Pretty sure that both Cheong and Duhamel were aware enough of each others game+mindset that they both knew the other was playing only for 1st. I really don't think Racener entered into the equation much if at all here. Cheong and Duhamel are both fearless gamblers who understand tournaments. Even with this much money at stake, I think they both were playing only to win. Duhamel is never folding QQ in a million years there. I have to think that Cheong was playing a leveling game with Duhamel, and he wasn't leveraging Racener and the pay jump. If he was then it's a bad read imo, because it's pretty clear from Duhamel's play and personality that he wasn't trying to make pay jumps

The true winners of ME were eliminated third second time in a row.

subiime is the NUTS!
GG and I wish him nothing but the best. Was a class act the entire time.
I love how he described his sytle of play too... "Spewy" lol.

Give it a rest already, and give us a break. The "best player by far" at the table won the event. I find it laughable all the plaudits for Joseph Cheong just because he's a fearless shover. There's a little more to the game than pre-flop 13-betting, and while that type player usually terrorizes the game for awhile, it's almost always a matter of time before they self-destruct, as Cheong did.

Duhamel outplayed Cheong, period, and is the winner precisely for that reason. His refusal to give up his A-K while Cheong was blowing off a third of his stack with J-5 previous to the REAL blowup, was great poker, and inducing Cheong to blow off all his chips with the A-7 was even better. If you like seeing the best player win, congratulations; you just did.

I second that, but only for last year (saout) and not for 2 years ago ( dennis phillips)

You do realize the title of this thread right?
Why come in here and flame Cheong when the thread was created to give him praise.. Seems a little foolish.

Oh yeah, the title of the thread. I apologize; I didn't realize the title of the thread meant we are all here to praise him. I REALLY thought the thread would be mostly about his historic blowup, probably the worst in ME history. Throw all the rose petals you want, but in my eyes, he simply choked, gagged, took the gas - call it what you want - when it really counted most, and I think he will eventually say that, too.

Can anyone give me directions to the "Jonathan Duhamel" thread? I'd like to toss some rose petals.

A few seconds, very few.

Duhamel the better player -- The guy sucked out so many times.

L O L

cheong was too aggressive for his own good. he also pretty much played anything preflop thinking he can outplay his opponent, yet from what I saw he was catching cards, and made it easy to get value. playing the 64s oop against the a2 and even calling the bet on a a4t flop. it was obvious duhamel wasnt going anywhere after that river call and cheong got extremely lucky hitting that 6 on the turn for the 2 pair.
another example was calling the re raise by dolan with ATs against JJ. hitting runner runner nut flush made it an easy river bet for cheong. not saying he played bad, because he played his image very well and i thought he was going to take it down for sure.

irrelevant, cheong is where it's at

actually dolan OOP cold call cheong's BTN 3bet...

This post makes Baby Jesus cry.

and his mother....

Hi everybody, First let me start by saying that i was really intrigued with the A7 Hand an would like to share my thoughts on it and also receive feedback/critique on my way of looking at it.

A few things before digging into the hand itself:

1) I completly agree with an earlier post saying that these two (Duhamel and Cheong) were going on two or three hours of 3 and four betting light which created a special atmosphere of leveling battle. Duhamel was pounded a pounded over and over again and to be honest I would have taken a stand way earlier than he did. It eventually worked out perfect for him reciving 20 jabs and waiting to connect the big haymaker.

2) I like others think that this had was by no means a blow up. By my standards, a true blow up is when you are making a silly move or calling off a huge raise with a marginal hand. In this case 1) he did not call like an idiot and 2) his move in my book was one of the most aggro moves pulled by a player ever!!


Now to the hand itself, I though that Cheong´s biggest mistake was to 4 bet so little, after duhamel´r raise to 7 million, Cheong would have found out right there and then with a 4 bet of 25 million if Duhamel had a legitimate hand or if he was 3 betting light. Instead, Cheong decided to 4 bet short and take the pot down. Given that Duhamel woke up with a monster, he correctly 5 min bet to set the trap However, once Cheong 6 bet shoves, Duhamel´s (pseudo) monster becomes at most a bluff catcher for all his chips. Seriously, how many players in the WORLD 6 bet bluff with A7 off with one short stack waiting to be elimiated. I think Cheong´s move for all this reasons is brilliant!!!!! He knew that the only way Duhamel would call in this spot would be with AA or KK. I trully believe that Cheong thought that in this particular situation with Racener almost dead Duhamel would throw away his whole range except AA or KK here.

The context was perfect for the move, Racner semi dead, 2 million jump payday, heads up match semi guaranteed, 6 bet shove!!! I mean COME ON!!! doesnt anyone see this, Duhamels QQ even 3 handed here is garbage!!!! To any sane player this should be an easy fold I think. Putting your tournament life on a bluff catcher/ Flipping situation?????

Well this are my two cents.

Cheers

Duhamel has the soul read

Where Cheong "is at", is out in 3rd while Jonathan Duhamel will forever be the 2010 WSOP ME winner.

I find it so odd, that Duhamel is getting very little credit here for two great reads when it really counted, while at the same time Cheong is praised for his recklessness and foolhardiness, and for throwing poker's greatest prize in the ash can, to impress "aggreso-nuts."

Perhaps many here are two young to recall the fable of "the tortoise and the hare,".......and if it all comes down to "show me the bracelet," you'll have to ask Duhamel if you can take a look at it.

The only thing I'd be asking Duhamel is how he wins so often when he gets it in behind. You're right that a lot of people automatically love an aggressive play even when it's bad, but I don't see how anybody can deny that Cheong is levels above Duhamel.

Right, and so Duhamel was calling 3rd bullet with non A/K river when he tanked that long with it... lol

cheong typical online aggro donk who gets lucky flop after flop turn after turn river after river.

Nothing impressive.

Here's another thought: Could it be argued that they ALL played like crap in many situations, and that tournaments are nothing more than survival of the luckiest? No matter how hard I try otherwise, that's pretty much the way I see it, every time I watch one. Need some examples? Cadda? Varkoni? Yang? Phillips? Moneymaker? Moon? Gold?

Need more? I didn't think so.

Shhh.. Cheong is good for the game .

Well Cada was successful in (online) poker before he binked the ME, there are a bunch of really strong tourney players who have said Cheong is very good, kirbynator seems to think Duhamel is good. Yes, some of them are donks, but not all of them. It's more likely you just see them play from your computer and scream OMG OVERAGGRO DONK!!! when they're in fact making standard plays that tourney players have recognised as standard. I'm not talking about Cheong's shove here, more Cada's resteals that ran into big hands and had tards screaming about how bad and lucky he was.

Also, lol @ you trying to make it seem like Cheong just got lucky with being aggressive while Duhamel was always just making great reads etc. Duhamel pulled a sick suckout where he had less equity against Affleck than Cheong did against him for the chiplead. Did you even watch the final table? Cheong played great.

Are you a canadian?
Being the ME winner doesn't mean **** to a player's skill. see jerry yang, jamie gold, chris moneymaker.
Let me get this straight: the two "great" reads you're talking about are 1) calling with TPTK where he would have almost certainly folded if he didn't hit a pair and 2) calling a shove with the 3rd best starting hand in NLHE, with less than 100 big blinds in effective stacks. Is that right?