Jonathan Duhamel had faced countless opponents in his long march to the World Series of Poker Final table and the heads-up battle that would decide the 2010 world champion, but none so insistent and unforgiving as the expectation he foisted upon himself. He said at every turn that he would not be happy unless he was wearing the gold bracelet. Tonight, Duhamel put a muzzle on that nagging compulsion when he became the first Canadian to win the World Series of Poker Main Event. After entering the second night of November Nine play with a better than 6-1 chip lead over American John Racener, Duhamel made quick work of his opponent and claimed the bracelet in fewer than 50 hands.

"It's a dream come true right now," Duhamel said.

The 23-year-old PokerStars player from Quebec may have have pushed himself unfairly hard, but it was not without some help in the pushing. Duhamel's victory makes him a nationwide hero, the first man from Canada to ever win poker's biggest championship. For the past decade, Canada's first father of poker, Daniel Negreanu, was the undisputed king of Canadian card playing, but even he was never able to claim a Main Event victory. In an age of poker that welcomes players from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, there is still only one person from each country who can be the nation's first WSOP champion, and Canada was not going to let Duhamel forget it.

The newspapers--which often have a hard time grasping the vagaries of the game--couldn't hold back. In one breath, they mentioned Duhamel's status as a "college dropout." In the next, they waved the Canadian flag as hard as possible above Duhamel's head. "Quebecer holds all aces in $8.9M World Series of Poker" offered today's Montreal Gazette. "Canadian on the verge of poker history--and $9 million" read the Toronto Star."Montrealer could become the first Canadian to win World Series of Poker" screamed the Winnipeg Free Press. The implication was clear: Duhamel may have won the bracelet and the money, but this is as much his country's victory as it is his.

Duhamel did not shy from the national pride. Like sports fans the country over, Duhamel knew what his accomplishment would mean the people under the maple leaf flag. Duhamel dressed his family and friends in Montreal Canadiens sweaters and took any opportunity to talk nicely about his suburb on the outskirts of Montreal. Boucherville, a city of around 40,000 on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, is a place with neighborhoods named "Harmonie" and a city just small enough that Duhamel will be the biggest name there for the foreseeable future.

"I have a chance to put my beautiful city of Boucherville onto the map, and I'll do everything I can to do it," Duhamel said. "I've lived there all my life. I would never trade that for anything."

There will be those who look at how Duhamel started the final table and make the logical jump that the Canadian's road to victory this weekend was a smooth one. That is, if Duhamel had a big chip lead to begin the final table and a massive chip lead heads-up, he had no excuse to not win. Those would be people who didn't witness Duhamel's precipitous fall down the leaderboard Saturday when his ace-king lost to John Racener's ace-queen, a pot that paved Racener's road to heads-up competition. It, too, threatened to end Duhamel's and Canada's chance for the bracelet. Duhamel, as he did all summer, persevered and dispatched the remaining favorites from the table. The effort carried him to the stage tonight where poker's biggest spotlight pointed its bulb in the Canadian's eyes and asked, "What's your next trick?"

Duhamel responded by summarily dismissing Racener. After wading through a field of more than 7,300 players, waiting four months to play at the final table, and killing 40 hours before getting to face Racener heads-up, Duhamel made it clear, he didn't want to drag this out any more than necessary. After doubling up Racener once in the first 30 hands with king-four versus pocket queens, Duhamel didn't seem fazed. After a short break in the action, Duhamel came back in binary form. It was a yes/no proposition for him. He was either all-in or folding. It took just a few hands of that before Racener's stack was only a little more than 15,000,000. With the big blind coming in at 1.6 million, Racener had little time to wait.

And so when Duhamel shoved it in again, Racener finally decided to call. It was [As][jh] for Duhamel and [kd][8d] for Racener. With his hood off, Duhamel rocked back and forth on his feet and breathed deeply as he watched the flop come out [4c][4d][9s]. It was a clean flop, one just as pretty as the [6c] on the turn.

Duhamel put his hands together as as if in prayer and held them to his mouth. The man who had betrayed no emotion in the hours leading up to this moment suddenly allowed himself to look hopeful. He had to dodge just six cards in the deck. If he could, everything he wanted would be his. Only an eight or a king would ruin the moment.

