Mike Leah Poker
2021年4月7日Register here: http://gg.gg/oydhy
Prior to his victory, Mike Leah won the CAD $1,100 preliminary event at the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic three out of the last four years: 2014, 2016, and 2017 for a total of CAD $573,334. Mike Leah is a famous poker player from Toronto, Canada.He won more than USD 7,973,620.00 in his poker carreer with poker live events alone. Cash Games not tracked. His last poker live game was in 21-Feb-2020 where he finished as 49 in the C$ 4,700 + 300 No Limit Hold’em - WPT Main Event event in World Poker Tour - WPT Fallsview, Niagara Falls.
*Mike Leah Poker
*Mike Leah Poker Wife Pictures
*Mike Leah Poker
*Mike Leah Poker DramaMo Nuwwarah
It’s always big news when a player wins a World Poker Tour title, and even bigger when that player happens to be a big-name pro. So, when Mike Leahwon WPT Fallsview Poker Classic, there was naturally a big response from the poker community.
Furthermore, Leah had performed the incredible feat of winning a tournament during the same series for the fourth time in five years after claiming a number of side events for several hundred thousand dollars worth of prize money.
Except, people weren’t showering Leah with congratulations for claiming his first WPT title and, after years of effort, a place on the WPT Champions Cup. Quite the contrary, much of the community was in an uproar after what they deemed a controversial victory. How it Went Down
First, a review. Leah went into the official final table at WPT Fallsview with one of the bigger stacks and only cemented his advantage early on.
Grant Hinkle: ’It disparages the resume of Mike Leah, the prestige of major titles like the WPT, and whatever integrity is left in the game of poker.’
However, fellow Canadian Ryan Yu dominated much of the final stretch of play. He moved into the lead 72 hands in, according to the live updates, and didn’t slow down as he eliminated his next two opponents to get heads up with Leah holding a little more than a 2-1 lead.
At that point, the players opted to take an unscheduled break. Often in tournament poker, this means the players are discussing a potential deal, and that’s precisely what happened in Fallsview.
When the players returned to the table, they made no pretense of the fact that they’d already come to an agreement and the tournament was essentially over. Yu raise-folded away all but a handful of his chips in a few consecutive hands, and then the two ran out boards until Leah swept up Yu’s remaining crumbs.
Leah was declared the champion.The Deal
The original payouts called for the winner to bank C$451,821 and a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions, while the runner-up would claim C$301,217. According to a post Leah wrote on Facebook in the aftermath of the criticism he received, the two agreed to a chip value deal that saw each player take home money commensurate with the value of his stack.
Yu, Leah wrote, offered the deal immediately upon heads-up play being reached. Leah said he had not considered dealing up to that point, but Yu provided favorable terms: each player would take chip value, and Leah would take the trophy, the seat and the official win, with the value of the seat and the fact that Leah was signing for first-place money factored into the deal.
Plugging the numbers into a freely available ICM calculator indicates Leah actually got about C$351,000 and Yu about C$416,000
Leah said he would have been happy to play it out, but the terms were simply too good to pass up.
’I actually get to be responsible and not just ’flip’ for $150K, and I get a WPT title, a spot in the Champions Club, entry into the TOC and my fourth Fallsview title in five years,’ Leah wrote. ’How could I not agree to this? We were both extremely happy with the outcome.’
Indeed, Leah, a man who cares greatly about racking up accolades in the poker world and cares less than most players about money, got the trophy he so desired. Yu, on the other hand, was in it for the cash and happy to avoid risking a huge chunk of money despite his lead.
’He has a massive skill advantage heads up where I’m a whale, and he’s still 40 big blinds deep,’ Yu pointed out via Twitter.Mike Leah Poker
So, both players got what they wanted and walked away happy. Isn’t that what deal negotiations are all about?The Precedent
Many called Leah’s title completely farcical, given that he had a far inferior chip count to that of Yu at the time the deal was done. Others came to Leah’s defense, pointing out that deal-making is an integral part of tournament poker and has been for as long as tournament poker has existed.
