Jonathan Duhamel headlines WSOP Poker Player’s Championship final table

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, July 4, 2013 | 1:50 a.m.

Note: Chip counts and player bios available at the bottom of the page.

Jonathan Duhamel soared to the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event championship in part by knocking out Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi when five players remained.

Three years later, Duhamel is threatening to win the tournament most associated with “The Grinder.” Duhamel was one of eight players who advanced to the final table of the $50,000 buy-in Poker Player’s Championship, which Mizrachi won in two of the last three years, early Thursday morning at the Rio.

The Canadian poker star will sit sixth in chips with around 1.63 million when play resumes at 1 this afternoon. First-place pays $1.77 million.

Duhamel could become only the second player to win bracelets in the WSOP’s two most prestigious events, following Scotty Nguyen who won the Poker Player’s Championship in 2008 and the Main Event in 1998.

Unlike several of the Main Event winners in the years before him, Duhamel further dedicated himself to the game after his life-changing victory and found success. He’s made more than $2 million on the tournament circuit since his $8.9 million win in 2010.

The Global Poker Index currently ranks Duhamel as the No. 36 player in the world.

He spent part of his time delving into variants of poker other than hold’em, an essential to his Poker Player’s Championship run as the tournament combines eight different games.

Every summer, this event produces one of the toughest final tables of the summer. This year is no exception.

In addition to Duhamel, well known television poker personality David Benyamine and Las Vegas high-stakes cash game regular Minh Ly are also in the running.

Somewhat ironically, the most anonymous player left holds the chip lead. Don Nguyen, mostly known as an online standout, has roughly 25 percent of the chips in play.

Read below for an introduction to the eight players competing at the final table of the Poker Player’s Championship.

Seat 1: Matthew Ashton (2,996,000 chips)

Hometown: Liverpool, England; Career Earnings: $576,398; WSOP achievements: Three previous final tables this summer

Seat 2: Jonathan Duhamel (1,627,000 chips)

Hometown: Montreal; Career Earnings: $11,567,026; WSOP achievements: 2010 Main Event champion, eighth in all-time earnings

Seat 3: Don Nguyen (5,068,000 chips)

Hometown: Chino Hills, Calif.; Career Earnings: $230,895; WSOP achievements: Second-place finish in this summer’s championship no-limit hold’em heads-up event

Seat 4: Mike Wattel (810,000 chips)

Hometown: Phoenix; Career Earnings: $2,104,615; WSOP achievements: One-time bracelet winner, 1999 Omaha Hi-Low event

Seat 5: George Danzer (2,868,000 chips)

Hometown: Munich; Career Earnings: $715,310; WSOP achievements: Four final tables since 2010

Seat 6: Minh Ly (2,307,000 chips)

Hometown: Los Angeles; Career Earnings: $3,502,299; WSOP achievements: Thirteen in-the-money finishes, including third in 2011 Poker Player’s Championship

Seat 7: John Hennigan (1,412,000 chips)

Hometown: Las Vegas; Career Earnings: $3,707,928; WSOP achievements: Two-time bracelet winner, a 2004 limit hold’em event and a 2002 H.O.R.S.E. event

Seat 8: David Benyamine (2,709,000 chips)

Hometown: Las Vegas; Career Earnings: $6,550,022; WSOP achievements: One-time bracelet winner, 2008 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low tournament

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.