The dealer's hand pulled out the last card that would matter in the 2010 World Series of Poker. It was the [5c], a greeting card that might have read, "You are now the biggest name in poker."

With four months of energy stored in his 23-year-old body, Duhamel turned from the table and sprinted to his fans. In a sea of red jerseys, it looked for a moment as if Duhamel and his fans had won the Stanley Cup. Hoisted onto shoulders, Duhamel rode a screaming scrum around the stage and into poker history.

With that, with his family and friends bursting from their Canadiens sweaters, with the poker world ready to celebrate him, Jonathan Duhamel climbed down from shoulder-top, hugged Racener, and then assumed his role as poker champion of the world.

From that spot on the stage, Duhamel could see his fans' elation, Racener's disappointment, and the local cadre of the world poker media mobilizing to make him the biggest name in the game. What he could only imagine is what will happen next. The WSOP will cut Duhamel a $8.9 million dollar check. His home country will celebrate him. The late night TV chat shows will start calling. The possibilities are so heady, it will be some time before Duhamel will be able to grasp it all.

"It's like the most beautiful thing in my life by far," he said. "This bracelet means so much to me. It's amazing. It's unbelievable."

Tonight, Jonathan Duhamel is everything he wanted to be. He is the man with a bracelet. He is a hero to his country and beloved Boucherville. He is the 2010 World Series of Poker champion.

***

For a look back at all our November Nine coverage see any of the links below.

Jonathan Duhamel had faced countless opponents in his long march to the World Series of Poker Final table and the heads-up battle that would decide the 2010 world champion, but none so insistent and unforgiving as the expectation he foisted upon himself. He said at every turn that he would not be happy unless he was wearing the gold bracelet. Tonight, Duhamel put a muzzle on that nagging compulsion when he became the first Canadian to win the World Series of Poker Main Event. After entering the second night of November Nine play with a better than 6-1 chip lead over American John Racener, Duhamel made quick work of his opponent and claimed the bracelet in fewer than 50 hands.

"It's a dream come true right now," Duhamel said.

The 23-year-old PokerStars player from Quebec may have have pushed himself unfairly hard, but it was not without some help in the pushing. Duhamel's victory makes him a nationwide hero, the first man from Canada to ever win poker's biggest championship. For the past decade, Canada's first father of poker, Daniel Negreanu, was the undisputed king of Canadian card playing, but even he was never able to claim a Main Event victory. In an age of poker that welcomes players from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, there is still only one person from each country who can be the nation's first WSOP champion, and Canada was not going to let Duhamel forget it.

The newspapers--which often have a hard time grasping the vagaries of the game--couldn't hold back. In one breath, they mentioned Duhamel's status as a "college dropout." In the next, they waved the Canadian flag as hard as possible above Duhamel's head. "Quebecer holds all aces in $8.9M World Series of Poker" offered today's Montreal Gazette. "Canadian on the verge of poker history--and $9 million" read the Toronto Star."Montrealer could become the first Canadian to win World Series of Poker" screamed the Winnipeg Free Press. The implication was clear: Duhamel may have won the bracelet and the money, but this is as much his country's victory as it is his.

Duhamel did not shy from the national pride. Like sports fans the country over, Duhamel knew what his accomplishment would mean the people under the maple leaf flag. Duhamel dressed his family and friends in Montreal Canadiens sweaters and took any opportunity to talk nicely about his suburb on the outskirts of Montreal. Boucherville, a city of around 40,000 on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, is a place with neighborhoods named "Harmonie" and a city just small enough that Duhamel will be the biggest name there for the foreseeable future.

"I have a chance to put my beautiful city of Boucherville onto the map, and I'll do everything I can to do it," Duhamel said. "I've lived there all my life. I would never trade that for anything."

There will be those who look at how Duhamel started the final table and make the logical jump that the Canadian's road to victory this weekend was a smooth one. That is, if Duhamel had a big chip lead to begin the final table and a massive chip lead heads-up, he had no excuse to not win. Those would be people who didn't witness Duhamel's precipitous fall down the leaderboard Saturday when his ace-king lost to John Racener's ace-queen, a pot that paved Racener's road to heads-up competition. It, too, threatened to end Duhamel's and Canada's chance for the bracelet. Duhamel, as he did all summer, persevered and dispatched the remaining favorites from the table. The effort carried him to the stage tonight where poker's biggest spotlight pointed its bulb in the Canadian's eyes and asked, "What's your next trick?"

