Canadian Wins $8.9M Prize in World Series of Poker

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 9) -- Oh Canada! Jonathan Duhamel, a 23-year-old college dropout from Quebec, has captured the World Series of Poker Main Event -- an $8.9 million jackpot.

Duhamel bested Tampa, Fla., native John Racener late Monday to win the purse and become champion. The $10,000 Buy-In No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em event is the most prestigious and richest event in the poker world.

It's the fourth time in six years that the champion of the Main Event was not born in the United States, proof that the card game that began in bars in the Lone Star State and became an American obsession a decade ago is now a bona fide international phenomenon.

"I am very happy to be the first Canadian," said Duhamel, who let out several primal screams of joy as he gripped the mounds of cash on the edge of the poker table that had become his. "It's an honor for me, and it's great for Canada."

Racener, 24, won $5.5 million for his second-place finish.

It was no surprise going into Monday's play that Duhamel would win and easily, given that he had a 6-to-1 chip lead over Racener following a 14-hour session that ended Sunday with the two men as the last of an initial field of 7,319 players. With such a short stack, the 24-year-old Racener could only defend himself for about 90 minutes of play against Duhamel's larger bets before he was forced to risk it all on a lousy hand.

He lost, and a massive celebration erupted on the stage of the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio Las Vegas resort, with several hometown friends hoisting Duhamel in the air as ESPN's cameras captured the commotion. ESPN is scheduled to air a two-hour show that will climax in Duhamel's triumph, tonight at 11 p.m. EST.

Duhamel brought about 50 friends and relatives to Las Vegas to support him, most of them clad in the red-and-blue jerseys of their hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens. The champion hails from Boucherville, a neighboring town to Montreal, where his mother works at a bank and his father is an engineer. He began playing poker casually with friends at age 15 and dropped out of the University of Quebec at Montreal when he was 19 to focus on poker.

In winning, Duhamel broke yet another international barrier for the 41-year-old tournament. Since 2005, the event has been won by men from Australia, Denmark and now Canada, and in 2007 the title went to an American born in Laos. Every time a champion comes from another country, it generates excitement and renewed interest in poker there, World Series of Poker spokesman Seth Palansky said.

The tournament began in July, when the initial player group was whittled to the final nine, a group of six Americans, two Canadians and an Italian. At the time, legendary player Phil Hellmuth told AOL News, "Considering that poker is global, it's shocking that it is six Americans."

Yet the Italian player, aspiring filmmaker Filippo Candio, 26, finished the tournament in fourth place for a $3.1 million payout, and Joseph Cheong, a 24-year-old South Korea-born player now living in La Miranda, Calif., came in third.

Despite their thinner numbers, foreigners do so well in the tournament because those who travel to Vegas for the World Series are usually among the best in their homelands, said David Chicotsky, a professional online poker player and owner of The Maven Media, a poker news website. By contrast, lots of Americans who play in the World Series are hobbyists, he said.

"If you tend to get someone at the Final Table who is not an American, in general they're very, very, very, very good," Chicotsky said. "Think about it. There's millions of people playing in Europe, but only a handful of them come over to the World Series to play. If you sit down with a guy from Ireland, he's an Irish pro."

Duhamel is clearly excited about his claim to fame, hoping it might translate into an invitation to do something that millions of Canadian boys only dream of: dropping the puck to start a Montreal Canadiens game.

"Since I was 2 years old, I've watched them on TV," said Duhamel, who plans to travel and buy season tickets with his new wealth. "I played hockey, I still play hockey. I could never dream that this could happen. I am the happiest person on earth right now. Only that could make me happier."