Jonathan Duhamel is the winner of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship.

Duhamel, from Boucherville, Quebec became the first Canadian citizen in history to win poker’s world championship. Two Canadians had previously finished in the runner-up spot in the 41-year-history of poker’s undisputed world championship. Tuan Lam took second place in 2007, to Jerry Yang. Fellow Canadian Howard Goldfarb did the same in 1995, losing to Dan Harrington.

Duhamel, a 23-year-old poker pro, collected a whopping $8,944,310 in prize money. He was also presented with the widely-cherished and universally-revered gold and diamond-encrusted gold bracelet, representing the game’s sterling achievement.

The triumph was not easy. Duhamel overcame a huge field of 7,319 entrants who entered what was the second-largest WSOP Main Event in history. The tournament began on July 5th, and took more than four months to complete, including the customary recess prior to the November Nine.

Duhamel’s route to victory was a determined one, albeit peppered with a few unwanted detours. He arrived at the final table — which began on Saturday, November 6th — with the chip lead. He held about one-third of the total chips in play. Duhamel lost some of his momentum during stage one of the finale, which included the elimination of seven players playing down to the final two. Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi seized the chip lead at one point during play, but ultimately finished fifth. Joseph Cheong also proved to be a formidable foe during the long battle, but ended up as the third-place finisher.

Stage two of the November Nine’s grand finale was played on the main stage inside the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas. The final duel was played to a packed house of nearly 2,000 spectators and a worldwide audience following the action over the Internet. Millions more will watch the final crescendo of the WSOP Main Event on Tuesday night, when the championship premiers on ESPN television. The two-hour program will debut at 7:00 pm PST.

The runner up was John Racener, from Port Richie, FL. Despite the disappointment of defeat, he could take great pride in a noble effort that resulted in overcoming all but one of the more than 7,000 players who began the pursuit of ever poker player’s greatest dream. Racener collected poker’s supreme consolation prize — $5,545,955 in prize money.

As the Canadian champion, Duhamel was only the sixth non-American to ever win the WSOP Main Event. He followed in the hallowed footsteps of Mansour Matloubi (UK — 1990), Noel Furlong (Ireland — 1999), Carlos Mortensen (Spain — 2001), Joe Hachem (Australia (2005), and Peter Eastgate (Denmark — 2008).

WSOP 2010 Player Starting Chip Counts

1 Jason Senti 7,625,000
2 Joseph Cheong 23,525,000
3 John Dolan 46,250,000
4 Jonathan Duhamel 65,975,000
5 Michael Mizrachi 14,450,000
6 Matthew Jarvis 16,700,000
7 John Racener 19,050,000
8 Filippo Candio 16,400,000
9 Cuong “Soi” Nguyen 9,650,000

Eliminations

Soi Nguyen Eliminated in 9th Place – $811,823
Matthew Jarvis Eliminated in 8th Place – $1,045,743
Jason Senti Eliminated in 7th Place – $1,356,720
John Dolan Eliminated in 6th Place – $1,772,959
Michael Mizrachi Eliminated in 5th Place – $2,332,992
Filippo Candio Eliminated in 4th Place – $3,092,545
Joseph Cheong Eliminated in 3rd Place – $4,130,049
John Racener Eliminated in 2nd Place – $5,545,945

World Series of Poker 2010 Main Event Champion

Jonathan Duhamel – $8,944,310

They have enjoyed three months being part of that exclusive group known as the November Nine but starting this evening its all about playing down to one. The World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table gets under way today in Las Vegas.

These are the seating assignments and chip counts:

1 Jason Senti 7,625,000
2 Joseph Cheong 23,525,000
3 John Dolan 46,250,000
4 Jonathan Duhamel 65,975,000
5 Michael Mizrachi 14,450,000
6 Matthew Jarvis 16,700,000
7 John Racener 19,050,000
8 Filippo Candio 16,400,000
9 Cuong “Soi” Nguyen 9,650,000

And this is what they are playing for:

1st Place $8,944,310
2nd Place $5,545,955
3rd Place $4,130,049
4th Place $3,092,545
5th Place $2,332,992
6th Place $1,772,959
7th Place $1,356,720
8th Place $1,045,743

You can follow the main event live here.

The final table will also appear on Sky with commentary from the PKR TV crew, so make so you give us a wave, cry, dance, wink or /rude if you make it…

Date: Saturday 06 November
Time: 20:00 GMT
Buy-in: $250

The taping of the GSN cash game series “High Stakes Poker” has been pushed back from November 18th to December. The filming dates and cast for the seventh cycle of the series have not been announced. However, “High Stakes Poker” hosts Gabe Kaplan and Kara Scott, a PartyPoker pro, are likely to reprise their roles.