Duhamel responded by summarily dismissing Racener. After wading through a field of more than 7,300 players, waiting four months to play at the final table, and killing 40 hours before getting to face Racener heads-up, Duhamel made it clear, he didn't want to drag this out any more than necessary. After doubling up Racener once in the first 30 hands with king-four versus pocket queens, Duhamel didn't seem fazed. After a short break in the action, Duhamel came back in binary form. It was a yes/no proposition for him. He was either all-in or folding. It took just a few hands of that before Racener's stack was only a little more than 15,000,000. With the big blind coming in at 1.6 million, Racener had little time to wait.

And so when Duhamel shoved it in again, Racener finally decided to call. It was [As][jh] for Duhamel and [kd][8d] for Racener. With his hood off, Duhamel rocked back and forth on his feet and breathed deeply as he watched the flop come out [4c][4d][9s]. It was a clean flop, one just as pretty as the [6c] on the turn.

Duhamel put his hands together as as if in prayer and held them to his mouth. The man who had betrayed no emotion in the hours leading up to this moment suddenly allowed himself to look hopeful. He had to dodge just six cards in the deck. If he could, everything he wanted would be his. Only an eight or a king would ruin the moment.

The dealer's hand pulled out the last card that would matter in the 2010 World Series of Poker. It was the [5c], a greeting card that might have read, "You are now the biggest name in poker."

With four months of energy stored in his 23-year-old body, Duhamel turned from the table and sprinted to his fans. In a sea of red jerseys, it looked for a moment as if Duhamel and his fans had won the Stanley Cup. Hoisted onto shoulders, Duhamel rode a screaming scrum around the stage and into poker history.

With that, with his family and friends bursting from their Canadiens sweaters, with the poker world ready to celebrate him, Jonathan Duhamel climbed down from shoulder-top, hugged Racener, and then assumed his role as poker champion of the world.

From that spot on the stage, Duhamel could see his fans' elation, Racener's disappointment, and the local cadre of the world poker media mobilizing to make him the biggest name in the game. What he could only imagine is what will happen next. The WSOP will cut Duhamel a $8.9 million dollar check. His home country will celebrate him. The late night TV chat shows will start calling. The possibilities are so heady, it will be some time before Duhamel will be able to grasp it all.

"It's like the most beautiful thing in my life by far," he said. "This bracelet means so much to me. It's amazing. It's unbelievable."

Tonight, Jonathan Duhamel is everything he wanted to be. He is the man with a bracelet. He is a hero to his country and beloved Boucherville. He is the 2010 World Series of Poker champion.

***

For a look back at all our November Nine coverage see any of the links below.

Analyzing heads up poker without access to hole cards is even more pointless than analyzing full ring poker without access to any poker knowledge whatsoever. But as we have done that for getting on six years now, we'll give this other game a stab.

It was plain in the pre-match interviews that John Racener's plan was to double up quickly and Jonathan Duhamel's was to stop him doing just that. Racener hadn't revealed, however, that he had clearly decided to see as many flops as he could for a cheaply as possible, hoping to pick up a concealed two pair or, better probably, trapping Duhamel with a big starting hand.

In carrying out that plan, Racener set about flat-calling from the small blind when he was first to speak pre-flop, and Duhamel obliged by checking his option to take them to the community cards. The strategy was only a partial success, however, because although Racener was able to see those flops, he clearly didn't connect, at least not as emphatically as Duhamel.

The first time they both seemed to like a board - see hand ten in our previous post - Duhamel had flopped top pair, turned two pair, and was able to call a river raise from Racener.

That meant that on hand 11, when Racener did pick up a big hand, pocket queens, and got all his chips in the middle, called by Duhamel, his double up only took him back to something close to his starting stack.

We then went through a short period of stasis. Hands 11 through about 25 were entirely devoid of three bets, meaning that after Racener's notable double up, it became a small-ball battle. Racener re-raised all in only once pre-flop, and Duhamel folded instantly. The stacks showed no significant fluctuation.

