Jonathan Duhamel Wins EPT Deauville High Roller Event
Posted by Ray Finkle on 4th February 2011

Showcasing the ultimate case of “must be nice” fresh off his multi-million dollars World Series of Poker Main Event victory last year, Jonathan Duhamel continued his winning ways after taking down the $10,000 European Poker Tour (EPT) Deauville High Roller Event $286,903 on last week. With the win, he currently sits 10th overall on the all-time money earners list.

While many former World Series of Poker Main Event Champions fade into obscurity following the millions of dollars they’ve fallen ass-backwards into (à la Jamie Gold, Robert Varkonyi, Joe Cada, and Jerry Yang), you have to respect a player who keeps on achieving…is what I would say if the field had more than 58 players, which it didn’t. It gets tougher and tougher for me to justify these victories as legitimate wins. Time and time again, our blog has covered these “wins” like they’re some illustrious achievement, when in all reality, fields this large are considered sit-and-gos across most site. I’ll beat a dead horse by mentioning that these players are some of the highest level of competition in the world, but anyone with $10,000 to blow can strike lightning and could probably do it more than once.

But hey, the 2010 Main Event champion wins more money! Hooray! And in case you don’t know who he is, here’s a refresher course:

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Ivey Confirms High Stakes Games in Vegas Are Busto, Aussie Million’s $250k High Roller Event Agrees
Posted by Ray Finkle on 28th January 2011

Phil Ivey, nosebleed extroidanaire, recently confirmed to Pokerlistings.com what Doyle Brunson had mentioned earlier last week: Vegas’ big game is laying dead in the desert like it didn’t pay up.

“Once Chip Reese died it was pretty much over,” he said. “He was pretty much the backbone of the high-stakes games and now, there’s really no big game (in Las Vegas) anymore, except for during the World Series or when a tournament is in town or something like that. So yeah, there’s no real reason to be there. Four or five years ago you could count on there being a game four or five nights a week. Now there’s probably a game one or two nights.”

The Horseshoe, Bobby’s Room at Bellagio, Ivey’s Room at Aria–all kaput. You can thank Macau.

When the Asian Poker Tour (APT) made their annual stop back in November of last year, nobody would have expected the shift the big game would take. Wang Qiang, Richard Yong, Paul Phua–the three Chinese businessmen with more money than God, Oprah, and the Harry Potter lady combined that changed the landscape of the big game and helped put a stake into its Vegas heart. It would become the largest cash table of the last decade, seeing Tom “durrr” Dwan walk away up over $7 milion. As the action dwindled and the APT subsided, the show packed up like a traveling circus of the felt and was on to the next large buy-in championship tournament: this year’s Aussie Millions.

The usual Macau suspects arrived earlier this week and with them, so too did the sharks. John Juanda, Phil Ivey, Dwan, Patrick Antonius, and Eli Elezra comprised the familiar cast of cash game characters looking to join in on the $500/$1000/$100 ante No-Limit Hold’em action. With the fruition of the Aussie Millions big game table in a faraway land came a stark realization: Doyle was right.

Parlaying the interest and coverage following the high-stakes Barnum & Bailey, tourney officials made an impromptu addition yesterday to their event schedule with the new $250k Super High Roller event. Scoffing at other so-called “high roller” events, it would be the largest buy-in tournament ever assembled and featured some of the game’s premier names: Erik Seidel, Sam Trickett, David Benyamine, Chris Ferguson, Andrew Feldman, Ivey, Nikolay Evdakov, Daniel Cates, Tony Bloom, Annette Obrestad, Eugene Katchalov, Juanda, Alexander Kostritsyn, Roland de Wolfe, Dwan, James Bord, James Obst. Oh, and of course Qiang, Yong, and Phua.

The event was originally slated to be a winner-take-all affair, but a larger than expected turnout changed it to the top three seeing their cut of the prize pool. When the dust settled, it was Erik Seidel who took home the trophy and dump truck of $2,500,000, with Sam Trickett and David Benyamine taking second ($1,400,000) and third ($1,100,000). Seidel and Trickett are familiar faces at this year’s Aussie Millions: Seidel took 4th in the No-Limit Hold’em $100,000 Challenge for $625,000 and Trickett won the event for $1,525,000. Must be nice…

With Seidel’s win, he takes third all-time with $13,121,186, just under a million shy of surpassing both Negreanu and Ivey. These elite, glorified sit-and-gos, albeit the brightest minds on the felt, beg to ask the question: is the all-time money winners list losing its prestige and value? If Ivey plays Negreanu tomorrow for $10 million and it’s called a “tournament”, does that mean the winner skyrockets up the charts? Does playing one of the toughest fields ever assembled negate the fact you haven’t surpassed hundreds or thousands of other entrants to win? These “tourneys” are just becoming pissing contests as to who is more well-off to afford the bigger buy-ins, who has the biggest backers, or who’s sponsor can put the most money down on their horse. One thing’s for sure though: Seidel has 2,500,000 reasons why he doesn’t care about the answers to any of these questions.

