In the aftermath of Matt Affleck’s departure from the main event one man was left to live with the consequences. Jonathan Duhamel is tearing through the field, and has a block of chips in front of him worth more than 50 million. But for Duhamel it was a bitter-sweet hand. Duhamel had got lucky, a painfully regular part of the game, and he was in no mood to pretend it was down to anything else.
“Luck box,” he said, to describe his day. “I won a huge pot and didn’t deserve it. It’s poker, but seriously, it was a 40 million pot I think and I had eight outs on the turn, so I was quite lucky to win that one. I made a bad read on the guy but ended up winning anyway.”
Jonathan Duhamel, moments after eliminating Matt Affleck, with tournament director Jack Effel stacking his chips
Duhamel had been the first to approach Affleck as the young American stood covering his face with his cap. But what can you feel at a time like that?
“I don’t know how to feel about it,” said Duhamel thinking about it. “I made a bad call and I end up winning. Sometimes people do that to me and now at the most important time of my life I do that to other people. That’s why I’m a luck box. That’s it.”
Duhamel now pushes on, five-handed on the secondary feature table with the two short stacks over the crowds on the main stage. His plan? To stay aggressive until the end of the day, whenever that might be.
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SITUATION OF THE HOUR
Pascal LeFrancois’s elimination in 11th place stops the clock. Tournament officials clear the room to avoid similar scenes to those we saw when we went down to two tables, pandemonium on stage and all sorts of crowd issues. This time the spectators are forced to wait outside as the main stage is prepared for the last table, not the final table, the last table.
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DOUBLE UP OF THE HOUR
Brandon Steven made the double up of the hour, and it was a vital one. Jason Senti had raised from the button to 700,000 before Steven moved all in for 2.5 million. Senti wondered for a while but then called. Steven was a head though, his A♣ K♣ to Senti’s K♥ 10♦ .
Brandon Steven
The flop came Qâ™ 5♦ 8♣ , enough for Steven to stay alive. He then made a pair on the Aâ™ turn which his supporters cheered, only to realise it gave Senti more outs. Only four though and the 6♥ on fifth street wasn’t one of them. Steven back up to more than 5.5 million, but still the short stack.
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ELIMINATIONS OF THE HOUR
Hasan Habib – 14th
Duy Le – 13th
Adam Levy – 12th
Pascal LeFrancois – 11th
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REASON WHY BRYN KENNEY BUSTED IN 28TH OF THE HOUR
According to tournament staff, massages are not permitted on any of the feature tables. (Kenney was massaged from start to finish of days six and seven of the Main Event.)
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CROWD CONTROL OF THE HOUR
Men in the security detail brought in ahead of the expected rush of spectators running for seats on the main stage: 8
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COLOUR CODING OF THE SECURITY DETAIL OF THE HOUR
Two in blue shirts, two in beige shirts, two in black shirts, one in a yellow shirt and Tony Spencer in a suit.
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TOURNAMENT HOUSEKEEPING OF THE HOUR
Starting field: 7,310
Remaining players: 10
Number of players on official final table: 9
Blinds: 150,000/300,000/40,000
Average stack: 21,957,000
Biggest stack: Jonathan Duhamel 50,200,000
Smallest stack: Brandon Steven 3,305,000