Duhamel clearly noticed the passivity on display, and decided to ramp it up a notch. He suddenly decided to put Racener to the test for his tournament life more frequently, and as a result picked up a few million chips here and there. When tournament director Jack Effel called an unscheduled break at around 9.30pm - about an hour after this battle began - Duhamel was closing in again on 200,000.

The precise counts at the break were:

Jonathan Duhamel: 196,050,000
John Racener: 23,550,000

And so we've reached the moment at which Jonathan Duhamel and John Racener sit down eye to eye.

In the moments leading up to the match, Duhamel came off the Rio's Ipanema Tower elevator flanked by an entourage of two burly fans. Duhamel's ears were stuffed with white buds. He danced in the corridor and looked every bit the heavyweight fighter on his way to the ring. Once he reached the Penn and Teller Theater, he met his army of Canadiens-sweatered supporters.

Meanwhile, Racener's fans filled in the other side of the stage with the RCNR shirts a stark contrast to the red jerseys on the other side of the floor.

The two remaining players in the 2010 WSOP event were about to play the youngest WSOP Main Event heads-up match in history. Just moments before play got underway, the Poker Hall of Fame inducted Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel into the ranks of poker's most famous and accomplished players. Now, two men aged 23 and 24 were about to compete for poker's biggest prize.

It fell to WSOP 2010 Player of the Year Frank Kassela to get the night underway. He gave the dealer the permission to shuffle up and deal. At 8:36pm PST the cards were in the air.

Who was to say how it would go? It could be over in one hand. Or Racener could double up once or twice and settle in for a very long night.

In the early going, neither player seemed willing to give it up soon. After waiting four months to take a girl on a date, you don't really want to take her out for McDonald's. Better to make it last a while.

Here's how the first ten hands and the remaining of the level played out.

Hand 1: Duhamel raises to 2.5 million. Racener folds.

Hand 2: Racener open folds.

Hand 3: Duhamel raises to 2.5 million. Racener moves all in. Duhamel folds.

Hand 4: Racener limps from small blind. Duhamel checks and they go to the first flop. It comes: [ac][ah][8c]. After Duhamel checks, Racener
bets 1.5m and wins.

Hand 5: Duhamel raises to 2.5 million. Racener folds.

Hand 6: Racener calls. Duhamel checks. Flop [js][ah][10d]. Check, check. The turn comes [qh] and Duhamel bets 1.7 million. Racener folds.

Hand 7: Duhamel raises to 2.5 million. Racener folds.

Hand 8: Racener calls. Duhamel checks. Flop [jd][jh][ad]. Racener bets 1.5 million and Duhamel calls. The turn is [jd], Duhamel checks, Racener checks. The river is [10c] and Duhamel bets 2.2 million. Racener folds.

Hand 9: Duhamel raises to 2.5 million, as he tends to do, but this time Racener calls. That takes them to a [8c][6c][ad] flop, which they both check. The turn is [9h], which they also both check. The river is [3s] and Racener bets 3.5 million, which is good.

Hand 10: Here's the first significant-ish pot of the night, and it goes to Duhamel. Racener limps from the small blind again, and Duhamel checks once more. They go to a flop of [3s][jc][9s] and Duhamel checks. Racener bets 1.4 million and Duhamel calls, taking them to a [4d] turn. They both check that. The river is [10s] and Duhamel bets 2.8 million. Racener raises to 6.9 million and Duhamel calls, showing [jd][4c] for two pair. Racener mucks.

At the end of the first ten hands, the chip counts looked like this:

Duhamel: 201,150,000
Racener: 18,450,000

That all changed on the very next hand when Duhamel raised all-in from the button with king-four. Trouble was, Racener held pocket queens. Duhamel couldn't draw out and Racener got the first of the double-ups he will need if he plans to come back.

As we head into the 800,000/1.6 millon level, the chip counts sit as follows:

Duhamel: 182,700,000
Racener: 36,900,000

It's not easy being a chip leader. Ever since the World Series Main Event revised its format to give us the November Nine, the chip leader at the end of the summer section has never won the bracelet. Even before that it was far from a foregone conclusion that pre-final table dominance equated to post final table jubilation. If you show me Jamie Gold, I'll raise you Phillip Hilm. It's tough at the top for sure.

That said, there's not a poker player alive who wouldn't want to be Jonathan Duhamel right now. He sat on a monstrous chip lead as July faded into August, September and November. And after 11 hours of play on Saturday, he emerged with a lead even more emphatic.