Eric Rodawig: ’I don’t think a title and the benefits it comes with should ever be offered up as part of a deal.’
In fact, the situation isn’t without precedent. Last year in this very event, David Eldridge admitted he and Darren Elias made a similar deal where they left nothing to play for, although Elias had a slight chip lead at the time he negotiated for the win.
Just over a year ago, Will Kassouf and Patrick Serda made a much-discussed deal in the EPT Prague €10,300 High Roller. Despite holding more than a 4-1 lead, Serda happily made off with the majority of the cash and signed for second place despite a higher official payout. Kassouf took the official title and trophy but only about two-thirds of Serda’s payout.
’I was more interested in the title and the trophy, from a business point of view,’ Kassouf would later tell PokerNews. ’It made sense for endorsements and sponsorship deals, et cetera with the year I had to take a trophy to wrap up the year.’
Serda, a Canadian grinder, had more interest in fortune than fame. He had a lot of his own action and was ’super happy’ to lock up over €700,000.
’I definitely feel like I’ve gotten some backlash, but I also think a lot of people have never played for that amount of money,’ he said. ’Obviously, scores like that don’t come around very often. It’s important to try to lock up equity in spots like that.’
Some derided Kassouf for ’buying a trophy’ because he gave up about $10,000 worth of chip value in order to get an official first place. However, Leah was quick to note that wasn’t the case for him at all. He pointed out that he didn’t give up a cent of value, so it wasn’t fair to say he bought anything.
He simply negotiated a deal that saw the trophy go his way, and he’s far from the first poker player to do so. The Aftermath
Despite all of that, reaction to this particular deal proved heavy on vitriol. A number of players, including Dan O’Brien, Matt Salsberg, and Blair Hinkle voiced skepticism at the very least as to the legitimacy of Leah claiming the title of WPT champion.
Negotiating the trophy, some feel, cheapens the accomplishment so as to make it all but pointless.
Blair’s brother Grant Hinkle certainly counts himself among that category. He was among those criticizing the situation, and he agreed to further expound his thoughts to PokerNews.
’I have no idea how someone goes through the mental gymnastics necessary to value that WPT championship on your resume, but also rationalize to exhaustion to convince themselves that they truly earned it when they cut a deal to rig it,’ Grant said. ’Mike Leah cast a giant skeptical shadow over all of his titles now, and at the same time he cheapened the value of the WPT championship he coveted so much.’
Leah, for his part, deferred comment for this story to a later date. He did answer some assertions as part of his post. He stated that all five of his Circuit rings, his WSOP bracelet, and a slew of prestigious online titles were all 100 percent earned with no chops. Like many players, he said some of his other wins and some of his other close calls were chops over the years.
As for the many pointing out how it skews the WPT Player of the Year race, Leah agreed the situation is far from perfect. But without knowledge of exactly who has chopped in the past, it’s likely unfair to single Leah’s win out as the one that shouldn’t count. How many previous winners negotiated the win?
’More than me, that is 100 percent sure,’ wrote Leah.
Grant emphasized that he has no problem with players chopping up money. When it comes to titles, though, he sees things a bit differently.
Eric Rodawig, Leah and Grant’s fellow bracelet winner, concurred: ’I don’t think a title and the benefits it comes with should ever be offered up as part of a deal,’ Rodawig said. ’It’s certainly tempting to just snag a trophy or bracelet, but ultimately I wouldn’t feel right about just accepting a title or offering/insisting that I get the title as part of a deal.
’You play for the title, for yourself and for the fans.’
Grant reflected on a chopping situation he was involved in just a few years ago.
Mike Leah: ’You’re free to your opinion. You have to get there before you can even consider making a deal and I get there more than you.’
At WinStar River Poker Series $2,500 Main Event in 2016, Grant found himself at the final table with a massively weighted payout structure. First place was guaranteed at $1 million, but a relatively sparse turnout left second place way down at $203,000.
