Deck Stacked for Canadian as Poker Finals Down to 2

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 7) -- The World Series of Poker's Main Event heads into its most lopsided finale ever Monday. French Canadian Jonathan Duhamel holds more than 86 percent of the chips, making him the prohibitive favorite to become the first Canadian to win the game's richest and most prestigious event.

Duhamel, 23, of Boucherville, Quebec, and John Racener, 24, of Tampa survived 14 grueling hours of play through early this morning. The will meet in the finale beginning at 11 p.m. EST Monday. The top prize is $8.9 million, with $5.5 million for the runner-up. (Follow Steve Friess' live-Tweeting from the finale.)

The leader holds 188.95 million chips to Racener's 30.75 million in the No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament. The aim is to finish with all the chips.

The overwhelming lead is largely the result of Duhamel winning a tournament-record 95.05 million chips against South Korea-born Joseph Cheong. Cheong bet big on an ace-seven combination. Duhamel had a pair of queens and none of the cards that followed helped Cheong. He was knocked out of the tournament seven hands later, departing with a $4.1 million payout.

The stunning turn of events leaves the dropout from the University of Quebec at Montreal in an unprecedented position over Racener, who for most of the waning hours of the night's play was on the verge of being knocked out himself.

In making it this far, the two men bested an initial field of 7,319 entrants who began the tournament in July at the Rio Las Vegas resort. The tournament paused for four months after two weeks of play last summer that whittled that crowd down to nine,

A two-hour show covering Saturday and today's action as well as Monday night's finale is scheduled to air Tuesday on ESPN.

To enter the Main Event, players can either pay a $10,000 buy-in or win a tournament at a casino or on the Internet and have the entry fee covered for them. The person who ends up with all the chips wins, but 747 of the 7,319 entrants won at least some of the $68.8 million in prize money available.

Duhamel began Saturday's play as the chip leader. He lost that lead several times, but remained near the top of the pack throughout.

Among the also-rans, the best-known player was Michael Mizrachi, 29, who won $2.3 million for his fifth-place finish. Mizrachi became a media darling during the four-month break because of his unusual family, which includes three poker-pro brothers who also "cashed," or won money, in this year's WSOP Main Event.

"Hey, I had a great run and a great year," said Mizrachi, who also won $1.6 million in another WSOP event this year. "Fifth place is just fine. No regrets."

Both Racener and Duhamel started as Internet poker players. Duhamel dropped out of college after two years to go pro. Racener borrowed $50 from his mother when he was 18 and turned it into $30,000 in six weeks of online play. Before this event, he had won $2.5 million in live tournaments and $1 million from online tournaments.

Racener, a friend of fellow Flordian Mizrachi, dwelled in Mizrachi's shadow during the break despite also being a popular pro. He said that was a mixed blessing.

"If he didn't make the Final Table, I would be the one with the big name on the cover of all the magazines," he told AOL News before the finals began. "I think it would be more exciting for me. But we're starting to think it might be a lot of pressure on him."

The Final Table included six Americans, two Canadians and an Italian, 26-year-old aspiring filmmaker Filippo Candio. Candio finished fourth for a $3.1 million payout. Players from more than 92 nations were among the entrants.