It was far from a smooth path through Saturday's phase of play, but when Duhamel returns to the stage of the Penn and Teller Theater in Las Vegas tonight, he will sit behind 188,950,000 chips. His final adversary, John Racener, has 30,750,000, meaning Duhamel has more then 85 percent of the chips in play. It is the biggest heads-up advantage since 2006, and Duhamel is the overwhelming favourite for glory.

But the young PokerStars player from Quebec, Canada, is a smart cookie and is taking nothing for granted at all. Yesterday he told reporters: "If I give him (Racener) a little space, then he's going to have room to do stuff. I just don't want to double him up in the beginning, that's for sure."

A Racener double up was precisely the outcome of the only significant pot the two played against one another on Saturday. Racener was on the brink of elimination, when he was all in with [as][qs] against Duhamel's [ac][kh]. But the World Series final table requires ace-queen to beat ace-king at least once--a similar coup eliminated Phil Ivey at the hands of Darvin Moon last year--and the [qd] on the flop gave this pot to Racener to keep him alive.

Racener emerged from that hand with about 34 million chips, and he duly sat with a similar figure for the rest of the final table. Duhamel, on the other hand, dipped below that figure then surged above it, both times winning key double ups of his own.

The first of them was against Michael Mizrachi, when Duhamel had open-raised from the small blind, only to hear Mizrachi move all in behind him. Duhamel called for his tournament life with [as][9h] and was right in his belief that Mizrachi had been shoving light. Mizrachi tabled [3h][3s] and when one nine flopped and another turned, Duhamel was back in the hunt.

Even two days later, the dust still hasn't quite settled on the second of Duhamel's double ups. This was a hand that will be discussed for many years to come. When there were only three players remaining, Duhamel and Joseph Cheong had something like 90 million chips each, and seemed to be cruising to the heads up passage of play. But then poker observers were forced to take a very deep breath, rub their eyes with their balled-up hands, blink, and say: "Err, what?"

Cheong raised to 2.9 million from the small blind, attacking Duhamel's big blind. This had been happening a lot through the preceding ten hours, as had the next bit: Duhamel three-bet to 6.75 million. Cheong then re-re-raised, making it 14.25 million to play. The Cheong four bet had been arguably the strongest play at the final table to that point, and Duhamel admitted in interviews later than he'd been preparing to five bet at the earliest opportunity.

This was it. Duhamel made it 22.75 million. And the crazy thing was, we weren't even done yet. Cheong moved all in, covering Duhamel, and the Canadian called.

All of this happened in not much more than a couple of minutes, but it was the biggest ever pot in World Series history, weighing in at around 177 million. Both were nine days into the World Series Main Events, and they were wagering it all on a single hand. Clearly both players had enough respect for one another to know each of them could be tangling light. But in this instance Duhamel had actually found a hand.

Duhamel's pocket queens were leading Cheong's [as][7h] and stayed good through an ace-less board. Cheong was eliminated soon after to take us to two players - one of them with an awful lot of chips.

"It's a dream come true for me," Duhamel said. "I want to prove to myself that I can do great and play a good game. I didn't want to finish second or third, that's not an option for me. I wanted to win."

Play is due to resume at 8pm in Las Vegas. It could be over in the blink of an eye, but it might also drag us captivated into the early hours. As ever, we'll follow it all on PokerStars Blog.

Key statistics:

2010 Heads-up chip count:

Jonathan Duhamel: 188,950,000
John Racener: 30,750,000

Previous heads-up counts:

2009: Joe Cada 136,925,000 v Darvin Moon 58,875,000
2008: Peter Eastgate 80,300,000 v Ivan Demidov 56,600,000

Scheduled start time: 8pm

Level: 40
Blinds: 600,000-1,200,000

First prize: $8,944,310
Second prize: $5,545,955

On Friday afternoon in Las Vegas, the day before the final table of the World Series of Poker began, Jonathan Duhamel, chip leader, told reporters of his ambition for the coming weekend. "I am playing to win," he said. "I'm not going to be happy if I come second."

After 11 hours of play on Saturday, in front of a packed Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio Casino and Hotel, no one can doubt Duhamel's words. After seven of his adversaries fell by the wayside, Duhamel stayed in the hunt for the title and will return on Monday night to go head-to-head with John Racener for the World Series platinum bracelet.