Grant proposed restructuring to ’normal’ payouts but Gordon Vayo, who had a monster chip lead, wasn’t having it. With five players left, though, negotiations reopened, and everyone agreed to a deal that paid Vayo $587,120 and everyone else more than second-place money up to Ben Ector’s $344,826.
With a commemorative bracelet included in the first-place prize though, tournament organizers required the tournament to be finished out. The player simply pushed all in until a winner had emerged, which turned out to be Grant. Vayo, however, is listed as the official winner, something Grant called ’appropriate.’
Since ’no legit play’ followed the deal between Leah and Yu, Grant believes Yu has more claim to being the true champion.
’I would think you would have enough pride in yourself and respect for the game to earn such accomplishments,’ Grant said. ’It disparages the resume of Mike Leah, the prestige of major titles like the WPT, and whatever integrity is left in the game of poker.’
Leah, though, closed with a parting shot to the Hinkles and the rest of those dumping on his result.
’If you want to pretend my results over the years are tarnished because I made a deal heads up, OK,’ he wrote. ’You’re free to your opinion. You have to get there before you can even consider making a deal and I get there more than you.’
All photos courtesy of the World Poker Tour, shot by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive.com
*TagsMike ’goleafsgoeh’ LeahPoker TournamentsMike LeahRyan Yu
*Related PlayersMike LeahRyan Yu
This past summer, Mike Leah didn’t play a full schedule at the World Series of Poker for the first time since leaving a sales career to play poker professionally. It was for good reason. In June, the Canadian poker pro had his first child and passed up on the earlier events to stay at home with his newborn son.
He managed to get to Las Vegas in time for the $10,000 main event and a few postlim events. Even in that short time, Leah cashed four times for a total of $20,552. Those results brought his live earnings to a whopping $7.8 million, but he’s more than just a live grinder.Mike Leah Poker Wife Pictures
Last month, during PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker, Leah won his third WCOOP title in the $2,100 no-limit hold’em turbo event. He bested 219 entries and earned $85,476 for his efforts. It was his eighth ‘COOP’ title and brought his career online earnings to more than $3.6 million.
Card Player sat down with Leah to discuss playing poker as a father and what else he wants to accomplish in his poker career.
Steve Schult: Congratulations on recently becoming a father. How has fatherhood changed, if at all, the way that you look at poker?
Mike Leah: Thank you. I guess there is definitely a bit of extra motivation. Or perhaps just trying to make it count a bit more when I’m able to play because I’m being a bit more selective as to where and when I play. If I go play a tournament, now I’m missing out on something else. So, I want to make it more ‘worth it,’ I guess.
But of course there is extra motivation to try and win for the family. I definitely have more to play for.
SS: I feel that, in general, poker pros kind of gravitate towards playing professionally because of the amount of freedom that they can have. Now, you have a bit less of that with a child to support. Have there been any huge changes you’ve had to make in your personal life to be able to grind a similar schedule, from a volume perspective, while still fulfilling your responsibilities as a father?
ML: Things are definitely much different. I missed the World Series of Poker this past summer when the baby was born. And I’m not going on all the trips that I probably would have like a year or two ago because I have more responsibilities to take care of.
For WCOOP, I played pretty much everything that I would’ve normally done, but I did it on a lot less sleep and tried to help out when I could, but Christine did most of the heavy lifting. It was tough on her, for sure, during WCOOP. She had to spend 8-10 or maybe even 12 hours a day taking care of the baby on her own each day. It definitely made it much tougher to grind WCOOP. I don’t know if I will do the same during SCOOP [Spring Championship of Online Poker] because it was pretty difficult.
We’re just looking into future trips and I’m not going to WSOP Europe because it’s just too far of a trip into the middle of nowhere and it’s not somewhere where I want to bring the family. There’s a little tournament series in Niagara coming up and then another one in Montreal. Those trips will be a little easier because we can drive and bring the whole family. Or look for short flights or direct flights. I went down to Fort Lauderdale in last August and that was the baby’s first flight. We’ll try and find some trips like that in the future.
