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The 2010 World Series of Poker Main Events concludes

In recent poker news, the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event took place in the Rio Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. The tournament reached its climax at 10pm on Nov 08, 2010. Players can build their tournament skills at sites like Titan Poker.
With a field of 7,319 paying the $10,000 buy-in, the prize pool was a massive $68,798,600.

Last year’s winner was Joe Cada who claimed the prize after a staggering 17.5 hours of heads-up play, finally defeating Darvin Moon to claim the $8.55 million jackpot and the much coveted WSOP bracelet.

This time however, the winner was crowned after an hour-and-a-half of heads-up play and just 43 hands. At the start of heads-up play the eventual winner, Jonathan Duhamel, was the chip-leader with a massive 188,950,000 compared to his opponent, John Racener, with 30,750,000. With the blinds at 600,000/1,200,000, and an Ante of 200,000, Racener had it all to do. An early double-up for Racener would have put him back in the hunt but it was Duhamel who took the first pot with a button raise poker strategy and then the second pot when Racener folded. The first flop came in the next hand when Racener limped and Duhamel checked. A simple bet from Racener was enough to take his first pot of heads-up play. Duhamel then took a large slice of Racener’s chips, with a good call on the river, with two-pair after Racener’s re-raise. The next hand went in favour of Racener as Duhamel shoved on the button with Kh 4c but Racener’s pocket Queens held and he was now back to nearly 40 million in chips. After that hand both players adopted an aggressive poker strategy approach and swapped pots until the next break arrived.

The blinds went up after the break to 800,000/1,600,000 with the Ante remaining at 200,000. Duhamel’s chip advantage at this stage had increased and he now had 197,050,000 compared to Raceners 22,550,000. With such a difference in chip stacks Duhamel was ruthless and soon had Racener below 17 million.

Then came the hand that would see Duhamel crowned the World Series of Poker champion. Duhamel shoved with As Jh and Racener made the call with Kd 8d. The flop brought 9s 4c 4d offering Racener no help. The 6c came on the turn and now Duhamel was only one card away from being crowned the first ever Canadian World Series of Poker Main Event champion. The river produced the 5c making it official. John Racener had to settle for second best and a well-deserved prize of $5,545,855 leaving Jonathan Duhamel to collect first place.

Duhamel, a 23 year old from Boucherville, Quebec pocketed a check for $8,944,310 along with the diamond-encrusted gold bracelet after a gruelling four month journey to the top. He is also entered into the poker news history books as the first ever Canadian citizen to be crowned the world poker champion. This was the World Series of Poker’s 41st championship and for Jonathan Duhamel it’s one he will never forget.
You can test your tournament skills now at Full Tilt and be ready for the next world series event.