Interview With Tell-a-Friend Raffle Winner Szkodnick

We catch up with Szkodnick from Poland, who was the lucky community member who won $25,000 just for referring his friends to PokerStrategy.com. Find out how you can win big for referring friends too with our new $50,000 Tell-a-Friend Raffle.

Last week we announced our new $50,000 Tell-a-Friend Raffle promotion. We are giving away $50,000 in prizes, including two top prizes of $10,000, to people who refer their friends to PokerStrategy.com.

This is not the first time we have done this promotion. Earlier this month we announced the winners of our previous Tell-a-Friend Raffle and Darek vel Szkodnick won the top prize of $25,000.

He kindly took some time out to let us know what it was like to win the big prize.

PokerStrategy.com: Tell our community a little bit about the lucky man who just won $25,000.

szkodnick: I’d like to say hello to everyone at PokerStrategy.com! My name is Darek and I’m a 25 year old lad (definitely a happier one than I was before last August 7).

I have been playing cards since I can remember, however when it comes to poker, I started playing when I was 15-16 years old (I played games like the 5 Card Draw, where the pot consisted of matches).

At the moment I’m stuck at NL4-NL10. Due to my studies and job, I don’t have much time for playing and developing my skills. Soon I will finish my Masters, hopefully after the exams, I will be able to devote more time to learning and playing.

"After winning the promotion I will still be referring friends"

PokerStrategy.com: Did you use the Tell-a-Friend referral system before the Tombola promotion?

szkodnick: I have been using Tell-a-Friend even before the Tombola. The promotion was motivation for me to improve my referring skills. In the beginning I used to refer PokerStrategy.com only to close relatives, which was not the most effective. 

Whenever I managed to get someone to sign up, they would use the starting capital without the strategy studying bit – well, you know the final result!

During the promotion, I decided to switch to the social network platforms. I also started putting more effort into referring PokerStrategy.com in person amongst my friends. The amount of friends referred started growing, followed by the increasing monetary benefits that the Tell-a-Friend system is based on. After winning the promotion, I will still be referring friends to PokerStrategy.com.

PokerStrategy.com:  So the Tombola promotion was just a bonus compared to the overall Tell-a-Friend scheme?

szkodnick: I think that it can be beneficial for everyone. People who were not successful with winning any of the prizes, can still make profit up to $500 just for referring a friend. This is yet another reason why PokerStrategy.com is worth recommending.

PokerStrategy.com: What is about PokerStrategy.com that you tell your friends?

szkodnick: A lot of things, really. Apart from the things mentioned above, I would add that there are lots of teaching materials, videos, help in the hand evaluation forums and the pretty important thing for the beginners; the free poker money which allows the newbies to play real poker without having to deposit themselves or risk their own money.

"Hello NL $1000....just kidding"

PokerStrategy.com: How did you react when you realised you had just won $25,000?

szkodnick: Heh.... After I read the message, my heart started pumping like mad despite the fact that I couldn’t actually believe it was true. I asked my brother to read the message for me again so I could make sure I understood it correctly.
 
It was difficult to believe I could have been so lucky, it’s really difficult to describe the feeling, but I’d like to experience it more often.

PokerStrategy.com: What are you going to do with the winnings?

szkodnick: The answer is obvious; if I have 25 buy-ins for a given limit, I can play it according to the BRM, so “hello NL1000!”

Just kidding.

Just like playing a lottery, you plan all the things you’d buy if you won. Once you hit the jackpot, your mind goes blank and you don’t really know what to do with the winnings. At the moment I’m enjoying the prize and the fact that I’ve won, I will think what to do with it at a later stage.

"Tell-a-Friend is a win-win situation where there is no way to lose"

PokerStrategy.com: What would you say to the users who don't think it is worth referring their friends?

szkodnick: I don’t think that anyone should hesitate whether to refer or not. If someone is aware that there is a way of building up one’s bankroll, it would be pretty bizarre if one rejected this opportunity.

The Tell-a-Friend system is a straightforward opportunity, both for the referrer and the new player. It’s a win-win situation where there is no way to lose.

PokerStrategy.com: Have you got any tips for other referrers?

szkodnick: It’s the quality that matters, not quantity. It’s better to get one good and valuable player with the potential to play regularly, than a few that will just gamble and lose the starting capital in the first few days.

That’s why, on top of the random referrals where you get people you don’t always know yourself and you have no influence on their progress, I try to market PokerStrategy.com among my university friends.

PokerStrategy.com: Thank you for referring your friends to PokerStrategy.com and have fun with your winnings.

$50,000 in prizes for the next Tell-a-Friend Raffle

If you want to follow in the footsteps of Szkodnick, we have just announced a new Tell-a-Friend Raffle with an even bigger prize pool than last time. $50,000 in total will be awarded across two promo periods, with a top prize of $10,000 in each period.

You earn a raffle ticket for every new referred friend who earns 5 StrategyPoints in each promotional period. They have an additional 10 days from the end of each sign up period to earn the points needed.

Please note a player who signs up in period 1 cannot earn the required points in period 2, after October 15.

Period	Your friend signs up between...	Your friend must earn 5 StrategyPoints* by...
1	August 17 - October 5	October 15
2	October 6 - November 23	December 3

* Only StrategyPoints earned by playing at a poker room count – bonus points don’t count.

After each promotional period, we will draw the winners and pay out the prizes to their Tell-a-Friend accounts, from where they can immediately cash it out.

Each $25,000 prize pool will pay out as follows:

First Prize:	$10,000 in cash
2nd – 10th Prize:	$1,000 in cash
11th –70th Prize:	$100 in cash

Referring friends is as easy as passing them this, your personal referrer link:

Important: We will carefully check the winning raffle tickets to prevent abuse of the promotion. Remember that only one account per person is allowed at PokerStrategy.com.

Additionally, you earn a Tell-a-Friend cash reward for every friend that reaches certain StrategyPoints targets – guaranteed!

Your referred friend earns....	You earn....
100 StrategyPoints	$25
500 StrategyPoints	$25
2,000 StrategyPoints	$50
5,000 StrategyPoints	$150
20,000 StrategyPoints	$250
Total	up to $500

Learn more about how Tell-a-Friend works
$50,000 Tell-a-Friend Raffle discussion forum