SS: Do you plan on teaching him poker when he gets older?
ML: I don’t plan on it, but whatever he has interests in is fine. And with my interest in poker and with her interest in poker, it’s inevitable that he’ll probably be watching it a little bit during his childhood.
It’s not a lifestyle that I would necessarily want children to be interested in. But we’ll take it one step at a time and see what happens.
SS: After this latest WCOOP win, you’ve got three WCOOP titles, four SCOOP titles and a TCOOP [Turbo Championship of Online Poker] title. How much pride do you take in your online resume?
ML: I look for things to help motivate myself to play and try and win. So, keeping track of those is something cool. But PokerStars hasn’t done itself any favors by taking away trophies and watches and not having any type of actual leaderboard or history where they keep track of those types of things for people to measure themselves. It’s all self-done for the most part.
It’s not like WSOP where they keep track of cashes and bracelets and people can kind of shoot for those things. It’s something I’m proud of, but I’m definitely losing desire to chase those, as opposed to more motivated. I think I was tied for the most FTOPS [Full Tilt Online Poker Series] titles as well, before that disappeared. I’m proud of my online resume, but I don’t think it means as much as it used to.
SS: You have more than just the online resume. You’ve got a WSOP bracelet, a WPT title and five WSOP Circuit rings, as well as countless other victories. Is there anything you do differently live versus online or do you take the same strategies into both arenas?
ML: People ask me a lot what’s differences between online and live. There’s some subtle differences, but there’s also subtle differences between a tournament in Niagara Falls and a tournament in Vegas. Or a nightly turbo versus a WPT main event.
It’s all about making adjustments to the tournament that I’m playing. It’s all different forms of poker. I don’t think there’s anything you can really separate between live or online. All tournaments are different. I think I’m a bit more invested emotionally playing live, so it feels more like a sports and can be a bit more fun. But online I don’t have to travel and I can play at home in my pajamas.
Obviously there are differences and pluses and negatives, but the differences between live and online isn’t any more than the difference between a turbo and the WSOP main event. Those two things would actually be more different than a WCOOP online and a WPT main.
SS: You mention that they are all just different forms of poker. You’re very good at a lot of different forms of poker. You have cashes in no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and the mixed games. You play them all. How do you stay ahead of the curve, especially with poker evolving as quickly as it is?
ML: I’m very competitive, so it kind of forces me to at least keep up with the curve. I definitely don’t study as much as other people or as much as I probably should. And now with the baby, I probably will put it at studying zero ::laughs::. I just like playing all the games.
I’m good at learning from my mistakes and I’m competitive enough that I kind of pick up things as I go. I just have good instincts for the most part. And tournament poker is tournament poker. So even if it is a different form of poker, there are still a lot of similarities in tournament strategy that don’t necessarily change.
SS: There are only a few select guys that can play all the games both live and online. Do you feel that anybody can really get to that level at all the games without playing online? With the number of hands you can see online, is that not a huge factor in becoming one of the best?
ML: I guess it definitely helps. Shaun Deeb and Calvin Anderson are a couple guys that come to mind. I guess playing every SCOOP event and WCOOP event is going to give you more of an opportunity to play all those games and all those hands.
If you only play the WSOP once a year, it may be a little bit tougher than that. Well, obviously you can’t be a winner online if you don’t play. But yes, all those extra tournaments and those extra hands help. There’s not many people that grind all those series and play all the WSOP tournaments as well.
SS: You seem like someone that has never really gotten burnt out. You’ve never really stepped away for any elongated period of time. What do you do that keeps you fresh and motivated to keep grinding?
ML: I love poker and I love competing. I love the WSOP and I love competing. There will be some times in the future where maybe I’ll take a break in the series, or maybe I’ll come late because of family obligations. But I love being there and I’ll be there every year.
There’s no chance I’ll ever retire. I might play less and less, but I still love it and it’s something I’ll always do or always want to do. But there’s definitely a little burn out with WCOOP or SCOOP where I didn’t play my best.
