In the 19th Full Tilt Online Poker Series(FTOPS), Canada’s Mike goleafsgoehLeah (pictured) chopped Event #14. The $216 No Limit Hold’em Cubed tournament fielded over 1,300 players and Leah banked $111,000. He officially took second place and his chopping partner, Specunder, cashed for $127,000 and the ceremonial FTOPS jersey. PocketFives.com caught up with Leah to schmooze about his big day.

Cubed tournaments involve one rebuy and one add-on. We asked Leah to break down how that format changes his approach to the “Cadillac of Poker.” He explained, “It’s not that different. Most people, like me, rebuy right away to have the double stack and then add on, so the main difference is that it plays deeper early. It plays like the early stages of a live main event or a deep-stack online event, which just means more post-flop play and fewer pre-flop all-in situations. I feel that favors the better players more often.”

Why do sites like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, the two largest rooms in the industry, offer Cubed tournaments? Leah appreciated the variety they afford: “I guess it gives some players the chance to play for less with a bigger prize pool. It gets some players to gamble early with a single stack and then rebuy if they bust. Also, if every tournament were the same, it would be pretty boring. That’s the main reason I love FTOPS: the variety of events. You get deep-stack, short-stack, Turbo, Super Turbo, Rush, and Mixed Games. Every day is different, which keeps it exciting.”

Leah already has a pair of six-figure scores this year, as he finished second in the Full Tilt $750,000 Guaranteein January for $100,000. Lest we forget that he won an FTOPS jersey last November for $97,000, captured a UB.com Online Championship (UBOC) title last month, and has been one of the hottest players in the game.

Despite his recent string of wins, Leah questioned how high he’d be able to ascend in leaderboards like the PocketFives.com Rankings, where he’s currently outside of the top 400: “I don’t play anywhere close to enough volume. It’s cool to be near the top of the Online Player of the Year. My goal was top 100, which will be a reach because I don’t play very much, just Sundays and the online series. But, if I can have another deep FTOPS and/or SCOOP run, then who knows. I may decide to play a bit more and take a run at it.”

He’s currently at #26 on the CardPlayer Online Player of the Year leaderboard and jested that his family might be a bit out of touch when it comes to relating to his blockbuster career. “My immediate family doesn’t really know too much about poker,” Leah acknowledged. “They support me and are proud of me, but don’t really understand what I’m saying most of the time.”

In 2009, Leah broke through on the live scene by taking down the 919-player Borgata $500,000 Guaranteed Deep Stack for $319,000. According to the Hendon Mob, Leah is at #31 on the Canadian live money leaderboard, which features a top three of Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Duhamel, and Gavin Smith.

On being a face of Canada, Leah told us, “I’m a very proud Canadian and try to rep our country well. I try to support other Canucks as much as I can too. I think you notice that we’re so proud more because we’re a smaller country than the U.S., so maybe we just stand out a bit more.” Duhamel became the first Canadian Main Event champion last year and Negreanu is second on the World Poker Tour’s all-time money list.

Leah has cashed for over $260,000 from Rankings-eligible tournaments this year and we expect even more from the Canuck in the future. Check out who else turned in rock solid FTOPS performances by viewing our final table results.