Home / Poker News November 2010 / Jonathan Duhamel – WSOP 2010 Main Event Champion
Jonathan Duhamel – WSOP 2010 Main Event Champion
Posted by: Jo Martin - Tue, 2010-11-09 05:59
The WSOP has a new Main Event champion. Canadian Jonathan Duhamel defeated John Racener heads-up to become the newest winner of the Big Dance, owner of a huge pile of cash and a very special gold bracelet.
On his way to the top, the Canadian bested a starting field of 7,319 players. The title run lasted for a massive four months, but in the end, it was all more than worth it.
Duhamel was the one with the biggest stack going into the final table on Saturday, and sure enough, he took full advantage of his large stack. He did have his lead in peril at one point, when Filippo Candio’s pocket rockets got the better of his A,K. a few hands later, he tangled with Joseph Cheong and lost his lead for the first time. Duhamel wouldn’t slow down though. He kept adding to his stack, taking down tons of non-showdown pots.
Picking up free chips meant some pretty risky play though, and after being forced to fold with quite a bit of money in the middle a few times, Duhamel’s stack began rolling southwards again.
He did manage to knock out John Dolan, but that hardly stopped his slide. When his A,9 managed to beat Mizrachi’s pocket 3s though, he found himself right back in business. Duhamel was the one who eventually sent Mizrachi to the rail too, and he was also the one responsible for the largest pot in the history of the
WSOP Main Event. The pot was a 170 million chip one, which saw Duhamel’s pocket Qs overcome Cheong’s A,7o on a board full of bricks.
The heads-up stage of the action between Duhamel and Racener lasted for 43 hands. Racener started with a chip deficit too big to overcome basically. He struggled on for a little while, but eventually the pressure of Duhamel’s 6 chips for every one of his put an end to his misery. The final hand of the
poker tournament saw Duhamel’s A,Jo beat Racener’s Kd, 8d. Racener had to “settle” for the second place payout of $5,545,955.