And I’ll look back on my WSOP an
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Prior to his victory, Mike Leah won the CAD $1,100 preliminary event at the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic three out of the last four years: 2014, 2016, and 2017 for a total of CAD $573,334. Mike Leah is a famous poker player from Toronto, Canada.He won more than USD 7,973,620.00 in his poker carreer with poker live events alone. Cash Games not tracked. His last poker live game was in 21-Feb-2020 where he finished as 49 in the C$ 4,700 + 300 No Limit Hold’em - WPT Main Event event in World Poker Tour - WPT Fallsview, Niagara Falls.
*Mike Leah Poker
*Mike Leah Poker Wife Pictures
*Mike Leah Poker
*Mike Leah Poker DramaMo Nuwwarah
It’s always big news when a player wins a World Poker Tour title, and even bigger when that player happens to be a big-name pro. So, when Mike Leahwon WPT Fallsview Poker Classic, there was naturally a big response from the poker community.
Furthermore, Leah had performed the incredible feat of winning a tournament during the same series for the fourth time in five years after claiming a number of side events for several hundred thousand dollars worth of prize money.
Except, people weren’t showering Leah with congratulations for claiming his first WPT title and, after years of effort, a place on the WPT Champions Cup. Quite the contrary, much of the community was in an uproar after what they deemed a controversial victory. How it Went Down
First, a review. Leah went into the official final table at WPT Fallsview with one of the bigger stacks and only cemented his advantage early on.
Grant Hinkle: ’It disparages the resume of Mike Leah, the prestige of major titles like the WPT, and whatever integrity is left in the game of poker.’
However, fellow Canadian Ryan Yu dominated much of the final stretch of play. He moved into the lead 72 hands in, according to the live updates, and didn’t slow down as he eliminated his next two opponents to get heads up with Leah holding a little more than a 2-1 lead.
At that point, the players opted to take an unscheduled break. Often in tournament poker, this means the players are discussing a potential deal, and that’s precisely what happened in Fallsview.
When the players returned to the table, they made no pretense of the fact that they’d already come to an agreement and the tournament was essentially over. Yu raise-folded away all but a handful of his chips in a few consecutive hands, and then the two ran out boards until Leah swept up Yu’s remaining crumbs.
Leah was declared the champion.The Deal
The original payouts called for the winner to bank C$451,821 and a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions, while the runner-up would claim C$301,217. According to a post Leah wrote on Facebook in the aftermath of the criticism he received, the two agreed to a chip value deal that saw each player take home money commensurate with the value of his stack.
Yu, Leah wrote, offered the deal immediately upon heads-up play being reached. Leah said he had not considered dealing up to that point, but Yu provided favorable terms: each player would take chip value, and Leah would take the trophy, the seat and the official win, with the value of the seat and the fact that Leah was signing for first-place money factored into the deal.
Plugging the numbers into a freely available ICM calculator indicates Leah actually got about C$351,000 and Yu about C$416,000
Leah said he would have been happy to play it out, but the terms were simply too good to pass up.
’I actually get to be responsible and not just ’flip’ for $150K, and I get a WPT title, a spot in the Champions Club, entry into the TOC and my fourth Fallsview title in five years,’ Leah wrote. ’How could I not agree to this? We were both extremely happy with the outcome.’
Indeed, Leah, a man who cares greatly about racking up accolades in the poker world and cares less than most players about money, got the trophy he so desired. Yu, on the other hand, was in it for the cash and happy to avoid risking a huge chunk of money despite his lead.
’He has a massive skill advantage heads up where I’m a whale, and he’s still 40 big blinds deep,’ Yu pointed out via Twitter.Mike Leah Poker
So, both players got what they wanted and walked away happy. Isn’t that what deal negotiations are all about?The Precedent
Many called Leah’s title completely farcical, given that he had a far inferior chip count to that of Yu at the time the deal was done. Others came to Leah’s defense, pointing out that deal-making is an integral part of tournament poker and has been for as long as tournament poker has existed.
