Friday, June 19, 2015

This or That with Jonathan Duhamel


The 2013 World Series of Poker is rapidly winding down, but there are still a few events remaining for Team PokerStars Pros to make their mark. Chad Brown and Nacho Barbero are two players who've talked about their Vegas experiences with the PokerStars Blog, and now Jonathan Duhamel, the 2010 WSOP Main Event champ and a member of Team PokerStars Canada, has decided to share as well.

The 2013 WSOP is becoming known as the "Year of the Canadians" as ten bracelets have been awarded to citizens of that country. Duhamel, who has cashed three times at the 2013 WSOP for $36,595 (including a tenth-place finish in Event #25 $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better), is hoping to become the 11th Canadian to capture a bracelet, which would be his second piece of gold.

In this edition of This or That, which takes a look at both the serious and unserious sides of various Team PokerStars Pros, we caught up with Duhamel, who was playing the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, to talk about life in Vegas, Canada's recent success and much more.

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Duhamel earlier in the series

PokerStars Blog: How is the 2013 WSOP going for you thus far?

Jonathan Duhamel: Well, good and bad. Could be worse, could be better. I have a few cashes, but I don't have any final tables yet. My best score is a tenth place, so I'm looking forward to trying to do better than that.

PSBlog: You're currently the chip leader in the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship.* How does that feel?

JD: It feels amazing, but it's just the start. It's the start of Day 2, so hopefully I'm still going to be the chip leader at the end of the day. It's a fun tournament. All the superstars are here. Definitely feel good so far.

*Duhamel finished Day 2 second in chips behind David Benyamine with 78 players remaining.

PSBlog: What are some things, other than poker, that you like to do while in Las Vegas?

JD: Well, obviously I like to party like all the other kids in Vegas. I just want to chill. I like to play golf, go-karting, stuff like that. Just anything that's going to keep your head off poker for a while.

PSBlog: You went to the Electric Daisy Carnival for the first time this year with fellow Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree. How was that experience?

JD: It was pretty amazing. It was my first time going over there. I'd heard so many good things about it, so definitely it was a lot of fun. I only went on a Friday night and we had a blast, we had a lot of fun.

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Duhamel and Boeree at the Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas

PSBlog: Canadians are doing very well at the WSOP this summer. As a Canadian yourself, how do you feel about that?

JD: It feels pretty good. I mean it's fun to see that. It's not that much of a surprise because there are a lot of amazing poker players in Canada, so it's really good to see them doing well and for sure it's going to continue I think.

PSBlog: Do you hang out with any other Team Pros when you're in Vegas?

JD: We try to but we all play all the time so it's kind of tough. We had some go-karting last week that was organized, so for those of us that were available we went. Besides that we have drinks here and there when we have time, but usually we're so busy playing all the time that it's tough.

PSBlog: What's your favorite club in Vegas?

JD: That's a good one. Probably XS [at the Wynn] even though Hakkasan [at MGM] is pretty sick. I think XS it number one.

PSBlog: What are your plans for after the series?

JD: Just going home to relax. It's a big, big grind of six weeks in Vegas. I'm just looking forward to relaxing. It's kind of my vacation going home for a month, five weeks maybe. Just going to play some golf, see my buddies and family and just relax.

PSBlog: Will we see you at the EPT Barcelona?

JD: Absolutely.

Chad Holloway is a freelance contributor. WSOP photo courtesy of PokerPhotoArchive.


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