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Jonathan Duhamel

Police Recover Half of Jonathan Duhamel’s Stolen Money


I zow nothing about any stinking moniez.

2012 is shaping up to be about 47,900x better for Jonathan Duhamel than 2011.

After crushing the 2012 PCA, making 4 final tables and earning over $2M, Duhamel has now recovered about half of the money stolen from him in the armed robbery allegedly spearheaded by his ex-girlfriend, Bianca Rojas-Latraverse.

Says the Toronto Sun:

Officers, acting on an anonymous tip, discovered a padded envelope containing [$80,000] Canadian and U.S. dollars, Euros and pounds sterling.

Still in custody are two of the three alleged perps: 20-year-old hot-ass ex-girlfriend Bianca Rojas-Latraverse, and John-Stephen Clark-Lemay (22). What’s up with all the hyphens?

Another defendant was released on bail.

Read more about the money recovery here.

Bianca Rojas-Latraverse photo dump here.

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Leonid Bilokur Defeats Jonathan Duhamel To Win 2012 PCA High Rollers


Leonid Bilokur became the fourth $1M winner at the 2012 PCA.

We’re all about giving credit where it’s due.

It’s possible that over the years, we’ve had some fun at the expense of Jonathan Duhamel. But not without reason: 1) the first impression anyone had of him was the brutal bad beat he inflicted on fan-favorite Matt Affleck at the 2010 WSOP and most viewed him generally as a major luckbox before the final table; 2) he was basically the only person to ever bail on an appearance for This Week in Poker; and 3) the whole French-Canadian thing.

But we’re also always willing to admit when we’re wrong about something. Like, for example, we were really, really wrong about thinking The Killing was a good show. Or that the man Duhamel defeated heads-up at the 2010 WSOP would’ve been “good for poker” (a-hem) and that Duhamel would not.

Turns out, Duhamel has been a very worthy WSOP champ and generally good for the game.

After a relatively solid 2011 which saw him win an EPT event and semi-final the NBC National Heads-Up, Duhamel has started this year on an absolute tear, final table-ing four PCA events and earning over $1M in the process.

Duhamel, in fact, almost captured two PCA titles. Having already won the $5k NLH 8-Max, Duhamel finished second at the $25,000 High-Rollers event, banking $634,550. He now has almost $11M in career tournament earnings. Take that, crazy ex-girlfriend.

Duhamel lost the High Rollers event to Leonid Bilokur of Russia. Bilokur became the fourth person to leave the 2012 PCA over a million dollars richer, taking home $1,134,930.

Isaac Haxton finished third ($380,730) and overnight chip leader Jason Koon was fourth ($271,950).

Get a full final table recap and results here.

* Photo courtesy of PokerStars Blog.

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Moneymaker, Duhamel Among NBC Heads-Up Quarterfinalists


In an unprecedented move, we're picking the Frenchy to win it all.

The 2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship is down to its Elite EightTM.

It’s a pretty interesting remaining field with some good made-for-TV match-ups.

In the so-called “Clubs” bracket, the man many think will win this–Olivier ‘livb’ Busquet–takes on reigning WSOP champ Jonathan Duhamel. Despite being French-Canadian, Duhamel is earning the respect of industry types for an impressive, classy showing.

Busquet/Duhamel will take on the winner of the Chris Moneymaker vs. David Oppenheim match-up. Similar to Busquet, Oppenheim is a guy people just expect to go far and/or win the event. While we kind of feel like Moneymaker has maxed out his run here, obviously it’ll be Good for PokerTM to see him advance to the finals.

Over in the so-called “Hearts” bracket, last-second replacement pick Andrew Robl has made a quarterfinals and faces David Benyamine. The lower half of the bracket sees last year’s runner-up Erik Seidel square off against current Wicked Chops Poker Player of the Year, Vanessa Selbst.

We used to kill it on our predictions–so let’s throw some down on today’s match-ups:
Busquet defeats Duhamel
Oppenheim defeats Moneymaker
Robl defeats Benyamine
Seidel defeats Selbst

Busquet bests Oppenheim in the semis. Robl beats Seidel.

And in the finals, Busquet defeats Robl.

Did we really just pick the Frenchy? Yes, yes we did.

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Giving A Little Bit of Credit Where It’s Sort of Due



Viewers of our This Week in Poker are aware that we have a little bit of fun at 2011 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel‘s expense.

Duhamel is the only person that has more or less bailed on a TWiP appearance (we could file it under “miscommunication” but bottomline is he could’ve easily done the show). Because of it, as well as the fact that he’s French Canadian, every time we say the word “Duhamel,” we run the above clip.

While Duhamel might’ve luckboxed his way to the November NineTM more than most, he did play a great final table and is certainly a worthy champ.

And to further validate that victory, Duhamel managed to capture the EPT Deauville High Rollers event last week, outlasting a massive field of 22 58 for the title.

The “high roller” event had a €10,000 buy-in and a €203,232 top prize. Duhamel defeated Alain Confino heads-up for the title.

Would you like a moustache? Then get a full recap here.

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Now This Is Something That Should Be in WSOP Broadcasts…


Inside Deal keeps getting better and better (vote for This Week in Poker for Favorite Web-Based Show here).

In a recent aside segment, Andrew Feldman sits down with (SPOILER ALERT!) 2010 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel to break down some critical hands from his big win.

It’s yet another example of something that could be adapted and used in the actual Main Event broadcasts to make it a more interesting show.

In somewhat related news, check out a surprisingly entertaining video of Duhamel’s homecoming after winning the WSOP ME title here.

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