Eric Rodawig: ’I don’t think a title and the benefits it comes with should ever be offered up as part of a deal.’
In fact, the situation isn’t without precedent. Last year in this very event, David Eldridge admitted he and Darren Elias made a similar deal where they left nothing to play for, although Elias had a slight chip lead at the time he negotiated for the win.
Just over a year ago, Will Kassouf and Patrick Serda made a much-discussed deal in the EPT Prague €10,300 High Roller. Despite holding more than a 4-1 lead, Serda happily made off with the majority of the cash and signed for second place despite a higher official payout. Kassouf took the official title and trophy but only about two-thirds of Serda’s payout.
’I was more interested in the title and the trophy, from a business point of view,’ Kassouf would later tell PokerNews. ’It made sense for endorsements and sponsorship deals, et cetera with the year I had to take a trophy to wrap up the year.’
Serda, a Canadian grinder, had more interest in fortune than fame. He had a lot of his own action and was ’super happy’ to lock up over €700,000.
’I definitely feel like I’ve gotten some backlash, but I also think a lot of people have never played for that amount of money,’ he said. ’Obviously, scores like that don’t come around very often. It’s important to try to lock up equity in spots like that.’
Some derided Kassouf for ’buying a trophy’ because he gave up about $10,000 worth of chip value in order to get an official first place. However, Leah was quick to note that wasn’t the case for him at all. He pointed out that he didn’t give up a cent of value, so it wasn’t fair to say he bought anything.
He simply negotiated a deal that saw the trophy go his way, and he’s far from the first poker player to do so. The Aftermath
Despite all of that, reaction to this particular deal proved heavy on vitriol. A number of players, including Dan O’Brien, Matt Salsberg, and Blair Hinkle voiced skepticism at the very least as to the legitimacy of Leah claiming the title of WPT champion.
Negotiating the trophy, some feel, cheapens the accomplishment so as to make it all but pointless.
Blair’s brother Grant Hinkle certainly counts himself among that category. He was among those criticizing the situation, and he agreed to further expound his thoughts to PokerNews.
’I have no idea how someone goes through the mental gymnastics necessary to value that WPT championship on your resume, but also rationalize to exhaustion to convince themselves that they truly earned it when they cut a deal to rig it,’ Grant said. ’Mike Leah cast a giant skeptical shadow over all of his titles now, and at the same time he cheapened the value of the WPT championship he coveted so much.’
Leah, for his part, deferred comment for this story to a later date. He did answer some assertions as part of his post. He stated that all five of his Circuit rings, his WSOP bracelet, and a slew of prestigious online titles were all 100 percent earned with no chops. Like many players, he said some of his other wins and some of his other close calls were chops over the years.
As for the many pointing out how it skews the WPT Player of the Year race, Leah agreed the situation is far from perfect. But without knowledge of exactly who has chopped in the past, it’s likely unfair to single Leah’s win out as the one that shouldn’t count. How many previous winners negotiated the win?
’More than me, that is 100 percent sure,’ wrote Leah.
Grant emphasized that he has no problem with players chopping up money. When it comes to titles, though, he sees things a bit differently.
Eric Rodawig, Leah and Grant’s fellow bracelet winner, concurred: ’I don’t think a title and the benefits it comes with should ever be offered up as part of a deal,’ Rodawig said. ’It’s certainly tempting to just snag a trophy or bracelet, but ultimately I wouldn’t feel right about just accepting a title or offering/insisting that I get the title as part of a deal.
’You play for the title, for yourself and for the fans.’
Grant reflected on a chopping situation he was involved in just a few years ago.
Mike Leah: ’You’re free to your opinion. You have to get there before you can even consider making a deal and I get there more than you.’
At WinStar River Poker Series $2,500 Main Event in 2016, Grant found himself at the final table with a massively weighted payout structure. First place was guaranteed at $1 million, but a relatively sparse turnout left second place way down at $203,000.