GSN officials said on Tuesday night that read in part, “GSN’s 7th Season of ‘High Stakes Poker’ will be moving the production dates from November to December 2010 in Las Vegas.” The reason for the change in time was not given.

Posters on online poker forums like TwoPlusTwo have been pitching their candidates to grace the Season 7 set. To that end, an official from GSN told the media this week, “I currently don’t have a firm lineup of players yet for this season, but rest assured that we’ll have another great cast of world-class players this year! The shoot location/times are still TBD, but they are coming for sure.” GSN gave no indication as to when the final filming dates would be announced.

One suggestion from TwoPlusTwo was Justin “Boosted J” Smith, who appeared on the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship on GSN and is a staple of the high-stakes games on Full Tilt Poker. Others wanted to see Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Phil Ivey return to the felts for a second straight season. Additional names tossed into the fray have included David “Viffer” Peat, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, and Unabomber Poker namesake Phil Laak. All four have appeared on past cycles of “High Stakes Poker.”

The sixth season of “High Stakes Poker” was ribbed for its commentary, as Kaplan flew solo in the booth without A.J. Benza, who parted ways before the start of the season. Instead, the banter among the players took center stage. One poster on TwoPlusTwo suggested, “Nothing against Kara, but find a co-host who has the comedic timing and sensibility to trade barbs with Gabe in the commentary booth. If she can’t do it, she’s not the one… I understand you had to fire or let go of A.J. Benza, but the show’s personality no longer matches the action. Spice it up or trade the franchise, but either way step up the funny please?”

“High Stakes Poker” has received competition in the form of the PokerStars-sponsored “Big Game,” which airs nightly on FOX. PokerStars pros Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein have appeared on each of the first six seasons of “High Stakes Poker,” leading many to ponder whether they’ll return for a seventh go-around given their involvement with the “Big Game.” Negreanu also serves as the front man for the poker game show “Million Dollar Challenge,” which is sponsored by PokerStars and airs on FOX on Sundays.

Multi-tabling is the art of playing multiple tables at once when playing online poker. If you make an amount of money playing one table, then playing more your profit will increase.

At first glance it seems reasonable enough. If you make $5 an hour playing one table, then you should make $20 an hour playing four tables. However the flaw in that logic becomes obvious when you add more tables and track your overall profit. Who, for example, would believe that you can make $100 an hour by playing 20 tables? It won’t happen.

The problem with multi-tabling is that the more tables you add, the less money you’ll make per table. So if you make $5 an hour playing one table, you’ll probably make $12 an hour playing on three ($4/hr x 3 tables = $12). The more tables you add, the less you’ll make on each table. Eventually you’ll add tables to the point that you’re losing money on all tables instead of making it. This phenomenon is called the law of diminishing returns.

The trick to multi-tabling is to find the “sweet spot” – the point when you achieve maximum profitability. Here’s an example of what a player’s results could look like after several months of multi-tabling different numbers of tables:

• 1 table @ $5 per table per hour = $5/hour.
• 2 tables @ $4.50 per table per hour = $9/hour.
• 3 tables @ $4 per table per hour = $12/ hour.
• 4 tables @ $3 per table per hour = $12/hour.
• 5 tables @ $1.50 per table per hour = $7.50/hour.

Obviously this player should play 3 tables at a time. The player could also 4-table, but he’d make the same amount of money by playing three tables and he wouldn’t have to work as hard.

Multi-tabling becomes exponentially more difficult as you add more tables because it’s difficult (if not impossible) to track the playing styles of that many player at once. Tracking software can help, but you’ll still have to deal with the stress of making split second decisions while five different tables flash on your screen and beep for your attention. You’re bound to make more mistakes.

So how does this apply to you. Well there is no one rule that applies to all players. Some players can cope and take in more than others and similarly some players will be able to concentrate more splitting their attention across a number of tables. The best way to find the optimal number of tables for you, is to test the water and track your results.

So back to the key question, is multi-tabling profitable? Yes, but you have to add tables slowly and track your results so you can find your own “sweet spot.”

Online poker sites offer a variety of poker tournament options. The most popular of these is probably the sit and go. You can play sit and gos for nearly any buy-in, and while traditional sit and gos have always been 9- or 10-handed, you can play sit and gos with smaller or larger numbers of players as well.

Internet poker gives you what is nearly impossible in live poker is the option for multi-tabling, playing more than one sit and go at a time. This is not to be confused with a multi-table sit and go, which is a single sit and go tournament with more than ten players. In multi-tabling, you actually take on separate tournaments at once. Is it a good idea? It depends on the type of player you are.