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2011 World Series of Poker Schedule Released
Posted by Ray Finkle on 25th January 2011

Harrah’s has released the schedule for the 42nd annual World Series of Poker, taking place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Two major differences have been implemented in the the 2011 Series:

  1. Tournaments will now have hard stop times. Instead of days ending based upon how many players are left remaining in the field, the tournament will conclude daily after the tenth level of blinds at 12:45 a.m. For events starting at 5 p.m., the eighth level of blinds will close out the evening at 2 a.m.
  2. Late registration will be open up through four levels of play (with the exception of the Main Event), or until all tourney seats have been sold.

Without further ado, the 2011 WSOP:

  • Event #1: Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em — Tuesday, May 31st at 12:00pm
  • Event #2: Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship (256 Player Maximum) — Tuesday, May 31st at 5:00pm – $25,000
  • Event #3: Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better – Wednesday, June 1st at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #4: No-Limit Hold’em — Thursday, June 2nd at 12:00pm – $5,000
  • Event #5: Seven Card Stud — Thursday, June 2nd at 5:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #6: Limit Hold’em — Friday, June 3rd at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #7: Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship — Friday, June 3rd at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #8: No-Limit Hold’em (Two Starting Days) — Saturday, June 4th at 12:00pm – $1,000
  • Event #9: No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball — Saturday, June 4th at 5:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #10: No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed — Monday, June 6th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #11: Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better Championship — Monday, June 6th at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #12: Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em — Tuesday, June 7th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #13: No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (2,000 Player Maximum) — Wednesday, June 8th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #14: Limit Hold’em — Wednesday, June 8th at 5:00pm – $3,000
  • Event #15: Pot-Limit Hold’em — Thursday, June 9th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #16: No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship — Thursday, June 9th at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #17: H.O.R.S.E. — Friday, June 10th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #18: No-Limit Hold’em — Saturday, June 11th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #19: Limit Hold’em Six-Handed — Saturday, June 11th at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #20: No-Limit Hold’em — Sunday, June 12th at 12:00pm –$1,000
  • Event #21: Seven Card Stud Championship — Sunday, June 12th at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #22: Pot-Limit Omaha — Monday, June 13th at 12:00pm –$1,500
  • Event #23: Eight-Game Mix — Monday, June 13th at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #24: No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (2,000 Player Maximum) — Tuesday, June 14th at 12:00pm – $5,000
  • Event #25: Seven Card Stud High-Low Eight or Better — Tuesday, June 14th at 5:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #26: No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed — Wednesday, June 15th at 12:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #27: Limit Hold’em Championship — Wednesday, June 15th at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #28: No-Limit Hold’em — Thursday, June 16th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #29: Ten-Game Mix Six-Handed — Thursday, June 16th at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #30: Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship (50 or Older) — Friday, June 17th at 12:00pm – $1,000
  • Event #31: Pot-Limit Omaha — Friday, June 17th at 5:00pm – $3,000
  • Event #32: No-Limit Hold’em — Saturday, June 18th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #33: Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better Championship — Saturday, June 18th at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #34: No-Limit Hold’em — Sunday, June 19th at 12:00pm – $1,000
  • Event #35: Pot-Limit Omaha Six-Handed — Monday, June 20th at 12:00pm – $5,000
  • Event #36: No-Limit Hold’em — Tuesday, June 21st at 12:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #37: H.O.R.S.E. Championship — Tuesday, June 21st at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #38: No-Limit Hold’em — Wednesday, June 22nd at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #39: Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha — Wednesday, June 22nd at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #40: No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed — Thursday, June 23rd at 12:00pm – $5,000
  • Event #41: Limit Hold’em Shootout — Friday, June 24th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #42: Pot-Limit Omaha Championship — Friday, June 24th at 5:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #43: No-Limit Hold’em — Saturday, June 25th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #44: Seven Card Razz — Saturday, June 25th at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #45: No-Limit Hold’em — Sunday, June 26th at 12:00pm – $1,000
  • Event #46: No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship — Monday, June 27th at 12:00pm – $10,000
  • Event #47: Omaha/Seven Card Stud High-Low Eight or Better — Monday, June 27th at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #48: No-Limit Hold’em — Tuesday, June 28th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #49: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball — Tuesday, June 28th at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #50: Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em — Wednesday, June 29th at 5:00pm – $5,000
  • Event #51: Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better — Thursday, June 30th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #52: Mixed Hold’em — Thursday, June 30th at 5:00pm – $2,500
  • Event #53: Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship — Friday, July 1st at 12:00pm – $1,000
  • Event #54: No-Limit Hold’em (Two Starting Days) — Saturday, July 2nd at 12:00pm – $1,000
  • Event #55: Poker Player’s Championship — Saturday, July 2nd at 5:00pm – $50,000
  • Event #56: No-Limit Hold’em — Tuesday, July 5th at 12:00pm – $1,500
  • Event #57: Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better — Tuesday, July 5th at 5:00pm – $5,000
  • Event #58: Main Event (Four Starting Days) — Thursday, July 7th at 12:00pm – $10,000
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Will Molson Wins the $25k NAPT Caribbean High Roller Event, Drinks Copious Amounts of Family’s Beer
Posted by Ray Finkle on 19th January 2011

