WSOP Final Table 2010: Jonathan Duhamel Talks Poker Strategy

As the 2010 WSOP Main Event final table gets underway this Saturday at 12 p.m, the Canadian chip leader Jonathan Duhamel will be hoping to continue his unprecedented run and secure a place for himself in poker history.
The 22 year-old finance student from Quebec only entered the $10,000 WSOP Main Event, after placing 15th in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em for $37,276. Doing so well in the final event before the Main Event gave Jonathan Duhamel all the incentive he needed and, as he explains:
“I knew I could beat everyone…that I could play with them. But winning [cashing] that last tournament gave me some confidence, and it put me back in the mood to play and perform.”
Duhamel started Day 8 of the Main Event on an average stack with just 27 players left, but by the end of play he had secured a good lead for himself at the top of the nine man final table.
Starting out on 65.975 million chips, Duhamel is way ahead of his nearest rival’s John Dolan on 46.25 million and Joseph Cheong on 23.525 million.
The other six contenders are on anywhere between 19.05 million and 7.625 million, and with the tournament resuming on 250k/500k blinds with 50k antes, short-stacks Senti ($7.625m) and Nguyen ($9.65m) will be expecting to double-up or exit the competition fairly early on.
Talking about his poker temperament and tactics ahead of the final table, Duhamel explains:
“My greatest quality, I think, is my calm. I manage to never tilt. What I need the most to improve is to stop playing the sheriff and respect more players … who also have good hands sometimes.”
Also good news for Duhamel is the fact that he will have position on John Dolan, the second big stack at the final table who is seated on his immediate right. However, the most feared and established player at the table, Michael Mizrachi, will be to his left which might cause him a few problems.
Nonetheless, Duhamel has high hopes going into the final phase of the prestigious tournament where a massive $8.9 million is earmarked for the winner.
Giving a final assessment of the state of play ahead of the 2010 WSOP Main Event Final Table, Jonathan Duhamel said:
“Players are going to be looser and they are going to gamble…I’m going to raise a lot of hands and you’re going to see a lot of action from me. That’s for sure.”