Canadian gets an eh-plus

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/11/2010 (5489 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada is on top of the world! OK, it’s only the poker world, but Canadian Jonathan Duhamel is the 2010 World Series of Poker champion.

Last week I gave a preview of the final table players and although I did predict correctly that Duhamel and Racener would be the final two players standing, I had predicted Racener would come out on top. Well, I must say I am very happy that he didn’t, as Duhamel is the first Canadian to become the WSOP champion.

There were several great hands played at the final table and I don’t want to spoil it, since you might want to catch it on TV. One of the more painful hands came at the expense of the other Canadian at the table, Matt Jarvis. Make sure you see the way Matt was knocked out, I’m sure that hand will haunt him for a long, long time.

After winning the tourney, Duhamel seemed very gracious and, although he was noticeably shaken — wouldn’t you be after winning $9 million? — it seems like he will be a great ambassador to the game and will no doubt make poker even more popular in this country.

As for my own progress, things have been going well. I had my best day ever last Sunday, winning $38,903 at 25-50 no-limit hold-em. One of the more interesting hands I played was against Nanonoko, who is one of the most successful online cash game players in the world. After I opened to $150 with AA, he 3-bet me to $500 and I 4-bet him to $1,050 and he made the call. I had over $15,000 in front of me and he was sitting with just over $10K, so this pot had the potential to get ugly really fast. The flop came down 10 7 3 rainbow, a great flop for me. I checked to him, he bet $1,400, I called. The reason I played it this way is that I wanted him to think that I didn’t connect with the flop, making him think that I have AK or AQ. The turn was a 2 — another good card for my hand — and I decided to check again. Well, he didn’t waste any time going all in for $7,500. Now, I play a fair bit with this player and I was pretty certain that he didn’t have a set. If he had, he would probably make a bet that I would call, as I am not calling him there with ace high very often. So I snap-called. He showed me J9 for a gut-shot straight draw, and when he couldn’t find an 8 on the river I took down the pot of just over $20K.

This week I am in Regina for some tournaments. This town really does host some of the best tournaments in the country. I will be playing in the $1,100 and $1,700 buy-in tourneys and although it’s not going to be $9 million for first place, I would be thrilled if I could finally win one, since I have been so close so many times in Regina in the past.