Stroke Can't Stop this Poker Pro

When poker sensation Kevin Boudreau suffered a stroke two years ago, we all thought it would his career on the green felt – a career which had already seen him earn close to $500,000.

Paralyzed down one side and unable to speak properly, the teenager had fallen victim to an undiagnosed Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) in his brain – a malady which affects only 1% of the world’s population – and very few people expected to see him return to the tables.

However, in a remarkable turn-around, Boudreau made his comeback last year at the WSOP, and has already started to cash once more on the tournament scene. This is following following two years of intense physiotherapy coupled by support from family, friends, and even strangers moved by his story.

Prior to his devastating stroke, Boudreau was a member of the ‘Ship It Holla Ballas’ crew, “arguably the most successful poker crew of all time” according to the book written by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback, who detail how they “took advantage of the online poker boom to win tens of millions of dollars before most of them were old enough to set foot inside a casino.”

Boudreau’s future looked bleak when the stroke happened – with a huge chance that the AVM had caused irreparable damage to his brain – but his recovery saw him sit down in the Main Event in Las Vegas last summer after being flown out by 888poker.com.

He failed to cash in the $10,000 buy-in event, eventually won by Joe McKeehen, but he did cash in the $3K 6-handed NLHE event – and proved that he had overcome the odds to resume his career as a poker pro.

Now able to walk with the aid of a stick, and having regained his speech, Boudreau’s story has been turned into a short biopic - The Kevin Boudreau Documentary – tracking his progress since the fateful stroke.

According to Sportsnewsireland.com:

The support Kevin has received throughout his ordeal led his father, Jim Boudreau, to recently comment:

A fundraising campaign set up through the You Care page saw more than $65,000 donated towards his medical and rehabilitation expenses, 314 people giving to the cause, which enabled him to focus on his recovery.

He has since cashed twice in the Mid Stakes Poker Tour in Colorado, picking up more than $50,000 with a 4th place and a 7th place finish.

It’s unlikely he will ever return to the ‘Ship It Holla Ballas’ days when the youngsters “did what any red-blooded teenagers with mountains of cash and no responsibilities would do: They partied like rock stars, transforming themselves from Internet nerds with zero life skills into legends, at least in their own minds.” But even so, Boudreau’s amazing reincarnation in the poker world is the ultimate feel-good story at a time when poker desperately needs one.