BY GARY TRASK

IT WAS A LITTLE MORE THAN ONE HOUR after Jonathan Duhamel had been crowned 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champ, and the Rio’s Penn & Teller Theater was nearly empty. Wads of confetti were scattered all around. ESPN crew workers diligently broke down the main stage. A few lingering poker writers sat on press row, trying to make deadline.

The tranquility of the moment was all the more eerie because over the course of the previous three days, the theater had been filled almost continuously with fan-generated electricity. Rabid poker enthusiasts jammed the venue for nearly 20 hours over the course of two days, wildly cheering every pot. The nine players who outlasted 7,310 others to get there were transformed into genuine celebrities, signing autographs and posing for cell phone pictures at every turn. And the poker itself was downright captivating, with more than 20 lead changes and a number of spectacular hands that brought the entire theater to its collective feet.

For all the controversy the four-month Main Event final table pause spurred back in 2008 when it was first introduced, one can’t argue the fact that the delay has created exactly what WSOP officials had hoped for, turning poker’s world championship into a true event.

“The atmosphere continues to amaze us,” said Ty Stewart, vice president of Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment and the WSOP. “The first year we did this, we wondered if anyone would come. Now, our biggest concern is getting people to leave.

“Look, we all know that the poker community can be a little grumpy, shall we say, when it comes to deviating from normal protocol. But I think now, after three years of this, everyone is real pleased at how big it has become.”

At the top of the list of those most “pleased” right now is one Jonathan Duhamel. When the final card of the final hand of the Main Event hit the felt at 10:04 p.m. Vegas time on November 8, clinching his heads-up victory over John Racener, Duhamel pumped his fist and jumped into the arms of a sea of adoring fans clad in red Montreal Canadiens hockey sweaters. The slight 23-year-old pro from Quebec wearing tan cargo shorts, a black-hooded sweatshirt, and flip-flops was lifted into the air by his band of hysteric friends for an impromptu session of body surfing as confetti blasted into the air and chaos reigned inside the theater.

Chants of “Ole! Ole! Ole!” and slurred renditions of “Oh Canada” nearly drowned out Tournament Director Jack Effel as he made the presentation of the bracelet to Duhamel, who grabbed a few wads of the cash that had been spilled onto the table and raised them into the air. You could clearly read Duhamel’s lips as he was introduced as the 2010 Main Event champ.

“Wow!” he said with an incredulous smile and beaming eyes as he looked into the rafters. “Wow!”

With the victory, Duhamel became the first player from Canada to wear the Main Event bracelet. He earned a check worth $8.9-million and secured a place in poker history. His name will forever be associated with the greats of the game and his picture will be hoisted into the rafters of the Rio’s Amazon Ballroom during future WSOPs.

Now that the November Nine concept has entrenched itself as an indelible part of the tournament, it is becoming increasingly clear that the player who prevails isn’t the only one to emerge as a celebrity. Sure, Duhamel’s star will shine longer and brighter than that of the others, but the eight players not crowned Main Event champ have also been granted star status in the poker world.

Take, for example, Soi Nguyen and Matthew Jarvis, the two players who had to “settle” for ninth and eighth place and the $811,823 and $1,045,743 prizes that came with those finishes, respectively.

The 37-year-old Nguyen, the lone amateur and the oldest player at the table, vowed he would play more poker in the future, but also planned to head back to his job with Team Makena, a medical supplies company in Santa Ana, California that was delighted to have Nguyen representing them.

“He’ll always have a place with our company,” said CFO Jim Schuerger as he watched the media swarm around his star employee for his bust-out interview in the theater’s hallway. Schuerger was one of more than 40 of Team Makena’s 100 or so employees to make the trip to Las Vegas for the final table. Many of them wore “Team Makena” T-shirts in support of their co-worker, and Schuerger said the company’s website traffic had more than tripled since Nguyen made the final table.

“It’s been a great ride for Soi and a great opportunity for our company,” he said. “We couldn’t be happier for him. He’s been with us from the beginning and had a lot to do with our success. We’ve been more than happy to support him throughout this entire ride.”

