Jonathan Duhamel Biography

Over $11,8 Million in Career Tournament Earnings

Jonathan Duhamel is from Canada, and studied Administration Finance before earning millions of dollars at the World Series of Poker. He also worked a string of jobs while learning the game by playing against friends every day. He crushed the learning curve fast, and was soon good enough to make it as a pro. Although he probably never imaged just how big his success would prove to be.   

Primarily a cash player, Jonathan’s rise to the top of the tournament game started off modestly, with a run of small cashes at events in the US. He first appeared on the radar when he came close to making a European Poker Tour (EPT) final table, finishing 10th at the Prague event in 2008. It was eighteen months before his next major live result, but it ended up being the start of something huge. Jonathan went to Las Vegas for the WSOP* and hit the ground running. First came a small cash in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event, followed by a top 15 finish in a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em event, for a combined cash of $43,000.

He then turned his attention to the Main Event, along with 7,318 others, all looking to win poker’s biggest prize. By the time the action stopped for the final table, Jonathan was sitting at the top of the pile with a dominating chip lead. When play re-started in November, he saw his stack take a few knocks, but Jonathan managed to bounce back every time, and eventually closed out the tournament for the gold bracelet, the World Championship title, and a huge $8,944,310 payday. He also made history as one of the youngest-ever winners, and the first Canadian to claim the title. He then continued his good run into 2011, scoring another tournament victory, this time in the EPT Deauville €10,000 High Roller event, good for €203,232.

Jonathan says he’ll be focusing less on cash and more on tournaments during his time as a Team Pro. The fact he’s already won the biggest tournament of all, and is still hungry for more, is a frightening prospect for his opponents.

When he isn’t playing the big events, he likes listening to music, but his real passion is hockey. He’s played for years, and showed himself to be a great ambassador for the game by donating a portion of his Main Event winnings to a charity run by his favorite team, the Montreal Canadiens. Jonathan is a member of Team PokerStars Pro, and plays online using the screen name ‘johnduhamel’.