John Stolzmann, an American poker player, was born in 1982, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He was born into a blue-collar family and his dad was a fire-fighter. He currently resides in Corona, CA, United States.
John Stolzmann graduated from the University of Wisconsin, in Madison with a degree in philosophy. He became interested in poker while at college and after graduation began playing tournaments regularly. Initially, his father was a bit apprehensive about him playing poker. His father didn’t believe that his son could make money playing poker, a belief that was reinforced by the fact that there were no casinos in Wisconsin. Eventually, John Stolzmann went on to prove his dad wrong and even got his dad to play the game.
Before playing in major tournaments, John Stolzmann refined his game skills by playing poker online. His first big cash-in came on December 10, 2004 at the Caribbean Poker Classic tournament, where he finished fourth in the No-Limit Hold’em event and pocketed $15,000.
On January 27, 2005 John Stolzmann had a mind-blowing success at the 6th Jack Binion World Poker Open/WPT Event Season 3 in the No-Limit Hold’em event where he finished first and took home a whopping $1,465,944. John Stolzmann had no plans of playing the Hold’em championship event, but his dad believed in his talent and gave him $1,000 to enter the qualifying satellite event, which he won. He went on to compete against 512 players for the title and played well enough to reach the final table. John Stolzmann was the youngest finalist at the table and had to compete against poker greats like Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, and Chau Giang. His strategy was to stay at the table by claiming small pots instead of larger ones and it worked in his favor. Scotty Nguyen was taken down by Daniel Negreanu’s all-in hand and the latter was in a shock when he was knocked out by John Stolzmann. It came down to the heads-up stage where John Stolzmann was pitted against Chau Giang, the chip leader at that stage. Both players began claiming big stakes and blind bets and at one point, when Chau Giang was faced with an all-in from his opponent, he called. The first three cards of the flop enabled Chau Giang to pair his jacks and on the river he picked up an ace, which gave John Stolzmann a straight. Chau Giang lost his chips worth two millions as his J-3 was lesser than his opponent’s A-10. John Stolzmann emerged victorious in this fierce battle and went on to claim his prize money of $1,465,944, which he shared with his father who had backed him.
John Stolzmann looks forward to playing against other professionals in bigger tournaments to discover new strategies and to develop his game. His favorite poker game is No-Limit Hold’em and his ambition is to be a top player and win international tournaments. John Stolzmann is known in the poker world by his nickname “Johnny Blinder”, a name which he got because of a fateful incident involving a paintball gun and his friend’s eye!
John Stolzmann – Poker Results
- Event: 2006 Goldstrike World Poker Open/WPT Season 4 Super Satellite – No-Limit Hold'em / Finished: 13th / Earned: $10,400
- Event: 2005, Five-Star World Poker Classic - WPT Championship Season 3 No-Limit Hold'em / Finished: 7th / Earned: $14,275
- Event: 2005 Five The 6th Jack Binion World Poker Open/WPT Event Season 3 WPT Main Event – No-Limit Hold'em / Finished: 1st / Earned: $1,465,944
- Event: 2004 Caribbean Poker Classic Main Event – No-Limit Hold'em / Finished: 4th / Earned: $15,000