Jarvis’ exit was a bit more difficult to swallow for a couple of reasons. First off, the 26-year-old Canadian legitimately thought he had a chance to take down the title. And second, the coin flip against Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi that ended his dream involved one of the most brutal river cards in Main Event history.

“That was a made-for-TV hand for sure,” said an emotional, but cordial, Jarvis following the hand that saw his pocket nines fall way behind Mizrachi’s A-Q on the flop, catch a two-outer for a full house on the turn, then absorb an ace on the river that gave The Grinder a better boat, sending the theater into an absolute tizzy. “He played his hand right and I played mine right. You gotta remember, this is a card game and sometimes you’re going to get unlucky.”

Standing nearby as Jarvis tried to explain his devastating bust-out hand to the media was his group of nearly 150 family and friends decked out in black T-shirts that perfectly described their favorite player’s demeanor—printed on the front were the words “No Ego. No Emotion. Just Poker.”

Jarvis’ father Norm, a former pro golfer who was diagnosed with cancer just before the WSOP began last summer, got teary-eyed as he described what it was like to be in Vegas to watch his son at the final table.

“I couldn’t get here over the summer because I was going through treatment, so to be able to witness this whole event in person is a real thrill, even though we’re a bit disappointed right now,” said the elder Jarvis, who, despite losing more than 40 pounds, is on his way to recovery and was feeling well enough to play a round of golf at Rio Secco Golf Club with Matt, his former part-time caddy, the day before the final table began. “It was a great ride and Matt will be back, trust me on that.”

Jarvis’ sister Danielle agreed with her father, saying, “This is just the beginning for Matt. The way he handled the limelight proves he’s a born star. There are more great things to come for him.”

Danielle also got a little taste of the limelight during the 2010 Main Event. She enjoyed some face time during the ESPN telecasts, and after one particular episode in which color commentator Norman Chad expressed his affection for her, Danielle said she received “hundreds” of Facebook friend requests.

“Kind of creepy and cool all at the same time,” she said with a smile. Yes, the November Nine format helps create celebrities. And you don’t even have to be playing in the event to get your 15 minutes.

Jarvis’ exit radically altered the pace of play at the table. After his departure, there were more pre-flop folds and the remaining players seemed more hesitant to mix it up.

And for the next six hours, two players—Mizrachi and Joseph Cheong—took center stage.

Mizrachi, the only player at the table with a WSOP bracelet and the clear crowd favorite, was mounting a charge to the chip lead. The Grinder’s large and raucous tableside cheering section—which included, among others, his mother, wife, three brothers, and poker pros David “Chino” Rheem and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, all wearing custom-made red “Grinder” shirts—was getting larger and more animated by the minute.

The most aggressive player at the table, however, was Cheong. The 24-year-old from California had the rest of the table flummoxed by his actions as he consistently three- and four-bet. Cheong came in with the third-largest stack and never fell below that level. But his prowess at the table was going largely unnoticed because all of the attention seemed centered on The Grinder.

Everyone in the theater knew what Mizrachi was trying to accomplish. A win in the Main Event would have secured a Triple Crown that would have made Ted Williams blush: Players Championship victory, Main Event title, Player of the Year honors.

What’s more, a victory would have catapulted The Grinder past Phil Ivey into the top spot (by a comfortable margin) on the all-time career money list with $18-million. When history has a chance to be made, you can sense it in the air. And by the time the dinner break came along, The Grinder, who started the day with the third-shortest stack, was in the chip lead.

“When we went to dinner and he was in the lead, I think that’s when everyone started to say, ‘Wow, he might win this thing after all,’” admitted Racener, a fellow Floridian and good friend of The Grinder. “We knew if he got some chips he’d become a huge threat and that’s exactly what happened. Everything seemed to be going his way.”

“Go Grinder” chants were heard throughout the theater hallways as the crowd filed back in after dinner. Mizrachi actually had to be escorted to the table because the masses were surrounding him like he was one of The Beatles. But when the cards went back in the air, Cheong continued to be the aggressor and Jason Senti was his next victim. Senti was the short stack coming into the day but played well, moving all in four times in the first 14 hands of the day and eight times overall to chip up. He was methodically moving his way up the leader board until his A-K shove was called by the impervious Cheong and his pocket tens.