Grant proposed restructuring to ’normal’ payouts but Gordon Vayo, who had a monster chip lead, wasn’t having it. With five players left, though, negotiations reopened, and everyone agreed to a deal that paid Vayo $587,120 and everyone else more than second-place money up to Ben Ector’s $344,826.
With a commemorative bracelet included in the first-place prize though, tournament organizers required the tournament to be finished out. The player simply pushed all in until a winner had emerged, which turned out to be Grant. Vayo, however, is listed as the official winner, something Grant called ’appropriate.’
Since ’no legit play’ followed the deal between Leah and Yu, Grant believes Yu has more claim to being the true champion.
’I would think you would have enough pride in yourself and respect for the game to earn such accomplishments,’ Grant said. ’It disparages the resume of Mike Leah, the prestige of major titles like the WPT, and whatever integrity is left in the game of poker.’
Leah, though, closed with a parting shot to the Hinkles and the rest of those dumping on his result.
’If you want to pretend my results over the years are tarnished because I made a deal heads up, OK,’ he wrote. ’You’re free to your opinion. You have to get there before you can even consider making a deal and I get there more than you.’
All photos courtesy of the World Poker Tour, shot by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive.com
*TagsMike ’goleafsgoeh’ LeahPoker TournamentsMike LeahRyan Yu
*Related PlayersMike LeahRyan Yu
This past summer, Mike Leah didn’t play a full schedule at the World Series of Poker for the first time since leaving a sales career to play poker professionally. It was for good reason. In June, the Canadian poker pro had his first child and passed up on the earlier events to stay at home with his newborn son.
He managed to get to Las Vegas in time for the $10,000 main event and a few postlim events. Even in that short time, Leah cashed four times for a total of $20,552. Those results brought his live earnings to a whopping $7.8 million, but he’s more than just a live grinder.Mike Leah Poker Wife Pictures
Last month, during PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker, Leah won his third WCOOP title in the $2,100 no-limit hold’em turbo event. He bested 219 entries and earned $85,476 for his efforts. It was his eighth ‘COOP’ title and brought his career online earnings to more than $3.6 million.
Card Player sat down with Leah to discuss playing poker as a father and what else he wants to accomplish in his poker career.
Steve Schult: Congratulations on recently becoming a father. How has fatherhood changed, if at all, the way that you look at poker?
Mike Leah: Thank you. I guess there is definitely a bit of extra motivation. Or perhaps just trying to make it count a bit more when I’m able to play because I’m being a bit more selective as to where and when I play. If I go play a tournament, now I’m missing out on something else. So, I want to make it more ‘worth it,’ I guess.
But of course there is extra motivation to try and win for the family. I definitely have more to play for.
SS: I feel that, in general, poker pros kind of gravitate towards playing professionally because of the amount of freedom that they can have. Now, you have a bit less of that with a child to support. Have there been any huge changes you’ve had to make in your personal life to be able to grind a similar schedule, from a volume perspective, while still fulfilling your responsibilities as a father?
ML: Things are definitely much different. I missed the World Series of Poker this past summer when the baby was born. And I’m not going on all the trips that I probably would have like a year or two ago because I have more responsibilities to take care of.
For WCOOP, I played pretty much everything that I would’ve normally done, but I did it on a lot less sleep and tried to help out when I could, but Christine did most of the heavy lifting. It was tough on her, for sure, during WCOOP. She had to spend 8-10 or maybe even 12 hours a day taking care of the baby on her own each day. It definitely made it much tougher to grind WCOOP. I don’t know if I will do the same during SCOOP [Spring Championship of Online Poker] because it was pretty difficult.
We’re just looking into future trips and I’m not going to WSOP Europe because it’s just too far of a trip into the middle of nowhere and it’s not somewhere where I want to bring the family. There’s a little tournament series in Niagara coming up and then another one in Montreal. Those trips will be a little easier because we can drive and bring the whole family. Or look for short flights or direct flights. I went down to Fort Lauderdale in last August and that was the baby’s first flight. We’ll try and find some trips like that in the future.
SS: Do you plan on teaching him poker when he gets older?