Duhamel will either win or come second. Nothing else is now an option. But the PokerStars man is the overwhelming favorite, with a chip lead of more than six to one.

This was an all-star performance from Duhamel, who will have won over any of the doubters who guessed he might have lucked his way to the chip lead in the summer segment of this tournament. He showed grit and stamina, focus and determination. He was pushed to the brink of elimination, but bounced back fearlessly. And then some.

On the day when poker began to resemble a boxing match (scantily clad "seat girls", Bruce Buffer on the mic, etc.), the shadow-boxing Duhamel put on a prize fighter's show. He started the day with 65,975,000, dipped to around 20,000,000, and then wagered it all with [as][9h] against Michael Mizrachi's pocket threes. Duhamal won that race, then landed the knockout blow to Mizrachi with some cutely played aces.

But that was only the appetizer. Duhamel had been sparring most prominently with Joseph Cheong, and they had been three- four- five-betting one another with abandon, even as the field thinned. The first six-bet, however, will be remembered as long as people are playing poker.

Cheong and Duhamel had almost identically-sized stacks when they got them all in after a raising war to end them all. Duhamel's pocket queens stayed good against Cheong's [as][7h] and the pot of more than 170 million, slid in Duhamel's favour, was the biggest in World Series history.

Duhamel the Destroyer will come back on Monday night with 188,950,000, which is way, way ahead of John Racener's 30,750,000. Racener had sat in joyous disbelief as his two mightily-stacked opponents got involved in their ding-dong battle. Racener is going to need a lot of help to turn it around. But no one will be counting any chickens just yet, least of all the remarkably grounded Duhamel.

For Jason Senti, PokerStars' other final table ambassador, it was a far tougher ask to make it to the final two. But he too showed tenacity in ample quantity, and earned himself more than $1.3 million for seventh place.

Senti began the day with the tournament short stack, but put it to work early, shoving uncontested four times in the opening couple of orbits and gradually chipping up. All of a sudden, Senti had enough to eliminate Soi Nguyen in ninth, then to take a dent from Cheong when he doubled through his neighbor and countryman (Senti's [kd][7s] outdrew Cheong's [ac][9c].)

Matthew Jarvis was knocked out and Senti had more than 20 million with seven players left. But when he got it in with [ad][kd], he couldn't beat Cheong's pocket tens. Cheong ended up rivering a straight to send Senti to the rail.

"I'm happy with the way I played and the way it turned out," Senti said. "I can't not feel anything but good after finishing seventh out of seventy-three hundred people. I'm feeling pretty good about poker right now."

It's fair to say that Jonathan Duhamel quite likes this game as well at the moment. Although he was put through the ringer and left clinging to the wreckage, he hauled himself heroically back into contention and set himself up for a famous night on Monday.

He can become the first Canadian winner of the Main Event and among the youngest ever to step onto the top of the podium. He also stands to join the clutch of fine PokerStars players with a Main Event bracelet: Moneymaker, Raymer, Hachem, Eastgate, Cada .... Duhamel?

Join us on Monday to find out. In the meantime, have a look back at all of today's coverage:

Goodnight for now.

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi was a lot of things to the November Nine. He was the best known of the players. He was the man with the roller-coaster backstory. He was the man who had the chance to be the first WSOP Main Event champion with the letter "z" in his name. Now, he is something else: the fifth place finisher.

Jonathan Duhamel had played it tricky, limping in from the small blind and letting The Grinder see a free flop: [5d][4s][qc]. It would prove to be Mizrachi's undoing. He held [qd][8h], and when Duhamel checked, Mizrachi bet 2 million. Duhamel raised, Mizrachi pushed, and Duhamel called fast with [ad][ac]. With no dramatic/typical suckout, Mizrachi was gone.

It's happened time and again at the WSOP. Big names make it deep, draw a huge rail, and then don't quite make it. It sucks some of the spirit from the room. It also does something important: it clears the way for a new legend to emerge. Now there were four players, and topping them was Duhamel with a staggering 91 million in chips.

It was suggested in the press box that this would be the moment Duhamel takes control and runs the table. A counter argument said Joseph Cheong would use this opportunity to beat the stuffing out of the small stacks and pick off an aggressive Duhamel. Both arguments were academic.

