Jan 14 2011

PokerStars Signs Jonathan Duhamel; Aussie Millions Begins

written by: James under News Comments: Comments Off

PokerStars scored a major win late last year when they signed Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom, and they’ve already repeated that success in 2011 with the new announcement that Jonathan Duhamel will be joining their pro team. Duhamel, who entered poker immortality when he won the WSOP Main Event in 2010, is set to join one of the most star-studded roster in the online poker industry, including Liv Boeree, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker and Daniel Negreanu.

Duhamel, who described his new sponsorship as a “dream come true,” represents the third consecutive WSOP champion signed to PokerStars. His predecessors, Joe Cada and Peter Eastgate, won the WSOP main event in 2009 and 2008, respectively.

Although fame largely eluded Duhamel until he won the 2010 WSOP, his previous poker history includes a final table appearance at the 2008 EPT Prague and a 15th place finish at a $2,500 WSOP event. Duhamel received some attention earlier in the WSOP when he ejected Matt Affleck from the tournament on a bad beat. Duhamel’s rivered straight overcame Affleck’s pocket aces, giving Duhamel the chip lead by a huge margin.

Although the Aussie Millions Main Event will not begin until January 23rd, the popular tournament series has started to roll out a series of preliminary events leading up to the Main Event, which is again set to feature a $10,000 buy-in. Since its inception in 1998, the Aussie Millions tournament has grown to include three separate Day 1 flights. By comparison, the original Aussie Millions only included 74 competitors, a $1,000 buy-in, and one dated game type: LHE.

A total of 20 events will be included in the 2011 edition of the Aussie Millions, and interestingly, the 8-Game Mix event will feature a buy-in of $10,000 as well. Tournament organizers are also including a $100,000 buy-in high stakes Challenge tournament, which will likely repeat the success of the PCA Super High Roller event that concluded only a few days ago.

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