Being born into the Molson Canadian beer empire would be enough for many people to take the scenic route through life on the rails of family fortune. Will Molson decided to take the path less traveled, committing himself to the lifestyle of a high-stakes cash games poker pro. Out of the beer empire’s shadow, Molson would learn in heartbreaking fashion that nothing comes easy, unless of course it’s the third time you’re doing it.

On Thursday, Molson did the impossible, winning the North American Poker Tour’s Caribbean $25k No-Limit Hold’em High Roller event. While there’s nothing impossible about simply winning a tourney, the fact that Molson has made it to heads-up play three years in a row makes it seem all the more fitting the level of astonishment surrounding his feat, as he came back with a vengeance like Bruce Willis to show just how magic a number three really was.

Molson had taken runner-up finishes consecutively since the event’s inception, always managing to go flat like his family’s beer. He had fallen short previously in 2009 to a field size of 48 and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, followed by 84 registrants in 2010 and William Reynolds. For Molson, the third time really was a charm, lifting the curse when he emerged victorious at the end of a 154 player gauntlet consisting of some of the world’s best players all vying for their shot at a first place prize worth $1,072,850. A final 12 with formidable felt Goliaths such as David Baker, Jason Mercier, 2010 Card Player Magazine’s Player of the Year Tom Marchese, and Erik Seidel stood in his way, but would stand no match for Will, who was filled with as much determination as Molson beer is filled with suds.

The young gun has already managed to amass $1,813,713 throughout his young career, the vast majority of which has come from his three consecutive heads-up performances in the Caribbean high roller events. Looking in, you can’t help but be happy for a man who has less quit than Rocky. Looking out, Molson is thinking to himself, “Well it’s about damn time.”

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Daniel Negreanu Ousts Ivey As Tournament Poker’s Leading Money Winner
Posted by Ray Finkle on 18th January 2011

With his million dollar runner-up finish recently at the $100k  No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller event at the Caribbean stop on the North American Poker Tour, the esteemed Daniel “Kid Poker” Negeanu has knocked Phil Ivey off his throne atop the all-time money winners spot…for now. While another big Ivey score is both inevitable and imminent with the fast approaching 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Negreanu has once again in his illustrious career outshined his fellow peers.

The $1 million payday was his third largest cash to date, trailing behind his Five-Diamond World Poker Classic II and Borgata Poker Open WPT wins for $1,770,218 and $1,117,400, respectively.  From the turn of the century ESPN broadcasts showing his mom making him lunch to his eventual $14,131,104 in tourney winnings he’s accumulated over his lifetime, Negreanu has come a long way.

The four-time bracelet winner and poker natural has made dents across all major tourney circuits not seen in size since cannonballs hit the USS Constitution, with deep finishes riddled throughout the WSOP, the WSOP Circuit, the World Poker Tour (WPT), and the European Poker Tour. He saw his banner year in 2004-2005 when he received not one but three Player of the Year accolades from the WSOP, Card Player Magazine, and  WPT. With books, video games (it’s plural because only two people bought Stacked on the Xbox), and endorsements so far up his ass he’s breathing dollar bills, Kid Poker could live the rest of his life off of royalties alone. But his career hasn’t all been smiles and memories.

