Jonathan Duhamel: Life After The Dream

Jonathan Duhamel outlasted a 7,319-player field to become the 2010 World Series of Poker main event champion, earning $8.9 million and becoming a poker household name in the process. With 28 hours of television coverage on ESPN, the young Canadian’s rise to poker prominence is well documented. But what happens to a man after he achieves every poker player’s dream at the age of 24? And how does life change once you are put under that spotlight?

The pressure to prove yourself is immense. There are constant demands for your time, with a myriad of media responsibilities and endless interviews. There is a target on your back, with everyone wanting a piece of you, both on the table and off.
Duhamel realized this last fact in the worst possible fashion in Dec. 2011, when he was the victim of a home invasion that resulted in the theft of his main event bracelet, a Rolex watch and six-figures in cash. Badly beaten, Duhamel was shaken by the horrific experience. He looked to get past the ordeal by keeping his focus on the game he loves.
“I felt like I needed to go out there and continue to do what I do best – playing poker. I hoped that would help me forget about it and move forward. I am trying not to think about it.”

In the first month of 2012, Duhamel proved that he has poker chops to be called “world champion.” He final tabled four tournaments, cashing for more than $1.2 million in the span of two weeks. Duhamel now has more than $10.8 million lifetime earnings. The champion is truly worthy of his title, and through the bad times and the good has proven that he is here to stay.

Becoming A Poker Ambassador

Before winning the main event, Duhamel was a professional online player, grinding out a living without much notoriety. Overnight, he went from relative anonymity to the center of attention. “I didn’t even play poker a while, because I was too busy with all of the interviews.”

Duhamel’s newfound fame had him jetting around the world representing PokerStars. “It was cool, it was very different, and my first time ever having to do that kind of thing. You know, within a month of winning, I was playing on High Stakes Poker. After that, when it was a little less crazy, I realized that it was mixing the two demands of playing and doing all of the interviews.”

After the initial media blitz, Duhamel was once again able to get down to the business of playing poker, but his profession had taken on a whole new character. He was no longer just playing to eke out a living.

“For me, I put pressure on myself all the time. I think that the biggest pressure was coming from within me. You always want to do great, and now you know that people are looking up to you and know who you are. So really, I don’t think it was that much more pressure for me, because I just always, always want to win.”

Not only was there more pressure to put up results, but Duhamel had to deal with the fact that almost every player he sat down with was gunning for him.

“The players have seen you on TV, for the most part, so they know more about your game. Even if the guy hasn’t seen you play, they know that you won the WSOP, and so they want to take you out. Because of that, they are going to call you light more often, or try to make big bluffs against you, just to have a story to tell. So I definitely had to adjust, and go back to playing ABC poker a little bit.”

Duhamel is the first main event champion from Canada, sparking an increased interest in the game. “It was definitely a good thing, sort of like the Joe Hachem effect in Australia. Canadian fans already had a great player in Daniel Negreanu, and now they have the main event winner. I think there might be more people playing, but also I think that the players who were [playing] already are even more excited to play more, get better, and try to play the main event and win it themselves.”

Back On The Grind

Just a few months after winning poker’s biggest title, Duhamel found himself in the winner’s circle again. He defeated a tough field in the 2011 European Poker Tour Deauville high roller event, earning $272,209 for his victory.

“I knew in 2011 that I would travel everywhere, play all of the EPTs and other tournaments, and of course I really wanted to do well. To win a tournament in January, just a few months after winning the main event, was a big relief.”

Duhamel did indeed have a busy schedule planned, following the major tournaments as they traversed the globe. As the reigning WSOP champion, Duhamel was invited to play in the 2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The $20,000 buy-in featured many of the biggest names in the game, and was shown on national television. Duhamel breezed through the draw all the way to the semifinals, beating some very tough players in the process.

“That was very special, because I had been watching that event on TV for years. I played with Antonio Esfandiari in the second round, and was able to beat him. In the fourth round I played Olivier Busquet who is one of, if not the best, heads-up sit-and-go pros on the Internet. That was probably one of the toughest heads-up matches I’ve ever played, and I was lucky to beat him.”

In the end, Duhamel lost to Chris Moneymaker in the final four, earning $125,00 for his deep finish. Perhaps more important than even the money, the experience was incredibly rewarding for the young champion.

