2010 World Series of Poker main event down to Jonathan Duhamel and John Racener

After more than 13 hours of play that began mid-day Saturday, November 6th, 23 year old Canadian poker player Jonathan Duhamel will face 24 year old Floridian John Racener in the 2010 WSOP Main Event final heads up match set to kick off this Monday, November 8th at at 8:00 pm local time.

The final table action kicked off Saturday at 1:30 pm local time inside the the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casin. In addition to Duhamel and Racener, the final table also included Italian pro Filippo Candio, Michael The Grinder Mizrachi, John Dolan, Jason Senti, Cuong "Soi" Nguyen, Matt Jarvis and Joseph Cheong.

The first elimination was amateur Soi Nguyen, who moved all in holding A-K only 28 hands into the final table, and was busted by Jason Senti with pocket queens (Q-Q).

Two dramatic hands followed Nguyen's elimination. First, Matthew Jarvis busted in eight place after moving all his chips in with 9-9. Michael Mizrachi made the call with A-Q. The flop was Qc-8d-Qd, giving Mizrachi the lead with three Queens, however, the lead changed when a 9 hit the turn, giving Jarvis a full house, and changed again when an A river gave the pot back to Mizrachi and sent Jarvis home in eighth place.

Several hours later, Jason Senti busted in seventh after his A-K ran into Joseph Cheong's pocket 10s. The flop rolled out Kd-Kh-Qc, giving Senti three of a kind (kings), but a Jd on the turn and a 9d on the river sealed Cheong's straight and sent Senti to the rail in seventh-place.

The sixth place was for John Dolan after his Q-5 couldn't outrun Duhamel's pocket fours. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, was eliminated in fifth place, earning more than $2.33 million. A few hands later, Filippo Candio, the first Italian to make the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, was sent to the rail in fourth place, earning $3.09 million.

The three handed session marked a new record for the largest pot in WSOP history at 177 million chips. In that hand, Joseph Cheong moved all-in preflop with A-7 offsuit. Duhamel analyzed the situation for a few minutes before making the call with pocket queens. The board came 3-9-2-6-8 and Cheong was crushed from 95 million all the way down to just ten. The final hand of the night came six hand later at 1:49 am on Sunday when Cheong was all-in with Q-10 and up against Duhamel’s A-2. The board rolled out Ks-9c-6c-6h-7c, eliminating Cheong in third place with $4,130,049 for his finish.

Now Duhamel will enter the final heads up match as the big favorite, holding an unprecedented chip 6-1 advantage (188,950,000 in chips) over Racener. Players will meet at the Rio at 8:00pm local time for the final heads up match. The World Series of Poker heads up action will be preceded by a special Poker Hall of Fame ceremony honoring Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel. Coverage of the final table will air in a two-hour telecast on Tuesday at 10 pm ET on ESPN.