Duhamel Vs. Racener - Final Heads-Up Coming Up

At exactly 3 p.m. last Sunday Bruce Buffer, world famous presenter started the final table of this year's biggest poker event: The WSOP final table. The Las Vegas Rio Casino was full by this time, many poker celebrites were present in the crowd, such as Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Tom Marchese, Sorel Mizzi, Carter King, J.C. Tran, Nam Le, Karina Jett, and of course the whole Mizrachi family.

Dealing started at the 36th blind level, and players got back to the following chip amounts:

Seat 1: Jason Senti - 7.625.000
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong - 23.525.000
Seat 3: John Dolan - 46.250.000
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel - 65.975.000
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi - 14.450.000
Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis - 16.700.000
Seat 7: John Racener - 19.050.000
Seat 8: Filippo Candio - 16.400.000
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen - 9.650.000

The first to leave the final table came to be Soi Nguyen after he ran into Jason Senti's set of queens with his K pair.


Soon the only European player at the table, Filippo Candio went all-in pre-flop against the chip leader Jonathan Duhamel. Candio doubled up with his pocket rockets against Duhamel's A-K on a neutral board.

The next to stand up was Matthew Jarvis, who went all-in preflop, with Mizrachi calling. Jarvis showed pocket 9s, Mizrachi A-Q. The board came Q-8-Q-9-A, giving Mizrachi a higher full, eliminating Jarvis.

Mizrachi soon became the chip leader as he continued to play well, he seemed as a candidate for the final heads-up.

Senti also tried to collect chips desparately, but his end was near: he raised, got reraised by Cheong to 4,950,000, when he went all-in, Cheong called. Senti showed his A-K, Cheong pocket tens. The board came K-K-Q-J-9, which was unfortunate for Senti, who flopped a set, but was beat by Cheong's straigth on the river. Senti stood up at 7th place.

Soon John Dolan, who quickly fell to the shortstack zone joined him, he went all-in from the small blind, Duhamel called from the big blind. Dolan's Q-5 couldn't improve on a neutral board against Duhamel's pocket 4s, he was out in 6th place.


The Grinder also faced his fate when he ran into Duhamel, who limped with his pocket aces. They soon were all-in, Duhamel's trap worked, Mizrachi's third queen didn't come and he was out.

Three hands later Candio went pre-flop all-in from the big blind, Cheong insta-called. Cheong won the hand with straight against Candio's K high.


The 3-handed game went on for an hour when the biggest pot of WSOP history was put on the table: Racener folded on the button, Cheong raised to 2,900,000. Duhamel's 3bet was 4betted by Cheong, which was 5betted to 22,750,000 by Duhamel, which was raised to all-in by Cheong. On a neutral board, Duhamel's pocked queens beat Cheong's A high easily.


Two hands later it was them again, they went all-in pre-flop. On a neutral board Duhamel eliminated Cheong with A high. Only John Racener and Jonathan Duhamel were left, who will continue their battle today at 8 p.m. PT for the WSOP title. ESPN3.com will again be broadcasting the event live, be sure not to miss it!

Results and prizes before the heads-up:

3. Joseph Cheong - $4.130.049
4. Filippo Candio - $3.092.545
5. Michael Mizrachi - $2.332.992
6. John Dolan - $1.772.959
7. Jason Senti - $1.356.720
8. Matthew Jarvis - $1.045.743
9. Soi Nguyen - $811.823