Just a year ago 35-year-old Martin Staszko from the industrial town of Třinecin the Moravia-Silesia region was a shift manager at the Hyundai car plant in Nošovice. In the early hours of Wednesday he collected $5.43 (around Kč 101 million) after coming second from 7,000 players at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, making him a hometown hero.
According to the daily Hospářské noviny around 150,000 viewers in the Czech Republic watched the final between Staszko and the eventual tournament winner, 22-year-old Pius Heinz from Germany, who collected $8.72.
“Before flying to Vegas for the preliminary round of the tournament, I couldn’t imagine that I’d make such a winning. From that perspective it’s a huge success, but when someone is so close to victory, it’s also a slight disappointment. But second place is beautiful, and the winnings should be enough for the rest of my life,” Staszko was quoted as saying buy the ČTK news agency after the final. ‘[So] close to victory, it’s also a slight disappointment. But second place is beautiful, and the winnings should be enough for the rest of my life.’
Although he will have to pay 15 percent of his winnings in taxes in the Czech Republic, Staszko will avoid being taxed in the US thanks to a bilateral agreement on the elimination of double taxation.
Staszko, who caught the audience’s attention for wearing simple flannel shirts and preserving a calm demeanor, lives in a socialist-era prefabricated apartment block, or panel house, and drives a 15-year-old car, but says he doesn’t plan to make any major changes to his lifestyle.
“I’ll travel. There are lots of places I’ve never been to. I want to see Australia, Asia and Africa. But will I buy a new car to make five trips a year in it? No,” he said after the six-hour final match.
Hometown hero and honors
The daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) quoted a former colleague of Staszko’s from the Hyundai plant as saying that most of his fellow workers watched the game live.
“We were with Martin on a three-week course in Korea where got to know each other a bit. He’s a great lad – the prototype solid person. We didn’t have any idea that he played poker and only found out when he left the company to play professionally. I really wish him this success. A guy like him definitely deserves it,” Petr Tupý from the Hyundai plant in Nošovice told MfD.
Although Staszko missed out on the much-coveted golden bracelet that goes to the World Series of Poker winner, an award awaits him in his hometown.
“We first met after he had qualified for the [World Series of Poker] final. Our next meeting will definitely be more fitting: We want to give him a commemorative medal,” Třinec mayor Věra Palkovská told the daily.