When play resumed, it was only a matter of minutes before Fillipo Candio got it all in with [kc][qc] against Joseph Cheong's ace-three. Cheong flopped his ace and the lone Italian in the field was gone.

There's math (isn't there always?) that can suggest the point at which the November Nine will be reduced to the November Two. That's what will have to happen before these three men will go to bed for the night. In reality, one can read as many tea leaves as he likes, and he won't be able to tell you how a final table will play out.

The history of the November Nine is a short one, but interesting nonetheless. In 2008, the final table was six-handed by hand #53. Last year, at the #160 hand mark, the November Nine was still seven-handed. Mizrachi's elimination a few minutes ago came on hand #185, and the field was reduced to four. Now it sits at three with one short stack.

Each of them are looking at a reasonable facsimile of millions of dollars that the WSOP security team has just carried into the room in black duffel bags. It the old days, it was all hundred dollars bills and came in a cardboard box guarded by Benny Binion's shotgun-toting boys. This year, we'll just assume it's a bunch of singles sandwiched by some Benjamins. In any case, the boys at the table are going to be getting a nice check that they can cash for real dough.

Here's how they stack up as play resumes.

Joseph Cheong 97,650,000
Jonathan Duhamel 93,700,000
John Racener 28,250,000

Finally speaking of history, here's our man Jason Senti on his way out the door after his seventh place finish,

Johnathan Duhamel started today with 65,975,000 chips. He was the leader. He had more chips than any player had ever brought to a World Series final table. And he needed to win only 4,025,000 more of them to break the 70 million chip barrier, the first player to do so in this year's tournament.

As we've noted previously, the early stages of this final table did not go in Duhamel's favour. He was pegged back first by Joseph Cheong and then by Michael Mizrachi, who both surged to more than 65,000,000 as Duhamel slid back into the pack.

But then we started noticing something weird happening. Let's call it the curse of the 70 million pot. It simply seemed as though no player could get beyond that apparently insignificant landmark. Anyone who tried lost a massive pot and was knocked back down to size.

Just as Cheong closed in on 70 million, for instance, he lost a huge pot to Jason Senti, who doubled through the then-chip-leader with [kd][7s] against Cheong's [ac][9c]. Then Duhamel, who had chipped back up, lost a huge pot to John Racener, with Duhamel's [ac][kh] being outdrawn by Racener's [as][qs] all in pre-flop. Duhamel would have broken 70 million with a win there, which is probably precisely why he lost.

Then it was Mizrachi's turn. He moved all in over the top of a Duhamel opener, and Duhamel called for his tournament life. The pot had the chance to put Mizrachi in the 70 millions, but Duhamel's [as][9h] got there against Mizrachi's [3h][3s].

"Whoever gets to seventy million first is going to win this tournament," said one press box observer. And if that's true, then the title is going to Cheong, who eventually managed to chip, chip his way through the glass ceiling through a succession of small pots. But then guess what? He lost a bunch of pots again to leave him on around 67 million at the break.

Here's how they line up as we enter level 40:

Joseph Cheong - 66,750,000
Jonathan Duhamel - 56,550,000
Michael Mizrachi - 39,500,000
Filippo Candio - 29,950,000
John Racener - 26,550,000

If you have come to the belief that poker is nothing but a series of won and lost races, this November Nine performance will do nothing to change your mind.

When Jonathan Duhamel called John Dolan's all-in and Dolan turned over [qd][5d], we thought, "Finally, we could see an elimination that isn't the result of a race!"

It was an exciting moment for all involved. The first three eliminations of the day had been coin flips, the ol' pair versus overcards scenario that has become tournament poker's version of a Henny Youngman one-liner. Take my race, please.

And then Duhamel turned over his hand: [4c][4d].

Tried and true, another race, and an another elimination by way of coin-flip. Dolan could do nothing to improve his hand. He watched the [jh][7h][6h][9h][3c] board run out. He was gone in sixth for $1,772,959.

We wouldn't have to wait long before the November Five again gave us a chance to break the streak. Michael Mizrachi called John Racener's all-in with [ad][8d]. Racener held big slick, a hand that held up to the end, knocked Mizrachi out of the chip lead, and made certain that this event will stretch into the hours during which french toast is an appropriate order and not just something that happens after too many cocktails at the Pai Gow table.

