Dan Livingston, a part time poker player from Oak Forest, Illinois, proved that anyone can win it big playing poker when he took home $291,749 at the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Chicago Main Event. Livingston won his way into the event, which had a $5,000 buy-in and 248 participants, when he won a casino promotion at the Horseshoe poker room.

Prior to the World Series of Poker Circuit win, Livingston had played in tournaments with low-limit and middle-limit buy-ins. His largest cash win had been $4,000, which he won playing poker online. His new win of nearly $300,000 blows all his previous wins out of the water.

The full list of players at the final table were as follows:

1st place – Dan Livingston with $291,749

2nd place – Tom Floros with $180,287

3rd place – Chris Gentile with $119,556

4th place – Tad Mosele with $84,594

5th place – William Schweinebraten with $63,744

6th place – William Miner with $50,871

7th place – Joshua Goldstein with $42,881

8th place – Jacob Bazeley with $38,082

9th place – Michael Parisi with $35,533

What I like most about this win is that it shows how non-professional, part-time poker underdogs can rise to take the gold in big poker tournaments. If the buy-in is too much for you then you can always win a spot at the table through casino promotions or satellite tournaments. It was a complete surprise for Livingston to even get the chance to participate in the tournament and when it ended it was well worth it.

Livingston said, “I feel really good… Forty hours of work for nearly $300,000? I’ll take it!”