Multi-Tabling Pros

If you have a short attention span, and have trouble being patient in a sit and go, multi-tabling may help your game. Some players, especially those playing online, out of poker rooms and online casinos, are not able to maintain the discipline required to be as tight as is often necessary in the early stages of a sit and go, folding hand after hand. If you’re in more than one tournament at a time, you are twice (or three or four times) as likely to be in action at any given moment.

Maybe you are a consistent winner at $22 sit and gos, and you want to make more money at it, but you’re not ready to risk more money on a single tournament where anything can happen. Multi-tabling can increase your win rate without forcing you to increase the amount you risk on one tournament.

Normally if you get busted out of a sit and go, you have to start all over, building a chip stack and learning about your opponents. If you are multi-tabling and you get busted out of one sit and go, you can just shift your focus to another one you are already working on.

Multi-Tabling Cons

You need to be able to maintain concentration when your focus is divided or you will be lost. If you are playing more than one type of tournament, say a no limit Hold’em tournament, a limit Hold’em tournament, and an Omaha hi lo tournament all at once, it’s easy to get confused and make mistakes if you’re not highly focused.

If you are not good at handling stress, playing multiple tournaments at once is not for you. If you get down to the money or close to it at more than one table, the action to you will be fast and furious, and you will have to make good decisions at more than one table nearly simultaneously. If you have not mastered this skill, you could be in trouble.

The best way to find out if multi-tabling is for you is to try it. You should start small, with just two tables, preferably at smaller than your usual buy-in, then if you are having success, move up to more tables and higher limits. For more poker and other gambling-related articles, news and tips about for example go to Netbet.org.

You see the same advice in every magazine and every article and you hear it from all the pros – “Know your opponent and exploit their weaknesses.” That advice may be easy to follow in a regular casino where you’ll play hours at a time with the same players, but it’s very difficult to follow when your opponents pop in and out like they do in online poker rooms. Online players face a unique problem: How do you learn about an opponent when that opponent is one of thousands you’ve played that week?

You could, of course, use the “notes” feature offered by online poker rooms. However it’s hard to scribble notes when you’re multi-tabling. It is always a good idea to keep a ‘black book’ with names of players that you come up against noting patterns to their play, strengths and weaknesses, and any other information that you deem beneficial.

Of course, if you don’t mind spending a little more to help with this, there is an automated solution..

Enter tracking software. This software polls information gathered from every hand you play with every opponent. Most software will display that information on your game next to the player it applies to. At a glance you’ll see how often a particular player sees the flop, how aggressive they are, how often they win at showdown and how likely they are to fold to a turn or river bet. Instantly you’ll know if you’re dealing with a tight-aggressive opponent or a loose-passive one. That information is priceless to a multi-tabler.

In the online world where you might not see the same players for months at a time, tracking software is indispensable as it has the perfect memory to help strengthen your attack. After several months of playing, you’ll find yourself sitting at tables with 3 or 4 players that you have 300+ hands of information on. They might not remember you, but you’ll have solid information on them. In short, you’ll have a significant advantage.

It’s just as important to know your enemy online as it is offline, but you’ll need good tracking software to pull it off in cyberspace. Tracking programs can be a little pricey, but they’re well worth the investment.

Bluffing can be very rewarding with good instincts. Bluff at the wrong pot and in a no limit game, it can break you. So how do you know whether to bluff at a pot? Poker is a great game for many reasons, but one of my favorites is that you can win a huge pot with the worst cards possible. It is a bit of a cliche, but you will have heard the words “its not what you hold in your hand, but what your opponent thinks you hold that counts”. This couldn’t be more true.

The concept of bluffing is to give the appearance that you hold a better hand than you actually do. To do so successfully you need to play and bet in a manner that suggests that you hold a big hand (without being too obvious). There are techniques to doing this well. Experienced players use many tricks, reverse psychology, you name it, to get into the mind set of their opponent, and with practice, you can be doing this too. Get your opponent to fold a better hand than you hold and you have pulled off a successful bluff.

Now there are good times to bluff at a pot and there are times when you should stay clear. It is important to understand this so that you don’t throw your money at pots where your chances of getting away with it are very low. Remember getting caught on a big bluff doesn’t do your table image any good.

When not to Bluff at a Pot

Don’t bluff when playing against bad players. They are not skilled enough to know that they are beat and often they will not pick up on all the information that you are shoving down their throats!! Low skilled players are renowned for calling almost anything in the hope of catching a big hand so make sure against these players you get in with the best hand and let them call your raises, in the hope of catching cards.