Senti spiked two kings on the flop and appeared destined to continue his comeback. But Cheong prevailed when he made a runner-runner straight, marking two straight eliminations that brought down the house.

Jonathan Dolan, who came in with the second-largest stack, was next to go. It was a strange final table for the 24-year-old pro from Florida, who could never get anything going and made several questionable maneuvers. He finally busted when his desperation all-in move with Q-5 failed against Duhamel’s pocket fours, and as five-handed play began, The Grinder was still leading the pack, closely followed by Cheong.

A final table is always full of momentum swings and just when it appeared Cheong and Mizrachi were on a collision course for the Monday night heads-up match, the sudden demise of The Grinder was set in motion by a pair of strange decisions. Looking back, these two pivotal hands played a key role in advancing the eventual final two, Duhamel and Racener.

First, Racener, the short stack at the time, three-bet all in after not having played many hands over the previous two levels. The Grinder went in the tank and then rolled his eyes as he called and flipped over A-8 suited. Racener’s A-K held up and the gum-chomping pro doubled up while Mizrachi fell out of the chip lead.

“Sometimes you have to take a gamble if you want to win this tournament and that’s what I did,” Mizrachi said later. “I thought I had enough chips to take that risk. What can I say? I took a shot and it didn’t work out.”

The next staggering blow to Mizrachi’s stack came when he surprisingly shoved all in with 22-million chips in front of him while holding pocket threes. Duhamel, who saw his A-K get cracked by Racener’s A-Q a few hands earlier, decided to put himself at risk when he called with A-9 and the race was on. When Duhamel flopped a nine, made trips on the turn, and won the hand, you could feel the air go out of The Grinder’s cheering section’s balloon, while the Duhamel puck-heads erupted.

In retrospect, this coin flip may have been the key moment of the final table. A win by The Grinder likely would have given him the kind of momentum that’s difficult to stop. It also would have sent Duhamel back to Canada without the bracelet.

“I was surprised he called me,” Mizrachi said during his bust-out interview, which came after another failed run-in with Duhamel. “It was a tough spot. I guess he just felt like gambling. Give him credit. It worked out for him.”

Ironically, the quietest man at the table throughout the day was Italian firecracker Filippo Candio, who became an instant ESPN sensation with his zany antics throughout the tournament. Candio, the first Italian to make the Main Event final table, is not afraid to show his emotions, but other than a pair of hands when he bluffed Mizrachi out of pots and then brazenly showed his cards, the 26-year-old was a non-factor. Yet here he was in the final four.

The inaction finally began to catch up to Candio, who superstitiously wore a striped blue sweater throughout the Main Event but chose to don a gray-striped blazer at the final table with the lucky sweater draped over his shoulders. He eventually said “Ciao” when he pushed his short stack all in with K-Q suited and got insta-called by Cheong’s A-3 suited. After an ace hit on the flop, Cheong was on his way to becoming the first player with a 100-million chip stack.

Joseph Cheong is a talented player who may very well go on to win multiple WSOP bracelets. But no matter how much success he ends up having, hand number 213 of the 2010 Main Event final table will forever haunt him.

When three-handed play began, Cheong and Duhamel were in position to waltz into heads-up play, holding stacks of 98-million and 77-million, respectively. It appeared Racener, with just 20-million, was going to have to do some serious maneuvering to avoid finishing third.

Or he was going to have to let someone else do his maneuvering for him. It quickly became apparent that Cheong was not going to sleep on his big stack. He was willing to clash with Duhamel. And when Cheong looked down at an ace of spades and seven of hearts in the small blind, he got it in his head that it was time to put his tournament life on the line. He raised and when Duhamel three-bet from the big blind, Cheong returned volley with a four-bet. Duhamel five-bet, and Cheong pushed his entire 95-million chip stack in. Slightly covered, Duhamel made the call and risked exiting in third place. It was the largest pot in WSOP history.

The crowd cringed when Cheong turned over his ace-rag. When Duhamel showed his pocket queens, Cheong hung his head in despair. And all Racener could do was sit back and smile as he was about to put it in reverse and back into heads-up play.

