Fresh off the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, Gary garyak1 Kostiuk from Grand Prairie, Canada, published a thread on PocketFives.com entitled “My (micro grinder) WSOP ME deep run - 1st ever brag post.” Faced with bladder and fatigue health issues, Kostiuk muscled through the $10,000 buy-in tournament in Las Vegas and ultimately exited in 85th place for nearly $80,000 in his first WSOP cash. PocketFives.com caught up with the Canuck to relive his Main Event run.

On Day 1 of the Main Event, Kostiuk’s bladder was acting up and he estimates that he hit the Rio convention center’s bathroom 15 times. Due to his ailments, ensuring that he didn’t drink too much water was at a premium. He added, “I have trouble stacking chips. Literally, stacking them makes me tired. Any movement or motion makes my fatigue worse. My son had to be near me the whole time because I couldn’t push myself out. When we had breaks, I had to make sure I got there before other people and had to wait for handicap stalls.”

His table draw didn’t make his tournament survival any easier. On Day 5, he appeared at the ESPN feature table alongside Phil OMGClayAiken Galfond. Other tablemates included November Niner Filippo Candio, Sammy Farha, new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member David Doc Sands Sands (pictured), and Christian charder Harder. He recalled, “I had a 15 to 20 big blind stack the last few days and was all-in 48 times during the tournament.” Sure enough, Kostiuk survived every all-in but one.

Kostiuk is a product of poker coaching from Ari Engel and David The Maven Chicotsky. He’s been involved with the game for the last six years and explained that his skills excelled following instruction from Engel and Chicotsky. As such, going deep in the most prestigious tournament in existence was quite gratifying: “It is any poker player’s fantasy to get on TV, go deep in the Main Event, and get a patch deal. Every thing a person could dream of happening happened to me. Once I cashed, my goal was to get to another day. I almost got to Day 7 and for me, it was a situation where I surpassed my goal.”

He’s had several industry publications approach him for interviews, including Bluff Magazine and Casino City Times. Much of the discussion has focused on how he’s been able to adapt at the tables despite the long hours that poker requires: “I’ve played some live tournaments before when I played 12 or 14 hours a day. I played in the Reno World Poker Challenge and am used to the long sessions even though my fatigue is a little more. I use my adrenalin to overpower my fatigue issues.”

Ryan Stewks Kostiuk (pictured), Gary’s son, has been instrumental in his father’s poker success: “He’s my oldest child and got me into poker six years ago. He’s very much a winning player. He kept me focused all week and we’d discuss my table draw and position the night before. We discussed strategies every day and he acted as a liaison for the Full Tilt patch deal. He was my poker agent, he was my psychologist, and he was my caregiver. I literally could not have accomplished what I did without him.”

Kostiuk won a $350 buy-in, 44-man satellite to the Main Event back home in Grand Prairie. Each entrant received a starting stack of 50,000 and blinds kicked off at 10/20. Accordingly, the qualifier was comparable to the Main Event, as it took 14 hours to play out. When it did, Kostiuk exclaimed that his “fantasy had come true.”

We’d like to congratulate Kostiuk and all PocketFives.com members who cashed in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. The tournament will begin airing on August 10th at 8:00pm ET on ESPN.