks.
