Ontario man wins Ultimate Poker Challenge

September 27

In Canada, a 38 year old from Ontario walked away with a win yesterday at the first Ultimate Poker Challenge, held at Point Edward Charity Casino near Sarnia. Online poker players were in attendance, too.

Michael Brown won $68,563 by taking first place at the poker tournament, which ran September 20 to September 25, 2005. About 100 hushed spectators waited for Brown to play his final hand, a flush, to end the week-long poker event.

Only playing poker for about a year, he entered the tournament after seeing it advertised. He had no idea he would walk away nearly $69,000 richer. He was among 750 poker players who signed up and competed for a total of $465,200 in prizes. He plans to use his winnings to pay off some debts and put the rest towards a new home.

Other notable winners of the Ultimate Poker Challenge include were #2 Chad Lewis, who won almost $40,000 and Chris Adams, who won almost $20,000.

Point Edward Charity Casino is owned and operated by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. Since opening on April 18, 2000, the facility has attracted more than 5.2 million visitors.