Following on from the statement above – don’t bluff too much when playing low limit games. These games are littered with these low skilled players. When you represent a big hand, the less skilled player probably won’t notice how you have played the hand. In fact, you may have folded the last 30 hands and then raised with a monster hand. To anyone with a moderate sprinkling of cells in their heads, this would have been picked up, they would have put you on a big hand and got away from it. A player of less skill really isn’t paying that much attention and will continue calling like he/she normally does.

Don’t bluff at pots when you are in early position. There are potentially nine players behind you that may have you beat and chances are you will get called (which isn’t what you want when bluffing). Similarly, don’t bluff at a pot if there are more than three players in the pot behind you. It is much easier to bluff one of two people out of a pot, any more and you vastly increase your changes of getting called. A common mistake that players make is bluffing at a pot with three, four or more players in the pot as they see the pot size warranting the play. All that happens is that they get called and end up making a second bluff on the turn (or third on the river). You may get away with it now and again, but you are taking more risks than you need to.

Probably the best advice is not to bluff too often. If you continually bet into pots trying to bluff players, you will start to get called more and more often (hence making it more difficult for you to bluff a pot). A bluff is meant to be believable so the more you bluff the less believable it appears. Additionally, make a bluff when there is something to steal. I see players all too often making continued bluffs at small pots and then when a large pot comes about that they could successfully bluff, they try to bluff with a huge bet or all in and they get called with marginal hands because people don’t believe that they have anything – it then becomes a coin flip or worse. Be selective where you bluff. If there is not enough money in the pot there is no need to bluff at it. Winning a pot just for the sake of winning does nothing for your winnings.

Don’t bluff in games where you are playing a very loose table. If you have a couple of calling stations at the table you want to go in with good starting hands and let your opponents call with worse hands. Some people have way too much money and not enough sense. Taking time to figure out your table before you start to bluff will only save you money and direct you as to when you can get away with it.

Don’t start bluffing at pots as soon as you sit down to a table. Play good solid poker and earn the respect of the players. This can be done by trapping a few players with good play. Once they have your respect it will be easier to bluff them out of a pot as they will see you as a good player. Keep in mind, it is just as easy to lose face so remember the advice, don’t overdo it.

When you should Bluff at a pot

Bluff a pot where the board (see board cards) indicates that someone could have a big hand and there are only one or two in the hand. If there is no potential on the board and you try to represent a big hand, you are far more likely to get called as no-one will believe you have anything. For instance, a potential straight on the board and no-one has bet – take a stab at the pot and try to represent that you have hit the straight, assuming that there is enough money in the pot. Remember when betting, that you need to bet as if you want the person to call so simply going all in is not always the best way to represent the hand. In addition, it is much better to bluff at pots when you have cards that you can catch to give you a likely winning hand. This is know as a semi-bluff.

Bluff against tight players. Some players are tight and as such are very selective in the hands they get involved with. These players will tend to stick to the premium poker hands. These players will often look for a reason to fold. Give them one. Put in a large bet and put the pressure on them by representing a potential hand that could be made from the board.

You also want to bet out when the opponent’s betting pattern suggests the opponent may have a marginal hand that is vulnerable to a greater number of potential superior hands, or the opponent’s betting pattern suggests the opponent may have a drawing hand and the bluff provides unfavorable pot odds to the opponent for chasing the draw.

Make a play against players that you have information about. Information is highly important in poker as it gives you insight into how someone plays. Learn as much as you can, take player notes whenever you can and use this information to assist you in deciding when to bluff at a pot. Most online poker rooms offer this feature. In addition you should only bluff when opponents are sufficiently skilled and paying sufficient attention.

If you have been caught with your hand in the cookie jar, which will happen, you will be more likely to get called next time you bluff a pot. What you will find that regularly happens is that soon after you get caught bluffing you hit a big hand. Put in the same size bet that you bet and try to make it look like you are pulling another fast one or are on tilt. It is good to use this move if you catch a big pair. If you get called, bet the flop and the turn (cards allowing) and then check-raise. Your opponent will often put in a big bet and assuming the board has been kind which represents a bigger pot for you when you re-raise.

I mentioned playing position early in the article – you should be trying to pick up the blinds when you are in late position, especially when all players have thrown away their cards and there are one or two players left in the hand. You have a much better chance of stealing the pot as there are less players to play that may have a good hand.

The Stone Cold Bluff

The pure bluff or stone cold bluff is a bet into a pot where there are no cards that could come to improve your hand. For a pure bluff to be successful, the player will need all the players to fold their cards, as there is no chance of them making a winning hand. This type of play is often used effectively when there is a substantial pot size and there is reason to believe that the bet will make everyone fold. The pot odds for a bluff is the ratio of the size of bluff to the pot. This play will be profitable in the long run when the probability of being called by an opponent is lower than the pot odds (see guide on calculating pot odds).

