Despite Assault, Jonathan Duhamel Makes Four PCA Final Tables
Just a few days before Christmas, 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel (pictured) was tied up and beaten while robbers, allegedly including his ex-girlfriend, ransacked his house. Despite the ordeal, which resulted in a visit to the hospital and the loss of his Main Event bracelet, Duhamel came out swinging to open 2012. The first Canadian Main Event champion reached four final tables in five events at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for a combined $1.2 million.
In the three-day Super High Roller Event, which had a price tag of $100,000, Duhamel took fourth place for $313,000. In a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Turbo tournament, Duhamel added to his war chest by grabbing fifth place for $17,000. His second largest score during the Bahamian poker festival was worth $239,000 and came after a win in the series’ $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max tournament.
On Saturday, the finale of the $25,000 High Roller Event took place at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island and ended with Duhamel playing second fiddle to the Ukraine’s Leonid Bilokur. Second place was worth $634,000, while Bilokur, 37 years old, booked a $1.1 million payday. The final table of the $25,000 High Roller Event was stacked with members of the online poker community.
Randy NanonokoLew (pictured), fresh off setting a Guinness World Record for most poker hands played in eight hourswith nearly 24,000, took eighth place in the High Roller Event. He ran A-K into the pocket aces of Jason JAKoon1985 Koon on his final hand. Koon ducked a flush draw on the river to send Lew packing, $108,000 richer for his efforts.
Shortly thereafter, another longtime online poker player, Mike telksTelker, exited the High Roller Event. Telker 3bet all-in before the flop with K-Q of hearts and Nicolas PokerKaiserFierro called with two tens. The Chilean flopped a set and Telker could not connect with outs to a straight, sending him away in seventh place for $145,000. Both are accomplished online poker pros, as Telker is the ninth player in the PocketFives Poker Rankings, while Fierro is 11th.
Koon held the chip lead for a chunk of the final table, but doubled up Bilokur in a coin flip involving the two top stacks. Bilokur 4bet all-in pre-flop with jacks and Koon called with A-K in the game-changing hand. Neither player improved and Bilokur assumed the chip lead.
Govert Metaal busted out in sixth place for $181,000. Fierro was the next member of the final table to go after running ducks into Isaac Haxton‘s pocket tens. Fierro picked up $217,000 and was soon joined on the rail by Koon. After a double up courtesy of Duhamel, the former World Champion called Koon’s 5bet pre-flop all-in with pocket kings, dwarfing Koon’s A-4 offsuit. The board ran out 2-6-6-Q-8 and Koon earned $271,000 for fourth place.
On his overall performance during the tournament, Koon told PocketFives on Sunday, “Towards the end of the final table, I could have done some things differently in retrospect, but you just learn from those moments and get better. That’s all I can do.”
Haxton, who finished second in the PCA Main Event in 2007, dropped out in third place for $380,000. Duhamel scored his second straight knockout with A-J against Haxton’s K-Q and entered heads-up play as a nearly 3:1 chip leader against Bilokur(pictured). However, Bilokur would not be silenced and scooped a massive pot after spiking a straight on the river to pull ahead; he never relinquished from there.
On the final hand of the PCA’s $25,000 High Roller Event, Duhamel 4bet shoved before the flop with K-4 offsuit and Bilokur looked him up with A-7. Bilokur hit an ace on the flop and rivered one more for good measure to become the High Roller Event’s winner. Here’s how the final eight cashed out:
1. Leonid Bilokur – $1,134,930
2. Jonathan Duhamel – $634,550
3. Isaac Haxton – $380,730
4. Jason JAKoon1985 Koon – $271,950
5. Nicolas PokerKaiser Fierro – $217,560
6. Govert Metaal – $181,300
7. Mike telks Telker – $145,040
8. Randy Nanonoko Lew – $108,780
That wraps up the 2012 PCA. Up next for the poker world is the Aussie Millions, whose Main Event runs from January 22nd to 28th in Melbourne. Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest poker tournament coverage.