Up to this point, it had been all fun and games. Then came the unthinkable. Johnathan Duhamel and John Racener got it all-in. Duhamel held [ac][kh] to Racener's [as][qs].

This was it. This was the moment an elimination would not be the result of a race. We were prepared to close this post out with just such a sentence. Then our nearby colleague Martin Derbyshire said, "Here's the Phil Ivey moment."

Woah.

Before the flop even came out, Derbyshire had sealed it. His recollection was of that moment this time last year when Phil Ivey held the ace-king to Darvin Moon's ace-queen. Everyone knows how that ended. And now everyone knew what was about to happen to Duhamel

There it was...the [qd] on the flop. Sure, Duhamel had outs, but everyone knew they weren't coming.

With less than 27,000,000 in his stack, Duhamel would probably have been right to sit back and take a breath. Instead, he was right back in action moments later. He came in for a raise and Michael Mizrachi moved all-in over the top. Duhamel barely thought before calling with [as][9h]. Whether it was tilt or a good read, no one can say. The only that that was for sure was that The Grinder had pocket threes, a hand that was basically worthless after a nine fell on the flop.

In any case, it was another damned race.

When everyone finally took their seats, the chip counts shook out like this.

Joseph Cheong 67,925,000
Jonathan Duhamel 53,900,000
Michael Mizrachi 28,450,000
John Racener 39,600,000
Fillipo Candio 29,725,000

And then there was one.

The news here at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas is that Jason Senti's World Series of Poker is over. He has just busted in seventh place, earning $1,356,720 for his troubles, leaving Johnathan Duhamel as the final PokerStars player remaining. But it's testament to Senti's brilliant day today that for a little while it seemed he could be going much higher.

Senti came to the table with the short stack, but put his chips to work early and was responsible for the elimination of Soi Nguyen. He moved up to more than 20 million at one point, and watched as Matthew Jarvis went out in eighth. But as we've known for a long, long time, nothing is guaranteed in poker. Nothing except high drama when all the chips go in the middle.

Here's how the hand played out. It was folded to Senti in the cut-off, and he made it 1.85 million to play. Joseph Cheong, one seat to his left, re-raised to 4.95 million, and when it came back to Senti, he shoved for his whole stack.

Cheong called instantly, and we were looking at a race. Senti's [ad][kc] needed to catch against Cheong's [10s][10c] - but catching alone was not enough.

The flop was great for Senti. It came [kd][kh][qc], giving him trips. Both players stood impassive as the [jd] turned, which gave Cheong a life-line. Lo and behold, the [9d] came on the river, giving Cheong a straight and sending gasps around the Penn and Teller Theater. Similar to the Matt Jarvis/Michael Mizrachi hand from earlier, the money had gone in when they were about a 50-50 shot, but fortunes had veered wildly.

When the smoke cleared this time, it was Cheong with the smile on his face and Senti sent to talk to reporters.

"Of course the flop was amazing," Senti said. "And I felt really good about it. I wasn't too happy with the turn. Then my luck finally ran out."

It was a pretty good summary of the final hand, but left out all of Senti's excellent work from earlier in the day, where he moved into contention despite that short stack. "Most people would have put me in ninth," Senti said, and he acknowledged that his tactics of shoving early had worked to perfection. "No one wants to bust first," he said.

Senti revealed plans to play on the NAPT in Los Angeles next week, and then at the PCA in January. Having previously been happy to fly under the radar, Senti now says that his life has changed and he's preparing for a higher-profile life. "I can't not feel good after finishing seventh out of seventy-three hundred people. I'm feeling pretty good about poker right now."

Regrets? Not really. Well, maybe one: "I'm happy with the way I played and the way it turned out," he said. "Except for that last hand."

Senti has now hit the bars of Las Vegas with his 100-strong rail, who bellowed his name even as he made his way to the rail. Something tells me we haven't seen the last of this guy.

Chip counts after Jason Senti's bust:

Michael Mizrachi 61,700,000
Joseph Cheong 58,325,000
Jonathan Duhamel 39,325,000
Filippo Candio 27,975,000
John Racener 16,575,000
John Dolan 14,750,000