It was meant to be a game with a clear cut winner. Nobody gave much thought to the amateur player, Benjamin LaBlond who came up from behind to meet WSOP bracelet holder, Steve Madsen in the final game of the 2009 Canadian Open Poker Championship this week.
But LaBlond, who learned how to play poker online and has very little experience at live tournaments, surprised everyone – including himself – by beating Madsen on a particularly hot hand.
To understand the extent of LaBlond’s victory, one need only look at the track record of the rivals that he took down along the way, especially Madsen who was the youngest player ever to win a bracelet at the World Series of Poker event.
To get to the point of meeting Madsen head to head, however, LaBlond also beat the legendary Phil Hellmuth and Brad Booth.
“It’s definitely different, playing against real players instead of sitting at a computer,” LaBlond said. “My confidence has grown a lot because of this tournament.”
LaBlond walked off with $100,000 – tax free of course – in prize money, while Madsen didn’t do too badly either with his $50K runner up prize.
When asked what he’d be doing with so much money after the Canadian Open Poker Championship, LaBlond said that he’d be using some of it to pay for the $10,000 entry fee into the World Series of Poker Main Event.
“It’s about reinvesting in the trade,” he joked.
Organizers of this year’s Canadian Open were pleased with the turnout and said that it was the idea of walking away with a significant sum of tax free cash after a weekend of poker entertainment that seemed to attract the crowds.
“You’ll never beat Tiger Woods at a round of golf,” said the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Poker Tour, Kelly Kellner. “But on any given day at a card table, if you play your hands right, you can change your life.”