If I may piss on Negreanu’s parade here for just a moment, for a man who seems like he has won it all during his tenure on and off the felt, he has a severe Achilles’ heel: cash games. He is down close to $2 million dollars across the six seasons of High Stakes Poker, an astronomical amount considering he’s playing the game he built his empire on. If you waltzed on out of a cave and knew nothing about him, you would never be able to tell the difference between him playing and the producers giving a Vegas vagrant a $200k bankroll to squander. While cash tables are certainly a different mentality than tourney tables, the greats of the game are capable of sustaining themselves across the adversities of both. Albeit he still has millions of dollars to show, it is safe to assume that he has blown considerable amounts off the television cameras as well and that his chip stack hemorrhaging would be cause for concern if it weren’t somebody who wasn’t so well-received, well-endorsed, and the face of every product branded with the livelihood of poker.

All things considered when comparing Negreanu to the track record of the man he just recently inched passed, Ivey still sits higher on a grander scale, up tens of millions of dollars across all aspects of his play. But at the end of the end, and for the time being, Negreanu can toot his own horn as he rides the Tourney Express to Cashmoneyville.

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Playing Small Pairs in Pre-Flop Situations
Posted by PokerPop on 11th December 2010

Many poker players will fold their small pocket pairs pre-flop unless they’re in a desperate short stack situation or in late position. And while you can get by with this, you’re never going to get the maximum value out of your poker hands by folding small pocket pairs (77-22) every time. This being the case, you need to be looking for pre-flop opportunities where you can safely play small pairs.

The early part of tournaments are a great time to play small pairs because you’ve got lots of big blinds and can afford to be aggressive here. Depending on the table, you’ll want to raise with small pairs from any position if you’re going to play them. Ultimately, the goal is to hit a set with a few players in the hand, but you still want to come into hands aggressively with small pairs.

Now some players might feel better limping with small pairs from early or middle position, which if fine assuming you don’t get raised. However, tables with several tight-aggressive players will often force you to raise eventually because you’ll give up control of the hand by limping and being raised every time.

Assuming you get re-raised with a small pair pre-flop, it’s best to avoid calling the re-raise because this is most likely going to put you in a heads-up situation. As mentioned before, the goal is to play the flop with several players in hopes of hitting a set. And if you’re facing a re-raise, you don’t want to be forced into a heads-up situation with the re-raiser.

There are times when three-betting an opponent is fine, but you have to do it against the right player. For example, if the re-raiser hasn’t proven that they’re willing to four-bet, you can do a three-bet bluff against your opponent. Also, if you’re up against a really tight player who would only four-bet with the nuts, a three-bet would work.

If you keep these tips in mind, you should definitely get some value out of your small pairs and turn them into money-makers.

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The “Here It Comes…” Poker Video of the Week Moment
Posted by Ray Finkle on 30th November 2010

A hand from the Ballys Las Vegas World Series of Poker Circuit Championhip between Thang “Kido” Pham and J.C. Tran. Pham and Tran would eventually go on to take first and second, respectively, winning $453,456 and $251,920 for their efforts, outlasting a final table stacked with the likes of Lee Watkinson, Joe Hachem, and Scotty Nguyen.

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WSOP Adds Two New Circuit Stops In Pennsylvania, Florida
Posted by Ray Finkle on 28th November 2010

After the recent restructure of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit earlier this year, standing testament to its success is the addition of two new stops in Chester, Pennsylvania and Palm Beach, Florida. The recently re-branded Caesars Entertainment (formerly Harrah’s Entertainment) made the announcement earier the additional Circuit stops. While no scheduled event line-up has been released just yet, it can be safely assumed that they will follow the format of other stops in their entirety, “with ten official ring events offering points good towards the WSOP Circuit National Championship in Las Vegas, as well as two automatic qualifiers for the Main Event winner and the Casino Champion.”

From February 17th to March 1st, the Circuit stops at the 60-table Poker Room at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, the largest and highest grossing casino in the state. The Kennel Club also becomes only the third non-Harrah’s branded casino to be anointed for a tour stop (the others being the IP Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi and the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma).