The Semi Bluff

The semi bluff is more commonly used is the earlier betting rounds when a player has the chance of improving their hand to a winning hand. For instance a player might hold a flush draw, post flop. Lets assume that the player holds 8-9 Diamonds and the flop reads 3d – 4d – 10h. It is more than likely that anyone with a 10 would bet into this pot. With this hand, you would only need one more diamond to make the flush and he may try to represent that he holds a 10 and bet aggressively into the pot. The bet would be known as a semi bluff as there is a chance to improve – but the player is still bluffing as it is still a drawing hand (it is likely he is behind unless he catches cards).

This type of bluff is more effective as the player has more than one opportunity to win the pot. By betting the pot, all other players could fold which would mean that there is no need to catch the flush. If there are callers to the bet then there is a chance to hit a flush on the turn or river or make runner runner to make the straight.

What are Pot Odds and what should you know about them?

Well, Pot Odds is the ratio of what is already in the pot to the amount you would have to bet to stay in the hand. So, if there is $36 in the pot, and you need to bet $6 to stay in the hand, the pot odds are 36 to 6, or 6 to 1.
Why would you need to know this? In general, pot odds may be expressed as a win-to-loss ratio and may be converted into percentage probabilities using the formula: win-to-loss odds = win / (win + loss) % probability.

Using Pot Odds

One example of using pot odds is when your hand is not yet the best poker hand in play, but it could be if the right card is dealt. For instance, with four cards on the board (turn) you hold four clubs. The odds of completing the flush on the river are roughly 5 to 1 against you. That means for you to commit money to the stack there should be at least five times the bet amount in the pot. If the bet to you is $2, then there should be at least $10 in the pot to make it worth calling. Similarly if the bet is $50 there should be at least $250 in the pot to make it worth calling.

Suppose there were $120 in the pot when you were making that decision. The odds of landing that club and getting the best hand at the table were 5 to 1. If If the bet was $10 the pot would pay you over 12 to 1 on your bet. That makes calling the bet the right decision to make. You may not land your club and win the hand, but over the long run playing this way will be to your advantage as you will make money.

Another instance of using pot odds is after the river, when the final bet comes to you. If the pot holds $40, and the bet in front of you is $4, you can use pot odds to decide what to do. The pot is laying you Ten to One odds. ($40 against your $4 bet). Even though you feel your opponent may have the better hand, do you think he is ten times more likely to have a better hand? If so, fold. If not, call the bet and see his cards. There are plenty of times at the poker table when you will be asking yourself, “Is it worth staying in this hand?” Being able to use pot odds will help you answer that question correctly more often. Making the right decision will be the difference between winning and losing.

Simple Pot Odds

Simple Pot odds or expressed pot odds apply to a situation when there are no more bets to be made in the hand and you simply have to call a bet. As explained above, Simple pot odds are the ratio of the size of the potential bet to the size of the pot. So if a player is faced with the decision as to whether to call a $50 bet for the chance to win $250 the players odds of winning are 1-to-4 (this does not include the players bet). So if the pot is played 5 times committing $50 each time the odds say that the player will lose 4 times ($200) and win once winning $250 and so breaking even. Note that Simple odds are used when you intend to make a bluff if you intend to give up the chase if called or raised. As such you will more commonly use Simple odds on the river than in post flop play.

Implied Pot Odds
Implied Pot Odds are used when there are more cards to come and so more betting. These odds are used when your hand is an almost certain loser but may improve to be a certain winner (i.e. improving from no pair to a nut flush). A player’s implied pot is the current pot plus the value of future bets expected from all opponents that may be won, excluding the player’s own bets. When calculating the implied pot you must estimate the bets that you expect your opponents to make. Sounds more tricky than it actually is.

Lets look at an example. I hold Ace , King and the flop reads 3 diamonds meaning that I only need one more to make my nut flush. I am now faced with a $5 bet to win a pot of $20 – what do I do? Well lets look at my implied pot. If I call I expect roughly a $10 bet on the turn and river meaning that my implied pot is $40. Now my effective call is $15 ($5 on the flop and $10 on the turn) to $40 (15 / (15 + 40) or 27%. If I was to call the $5 bet I would have a positive expectation as with 2 cards to come I have approximately a 35% chance of hitting my Diamond to make my nuts flush. Now as my implied odds are 27% I am making the right move calling. If my implied odds were less than 27% then I should fold.