“There were so many players who I was lucky to play against, and I just had a lot of fun doing so, with all the cameras and everything. Just to be with those guys, to be able to have a chat with Doyle Brunson. It was very, very special to me.”

2011 Ends Horrifically

Duhamel made the money on seven occasions in 2011, earning his second career title and cashing for a total of $553,065. “Overall I would say that the year following my main event win was good, but maybe not as good as I expected it to be.”

Unfortunately, as the year came to a close, horror struck. On Dec. 21, Duhamel was tricked into opening his condo door by a man holding a package. Duhamel was quickly overpowered and tied up with duct tape. He was then beaten until he gave up the combination to his safe, which held roughly $160,000 in cash and his 2010 WSOP main event bracelet. Though he spent the night in the hospital, he managed to endure the ordeal without sustaining major injuries.

Anthony Bourque, John Clark, André-Robert Perron and Duhamel’s ex-girlfriend Bianca Rojas Latraverse were arrested and charged with conspiracy, assault, kidnapping and breaking and entering just days after the incident. All but one of the four conspirators have been denied bail. Roughly half of the money has been recovered, according to police.

“They got caught, and let’s hope justice will be made, but I am just lucky to be alive, and I just want to enjoy every single moment of what life can bring. Even though it is pretty sad, what happened, life goes on and you need to be ready for what is coming up for you.”

A Triumphant Return In The Caribbean

After the horrifying events of December, Duhamel seemed eager to move on with his life and career. “It happened, and after that I stayed at my parents’ house for a week, just trying to recover. I was able to spend Christmas with my family. I just felt even more motivated to go out there and do well, because I was just lucky to survive this.”

That motivation was apparent from the outset in 2012. Duhamel went on an incredible run at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, winning his first title of the year, cashing for more than $1.2 million and becoming an early contender for the Card Player Player of the Year.

He started with a fourth-place finish in the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller for $313,600. “The field is incredibly tough, and it is basically impossible to have a good seat draw. On my first table I had Jason Mercier, [Bertrand] Elky [Grospellier] and [Viktor] Isildur1 [Blom]. In fact, I was the first one out. After two hours, I got busted all-in preflop with A-K versus Isaac Haxton’s pocket queens. I remembered that this year it was a re-entry, and I never thought I would do so, but I reloaded. It is a big rebuy for sure, but I just felt confident about the way I was playing and felt that I could do well in the tournament.”

Duhamel made his way to the final table, where he still had to worry about bubbling as only the final five made the money. “It was a sick, sick bubble. You definitely don’t want to finish sixth in this one, as fifth place is $250,000.”

Duhamel followed that with a fifth-place showing in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em eight-max turbo. Only days later he improved on that score by taking down another $5,000 eight-max no-limit hold’em event, earning his first title of the year and $239,830.

Duhamel was not yet done with his impressive run. He managed to navigate through a 148-player field featuring some of poker’s best in the $25,000 High Roller, making it to his fourth final table in two weeks. “It was a very tough table, and I was second in chips to start, but I think I had the worst seat draw on the table. I wasn’t able to make any moves, because I had two big-stacked, aggressive players to my left. I tightened up a little bit, and then just tried to play the hands I could play.”

Duhamel made it down to heads-up play, eventually losing to Leonid Bilokur, but taking home $634,550 in the process. ”I thought I would be able to put up a win in the heads-up match, but I might have played a little too fast.”

A Player of the Year Contender

By early February, Duhamel had already cashed a total of five times, with more than $1.2 million in earnings. This strong start to the year has put him into contention for the 2012 Player of the Year race, a title that Duhamel very much desires.

“To win the World Series is very special, but if you are able to win the Player of the Year that is a year-long achievement, and so it’s even bigger for me. So, of course that is the goal. I just want to win all of them and play as many as I can.”

Duhamel plans on playing a full schedule of tournaments around the globe, and for the first time really, across poker disciplines. “I am going to try to play all of the big buy-ins including the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, because I have practiced my eight-game play this year.”

It would be only fitting for him to win that title, because Duhamel has truly proven that he is a champion amongst poker players. He proved himself a worthy ambassador for the game throughout the year that followed his main event win. Even after becoming the victim of a heinous attack, Duhamel has proven eager to return his focus to the game he loves. Fittingly, he has already been handsomely rewarded with success in 2012 and the year has only just begun. It seems safe to say that the sky is the limit for a true world champion like Jonathan Duhamel. ♠