“I visited the Palm Beach Kennel Club last summer and had a wonderful time,” said 2007 WSOP Main Event champion Jerry Yang.  “The staff, the accommodations and the poker players were all top notch.”

Oh, hey–two thumbs up from Jerry Yang! You may remember him winning the 2007 WSOP Main Event and then immediately taking a nosedive and crashing into obscurity, a wreckage that has produced no major cashes for him since his victory. Yang recommending a casino to you its like me telling a pro baseball player how to swing a bat because I hit an infield home run back in 4th grade. I just found his inclusion in the official press release funny. Maybe I’m alone, but something tells me I’m not…

Regardless, from April 28th to May 9th, Harrah’s Chester plays home to the second fresh stop on the Circuit. The new 25-table poker room is ready to host its first big name tourney, with its inclusion on the circuit coinciding with recent Pennsylvania state laws which have legalized poker table games at slot casinos. Table game legalization in Pennsylvania came at the turn of the year, when in January, the casinos were given the green light to add poker, craps, and other tables games to their floors. In July, their christening came statewide, as thousands of new employees cut the proverbial tape at their grand opening.

The same can be said for Florida’s inclusion on the circuit. It was only back on July 1st that a new state law lifted the small-stakes limit cap of $100 and opened up their tables to high-stakes action. The same law also allowed the 23 state-sanctioned casinos to operate 24/7. Both announcements were a tremendous victory and a light at the end of the tunnel for the seemingly endless battle of the U.S. versus poker legislation.

From

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Jonathan Duhamel – 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion
Posted by Ray Finkle on 10th November 2010

With what is Canada’s biggest victory since their hockey win at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the American syndication of Trailer Park Boys, and that one time they made a really big bear pelt trade with the Sioux down the Mississippi, Jonathan Duhamel is the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion. No sooner did I mention him in my last post for defying all laws of probabilities and logic with his lucky ascent into the commanding chip lead going into the final table does he walk away with $8,944,138 and the shiniest bracelet outside of a Lil Wayne video. And in local news, Matt Affleck was found hanging from a basement rafter.

The 2010 Main Event Final Table was the most profound display of loose, frivolous, spewy poker coupled with some of the most ridiculous beats for such insanely high stakes in recent memory. Words like “tight” and “calculated” were as far away from these remaining nine as was gun powder to the cavemen, at a final table headlined predominantly by will power and suckouts. As per usual, ESPN’s broadcast was deduced to essentially the major all-ins, with a leaderboard showcasing just how segmented the coverage truly is with constantly changing stacks and positions that go unaccounted for. As a purist, you will be left scratching your head. As an action junkie, grab your popcorn for the replays of the broadcast.

ESPN featured Duhamel’s player profile halfway through the broadcast, which delved into his notorious JJ vs AA hand against Affleck. You know, the one that changed the tides of the tourney, knocked Affleck out in 15th in tears, and propelled Duhamel into title contention? His expose went something like this:

“Blah blah blah like, I thought after he re-raised me he had totally like nothing. Blah blah blah when I won all those chips, I realized I could win! Blah blah blah the sky is blue and there’s a sun in the sky!”

Definitely not aggravating to hear the inane ramblings of a complete idiot who regurgitates the obvious and just won more money than you will ever see in a lifetime!?! Regardless, the fact that Duhamel came back from the brink with 10 chips to win is an incredibly monumental feat, one worthy of all the praise it will justifiably receive.

Duhamel’s other notable knockout came when he played executioner to Michale Mizrachi in a blind-on-blind battle. His coy limp with AA enticed the eventual all-in of “The Grinder” and his flopped top pair. He would fail to improve and his improbable run, which culminated a career defining year of WSOP accomplishments, would see him leaving in 5th place.

Duhamel isn’t the only winner of this year’s Main Event. Joseph Cheong has won the coveted “Ray Finkle’s Retard of the Final Table” award for his massive blow up and donation of an over 170+ million chip pot to Duhamel (the largest in WSOP poker history) when he shoved A7 over the champ’s QQ. The move essentially secured John Racener’s spot in the David versus Goliath heads-up battle, who sat as a giddy spectator with his shortstack through most of the broadcast, as Duhamel and Cheong ate the meat from the bones before dog ate dog. Wave good bye to millions of dollars, Cheong.