“That was unreal,” Racener said. “I thought for sure I was going to have to double-up a few times in order to get to heads-up. But they went at each other and I was more than happy to step aside.”

When Duhamel’s pretty ladies held up, Cheong dropped all the way down to 10-million. Six hands later, he was eliminated, setting off a wild celebration in the Duhamel and Racener corners and ending a 14-hour session of poker.

“I’m just glad I had the queens,” Duhamel explained afterward. “He was four-betting me a lot and I was folding. This was the first time he did it to me when I had a real hand.

“I thought when we got three-handed that Racener was going to have to double up a couple times to survive, but Joseph decided he wanted to play a little poker. I didn’t really want to play big pots, but he pushed the action and I had to respond.”

Poker royalty was out in full force two nights later when Duhamel, Racener, and their respective cheering sections returned to the theater for heads-up action.

The Poker Hall of Fame induction took place before the cards went in the air, and legends like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Jack Binion, and Barry Greenstein dotted the room as Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel took their deserved places in the virtual Hall.

“It was unbelievable to see all of those guys,” Duhamel said of the ceremony. “It was inspiring for me. It made me want to win that much more because to have my name even mentioned with guys like Doyle Brunson would mean so much to me.”

With a 6-1 advantage in chips heading into the night, Duhamel was well positioned to do just that. Ten hands into the session, that advantage was up to 11-1 and less than two hours after heads-up began, the Canadian secured the Main Event victory when his A-J held up against Racener’s K-8. As hard as he tried, Racener couldn’t overcome the deficit and bowed out in second place.

“It was an amazing run,” Racener said. “To make the heads-up was an accomplishment in itself because my stack never got that high. I was right around 35- or 40-million most of the time and the lowest I got was around 11-million. I just kept grinding it out and did my best to survive.

“In the end, Jonathan’s stack was too much for me to handle. Give him credit. He deserved to win.”

As far as Ty Stewart was concerned, the WSOP and poker in general were going to be winners no matter what transpired during heads-up.
“Both guys would have been great champions,” he said. “There are some guys who want to be stars and some guys who just want to play poker. Racener can do both and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him—not by a long shot.

“I’ve gotten to know Jonathan pretty well and he’s very passionate about the game and will be a great ambassador. This is the second international champ we’ve had in three years [Denmark’s Peter Eastgate won in ‘08] and that just speaks to how poker continues to be globalized. We’re real happy that we have a new Main Event champ that is going to be playing poker for years to come.”

For his part, Duhamel seemed genuinely overwhelmed to be the new world champion. But as he handled every question that was asked of him by the overflowing media, whether he had to speak in English or his native French, he gave you a sense that he will handle his newfound fame with class and dignity. He comes across as the type of guy you wouldn’t mind sitting down with at the corner of the bar while enjoying a few Molsons.

Duhamel’s post-game comments didn’t lack for clichés, but there were also some that came straight from the heart. He talked about how incredible it was for him to go from working in a factory that manufactures aircraft engine parts in order to make ends meet to cashing a check for $8.9-million. He said one of the first things he would do is donate $100,000 to a children’s charity in Montreal. When asked if he would be a good ambassador for the game, he said he would do everything in his power to try, but “if you have some tips for me, I’m all ears. This is all new to me.”

“This whole thing is surreal,” the new champ added. “I’m honored to be the first Canadian to win the Main Event and I’m happy for my friends and everyone who has supported me. You know, we Canadians know how to party, but the one we’re going to have tonight might top ’em all.”

As Duhamel exited the theater, he had a Canadian flag draped over his shoulders. His followers were still loud and exuberant as they led him out the exit door. Camera flashes lit up the normally dim Rio casino floor as the group continued to sing “Ole! Ole! Ole!”

After a four-month break that has proven to create new poker stars like no other tournament possibly can, Duhamel’s star ascended higher than anyone’s. He didn’t just win the world championship of poker. He won an event. And while Jonathan Duhamel is the biggest beneficiary of the November Nine concept, the game of poker stands to benefit nearly as much.

Gary Trask is a freelance writer based in Boston who has been covering the gaming industry since 2006 and was a member of the inaugural media committee for the Poker Hall of Fame.