November 2010 Archives

HE came, he saw, he kicked some ass - and walked away with a cool $9 million.

Jonathan Duhamel won the the World Series of Poker Main Event title last night and became the world's most famous Canadian.

The 23 year-old Team PokerStars pro was overwhelmed to take down the biggest ever poker win but spoke of his delight at the end of a tough final table.

"It is surreal. I could never dream of that. It's so huge -- so big -- it's a dream come true for me," Duhamel said after winning the gold bracelet.

"I don't know what to think right now, I don't even know what I feel. It's just -- it's amazing."

"I was aggressive on the final table, so I wanted to mix it up a little bit.

"I didn't fold at all, but I limped a little bit just to try to confuse him and have a good balance in my game."

It didn't hurt that Duhamel started the night with a big chip lead and put away John Racener before the 24-year old tournament specialist could pick up good cards.

"He was patient and kind of threw me off a little bit," said Racener, of Port Richey, Fla., who got his start in poker by turning a $50 stake from his mom into $30,000 within six months.

"I was like, 'Wow, you know, this is going to be harder than I thought," Racener said.

With many of poker's biggest names watching, Duhamel took the last of Racener's chips after 43 hands.

Racener was never better than a 4-1 underdog in chips in a session that lasted just over an hour -- the finale for a tournament that started July 5 with 7,319 players paying $10,000 to enter.

On the last hand, Duhamel pushed Racener all-in and Racener called with a suited king-eight of diamonds. But Duhamel had an unsuited ace-jack, giving him a 60 percent shot to win.

A flop of two fours and a nine helped neither player; and Racener didn't improve with a six on the turn and a five on the river. Duhamel won the hand -- and the tournament -- with an ace high.

"The only thing that I was thinking for the past four months was to be sure that my game is sharp and that I play good on the final table," Duhamel said.

Racener won $5.55 million for second place, never finding real traction in the biggest heads-up card match of his life.

Duhamel had nearly 90 percent of all the chips in play when players took a 10-minute break after 36 hands. He put the pressure on after that, pushing all in on three straight hands and dropping Racener's stack to just above 16 million chips.

TO the poker world he is affectionately known as "Mad Marty'' Wilson.

And five minutes on the phone with the larger-than-life gambling legend is enough to understand why the Wolverhampton star earned his nickname.

"I've got no idea where I am. I'm wandering around Weston-super-Mare. Can you call me back when I've had my beans on toast?" Marty says, in the charming Black Country tones that have helped him become a poker hero on both sides of the Atlantic.

Having won $4 million in tournaments around the world in a career spanning three decades, Marty is due back in Birmingham next month to host a major tournament - the Genting Poker Player Championship - at Star City's Circus Casino.

"I don't play so much anymore. I get paid to stand there and talk, which is much easier," he told the Sunday Mercury.

"I remember in the old days it was a struggle. Just to find a game was hard enough, but now poker is everywhere, online, in pubs, clubs, casinos. It has exploded."

Marty found fame as a fast-talking, big-betting character on the Channel 4 Late Night Poker TV series in the late 1990s. But the Black Country boy made good has been playing for a living since the 80s.

"When I first went to the World Series in Las Vegas back in 1985, there were only 220 runners. Now there are 7,000. That's how much things have changed," he said.

"I've always enjoyed playing the game, and poker has been very good to me, provided me with a great standard of living and let me travel the world."

Growing up in Wolverhampton in the early 70s he was a Pendeford High School pupil set to work at local firm Lucas Aerospace, when he turned to gambling to make a living.

"All the kids had a compulsory interview with Lucas," he said.

"I turned up an hour-and-a-half late because I'd been watching Wimbledon, and when I told them about it they weren't too pleased.

"They put me in a side room with an entrance exam, but they made a mistake because the posters on the walls had all the answers to the questions.

"They thought I was some sort of genius, so instead of a hammer and a file, they gave me some books and sent me to college to study advanced mechanics.

"It's the closest thing to a real job I ever had, I only stayed at college a week."

Doing odd jobs, Marty soon found a flair for betting, and made money on racing, sports and even the Eurovision Song Contest. A keen card player, he was invited to a game of poker that was about to take Britain by storm.