ML: I don’t plan on it, but whatever he has interests in is fine. And with my interest in poker and with her interest in poker, it’s inevitable that he’ll probably be watching it a little bit during his childhood.
It’s not a lifestyle that I would necessarily want children to be interested in. But we’ll take it one step at a time and see what happens.
SS: After this latest WCOOP win, you’ve got three WCOOP titles, four SCOOP titles and a TCOOP [Turbo Championship of Online Poker] title. How much pride do you take in your online resume?
ML: I look for things to help motivate myself to play and try and win. So, keeping track of those is something cool. But PokerStars hasn’t done itself any favors by taking away trophies and watches and not having any type of actual leaderboard or history where they keep track of those types of things for people to measure themselves. It’s all self-done for the most part.
It’s not like WSOP where they keep track of cashes and bracelets and people can kind of shoot for those things. It’s something I’m proud of, but I’m definitely losing desire to chase those, as opposed to more motivated. I think I was tied for the most FTOPS [Full Tilt Online Poker Series] titles as well, before that disappeared. I’m proud of my online resume, but I don’t think it means as much as it used to.
SS: You have more than just the online resume. You’ve got a WSOP bracelet, a WPT title and five WSOP Circuit rings, as well as countless other victories. Is there anything you do differently live versus online or do you take the same strategies into both arenas?
ML: People ask me a lot what’s differences between online and live. There’s some subtle differences, but there’s also subtle differences between a tournament in Niagara Falls and a tournament in Vegas. Or a nightly turbo versus a WPT main event.
It’s all about making adjustments to the tournament that I’m playing. It’s all different forms of poker. I don’t think there’s anything you can really separate between live or online. All tournaments are different. I think I’m a bit more invested emotionally playing live, so it feels more like a sports and can be a bit more fun. But online I don’t have to travel and I can play at home in my pajamas.
Obviously there are differences and pluses and negatives, but the differences between live and online isn’t any more than the difference between a turbo and the WSOP main event. Those two things would actually be more different than a WCOOP online and a WPT main.
SS: You mention that they are all just different forms of poker. You’re very good at a lot of different forms of poker. You have cashes in no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and the mixed games. You play them all. How do you stay ahead of the curve, especially with poker evolving as quickly as it is?
ML: I’m very competitive, so it kind of forces me to at least keep up with the curve. I definitely don’t study as much as other people or as much as I probably should. And now with the baby, I probably will put it at studying zero ::laughs::. I just like playing all the games.
I’m good at learning from my mistakes and I’m competitive enough that I kind of pick up things as I go. I just have good instincts for the most part. And tournament poker is tournament poker. So even if it is a different form of poker, there are still a lot of similarities in tournament strategy that don’t necessarily change.
SS: There are only a few select guys that can play all the games both live and online. Do you feel that anybody can really get to that level at all the games without playing online? With the number of hands you can see online, is that not a huge factor in becoming one of the best?
ML: I guess it definitely helps. Shaun Deeb and Calvin Anderson are a couple guys that come to mind. I guess playing every SCOOP event and WCOOP event is going to give you more of an opportunity to play all those games and all those hands.
If you only play the WSOP once a year, it may be a little bit tougher than that. Well, obviously you can’t be a winner online if you don’t play. But yes, all those extra tournaments and those extra hands help. There’s not many people that grind all those series and play all the WSOP tournaments as well.
SS: You seem like someone that has never really gotten burnt out. You’ve never really stepped away for any elongated period of time. What do you do that keeps you fresh and motivated to keep grinding?
ML: I love poker and I love competing. I love the WSOP and I love competing. There will be some times in the future where maybe I’ll take a break in the series, or maybe I’ll come late because of family obligations. But I love being there and I’ll be there every year.
There’s no chance I’ll ever retire. I might play less and less, but I still love it and it’s something I’ll always do or always want to do. But there’s definitely a little burn out with WCOOP or SCOOP where I didn’t play my best.
And I’ll look back on my WSOP an
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