Bodog Ultimate Sports Fan Experience: liverpoolfc8 Shocked by Win
by Bodog Poker | Apr 20 2010
The draw has been made for the Bodog Ultimate Sports Fan Experience grand prize and the lucky winner is "liverpoolfc8." In 2011, he will be on his way to the Super Bowl, NHL Stanley Cup Finals, the NBA Championship Final and the MLB World Series.
The 29-year-old North New Jersey native, whose real name is Derik Niziolek, couldn't believe his luck when he found out that he was the grand prize winner.
"At first I didn't even know why they were calling me," Niziolek said. "I was in shock, I guess. All I could think of doing at the time was thank Bodog for the opportunity to win such a great prize!"
Derik is a fitting winner of the Bodog Ultimate Sports Fan Experience for a couple of reasons. Years ago, he played semi-professional soccer and he continues to be involved in coaching the game. The Geoscience Masters student says that soccer may be his favorite sport, but he plans on fully enjoying his Ultimate Sports Fan Experience.
"The one I'm looking forward to the most is next year's Super Bowl. It's such a big game. I plan on taking my older brother to that one, and I'm still deciding who I will take to the others. I have a couple of people in mind, but I have lots of time to decide."
Derik is a big New York Giants fan and he hopes he'll be able to watch them play in the Super Bowl next year. At least with the Super Bowl, he knows where he'll be going to watch that game; the other championship locations will not be determined until the week of the games. But that's just part of the experience -- not knowing where you will end up watching the four biggest sporting events of the year.
The Bodog Ultimate Sports Fan Experience draw was the biggest prize Derik has ever won online. Despite playing a short schedule of mid-stakes sit-and-go action when he has the chance, his poker playing success has been limited to some decent results in the odd smaller-stakes tournaments. Getting his Masters degree currently consumes most of his time.
"Some months I will only play once a week, and then others I will only play once or twice all month," he said. "School keeps me busy, and there's not a lot of time to and play with any regularity. I like to play sit-and-go tournaments the most, and Bodog has the best ones."
Derik admits that although he was aware of the Ultimate Sports Fan Experience, he had no idea that he even qualified for the contest - let alone that he had won the grand prize - until he was notified by phone. Thinking on it now, though, Derik says that his preference is to play short table sit-and-go action, and he figures that's how he qualified for the draw.
In fact, Derik qualified for the draw by playing $70 sit-and-go tournaments; he finished in the money enough times for a chance to have his name entered to win the grand prize - four trips to the nation's best championship sporting events - and he can now look forward to traveling all over North America to watch sports history in the making.