The final standings for the 2010 Main Event were as follows:

  1. Jonathan Duhamel — $8,944,138
  2. John Racener — $5,545,855
  3. Joseph Cheong — $4,129,979
  4. Filippo Candio — $3,092,497
  5. Michael Mizrachi — $2,332,960
  6. John Dolan — $1,772,939
  7. Jason Senti — $1,356,708
  8. Matt Jarvis — $1,045,738
  9. Soi Nguyen — $811,823
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And We Have the 2010 November Nine
Posted by Ray Finkle on 3rd November 2010

While they were decided months ago back in July, ESPN’s regular season broadcast of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) culminated earlier this evening with the televised unveiling of the 2010 November Nine. The nine remaining players are all that remain standing out of the original field of 7,319, a turnout second only to the 2006 Main Event turnout and its 8,773 registrants. All of the players who made this year’s final table are already guaranteed $811,823, their share of a staggering $68,798,600 prize pool.

The payouts are as follows:

  • 1st place – $8,944,138
  • 2nd place – $5,545,855
  • 3rd place – $4,129,979
  • 4th place – $3,092,497
  • 5th place – $2,442,960
  • 6th place – $1,772,939
  • 7th place – $1,356,708
  • 8th place – $1,045,738
  • 9th place – $811,823

Every year, the players who traverse the largest field in poker never cease to amaze me, with one always seemingly being luckier than anyone should ever be allowed to be in life and somehow managing to outdo the Jamie Golds and Jerry Yangs and Joe Cadas of poker. Potential candidates included Soi Nguyen, who is playing in only his forth tourney and didn’t know what “the button” was until a dealer explained it to him. There’s Filippo Candio, who made a terrible play into pocket aces and ran runner runner straight for his tourney life to earn himself 20 million in chips at the time. But this year, that glaring luckbox who exceedingly defies all logic with his unbelievable ability to win with the worst of it is Jonathan Duhamel.

Duhamel is a Canadian pro that was down to 10 big blinds. You could tell by the sounds of both Norman Chad and Lon McEachern”s voices when they showed him short-stacked and all-in earlier in the tourney that it wouldn’t be the last time you saw him in front of this year’s cameras. He now sits atop a throne of just under 66 million chips he has built with crushed souls while defying all laws of logic and reason in the process. Below are the chip counts for him and his tablemates:

  1. Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
  2. John Dolan – 46,250,000
  3. Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
  4. John Racener – 19,050,000
  5. Matthew Jarvis – 16,700,000
  6. Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
  7. Michael Mizrachi – 14,450,000
  8. Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
  9. Jason Senti – 7,625,000

In what was easily the grossest (and the largest) beat of the entire tourney, top contender Matt Affleck’s pocket aces were cracked by the pocket jacks of Duhamel for an over 42 million chip pot, after calling Affleck’s all-in on a 10-7-9-Q board. Television cameras condensed the hand down into the span of a minute, but Duhamel’s decision alone to call the all-in on the turn took him in upwards of five minutes to call before it reached the editing room. Those of you familiar with 2009′s coverage will remember Affleck domineering his way into a commanding chip lead early on in the tourney, maintaining steady momentum up until his monumental implosion and stacking off to a bluff gone bad in 80th place. He returned this year only to see another fantastically deep run snuffed out before his eyes in 15th place when the 8 came on the river. I almost wanted to cry for him.

From left: Jason Senti, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan, Jonathan Duhamel, Michael Mizrachi, Jack Effel--WSOP Tournament Director, Matthew Jarvis, John Racener, Filippo Candio, Soi Nguyen

The main theme though of this year’s WSOP can be summed up with one word: Mizrachi. After winning his first bracelet at the WSOP Player’s Championship along with the illustrious first place prize of $1,559,046, “The Grinder” would go on to final table both the $10,000 WSOP 7 Card Stud and the  Limit Hold’em Championships. Making history with his three brothers–Eric Mizrachi, Daniel Mizrachi, and Robert Mizrachi–in being the first family to collectively make the money bubble at the Main Event, Michael then goes on to final table it, pushing back from the brink of elimination multiple times in last night’s broadcast. Sitting currently in 7th, a win will tie him with current 2010 Player of the Year front runner Frank Kasella, as well as earn him the most impressive feat to ever be accomplished in the history of the WSOP.

Play resumes this Saturday (November 6th) at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and will continue until heads-up play has been decided. The two finalists will then reconvene on Tuesday (November 9th) to determine the 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion. Coverage will air later that evening on ESPN after hours of play are whittled down into a few major hands. Check your local listings.

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