Father-to-Be Chris Bilinksy Headed to NAPT $10K Gold Pass

PokerStars and the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) is returning to Resorts World Las Vegas for the third consecutive year, from November 3–12, 2025, for ten days of thrilling poker action on the Las Vegas Strip. This year’s schedule has something for every player, featuring buy-ins starting at just $360 alongside massive High Roller events and fan-favorite formats like PLO and Mystery Bounty, all leading up to the highly anticipated $5,300 Main Event.

For the past few months, players have had the opportunity to win their way to Las Vegas via Silver and Gold Passes; in fact, a $10,000 Gold Pass was given away via the PokerNews Podcast. One player lucky enough to win a Gold Pass earlier this year was New Jersey’s Chris Bilinsky, who recently chatted with PokerNews Podcast host Chad Holloway about the experience.

Bilinsky, who turned 34 this month, is a school psychologist who graduated from undergrad at Rutgers and grad school at Rider University. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s been working as a school psych for seven years and currently lives with his wife and a three-year-old French bulldog. However, he and his wife are expecting their first child early next year!

“I am basically just a mid-stakes online grinder who just likes playing cards in his free time,” said Bilinksy. “I am proud to say that I have never had a losing year, and for a few years, I was making more money playing online poker than I did as a school psychologist.”

Bilinsky, a die-hard Philly sports fan, learned to play poker around the “Moneymaker Boom.”

“A few friends and I enjoyed watching the ESPN episodes and playing dollar sit-n-gos, essentially,” he told PokerNews. “We definitely thought you could make a straight 2-A-K-Q-J, though, so it was just messing around. I didn’t play for the longest time, other than a few home games in high school, maybe twice a year. I’ve always loved playing, but I just never really took the initiative to seek out games.”

In his first year of grad school, Bilinsky went with a friend to Sugar House Casino in Philadelphia and won $1,000 in about a week playing $1/$2 NLH.

“So, obviously, I thought poker was the coolest thing in the world,” he said with a laugh. “The next few months proved to me that it wasn’t that easy, but I was completely hooked as I started to figure out some of the strategy. I didn’t play during Black Friday and was sort of clueless to all tha,t but I happened to get into it right when regulated poker came to New Jersey.”

Indeed, Bilinsky started to play online daily under screennames like “petewheeler” (BetMGM), “zootsuit101” (PokerStars & WSOP PA), “billypoker” (old WSOP NJ), “pablosanchz” (new WSOP & BetMGM PA), “PetCheetah101” (PokerStars PA).

Upon returning home from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, Bilinsky won the PokerStars Summer Stacks Main Event to win his Gold Pass.

“I am hoping my wife feels okay with coming but I’m not sure,” Bilinsky told PokerNews. “She will be 7.5 months pregnant with our first child … I’m proud that I have been able to keep a good work/life/poker life. It has never been a point of contention between my wife and I. She has always been incredibly supportive when I carve out every Sunday night for online poker. Sometimes poker has to take a back seat when work gets busy. It’s been a lot to balance over the years, but I’m happy that I have been able to keep my priorities in order.”

For more on Bilinsky, check out the video above or catch him in this episode of the PokerNews Podcast:

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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, host of both the PokerNews Podcast & MPST Podcast Presented By PokerNews, and 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.