Team PokerStars Pros Selbst and Duhamel Finish First and Second at LAPC Event #45

February 24, 2012

Donnie Peters

The L.A. Poker Classic, held at the Commerce Casino, is one of the premier tournament series in the world. With plenty of events on the schedule, many notable players flock to the West Coast of the U.S. to compete for one of the titles. On Thursday night, one of the more elite events on the schedule, the $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em, wrapped up and Team PokerStars Pro was well-represented.

Of the 98 entries in the event, the top nine spots paid out. The generated prize pool was $475,300, and making the final nine earned each player no less than $11,880. Among those at the table were Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst and Jonathan Duhamel. Not only are they two of the best players in the world — and teammates — but also they both hold World Series of Poker gold bracelets. Duhamel claimed the WSOP Main Event title in 2010.

At the start of the final table, Selbst held the chip lead and Duhamel was second. Around four hours later, the two wound up finishing just as they began the final table, with Selbst earning the title and Duhamel placing second.

This was no cake walk for the two players to make it down to heads-up play. The final table included a truckload of excellent talent with McLean Karr (8th - $16,640), Matt Stout (7th - $21,390), Faraz Jaka (5th - $33,270), Stephen Chidwick (4th - $42,780) and Josh Brikis (3rd - $61,790) all making it.

Duhamel was the one running hot for most of the final table. First, he eliminated Karr and Stout on the same hand after getting all the money in preflop with pocket tens versus Karr's pocket fours and Stout's ace-queen. Duhamel executed the two swiftly after flopping quad tens. He then busted Jaka, whose ace-ten was no match for Duhamel's pocket queens.

Selbst wasn't just sitting back, though. She busted Yuri Siniak in sixth place and then later sent Chidwick and Brikis to the rail. It was only fitting that Selbst and Duhamel got heads-up after combining for six of the seven eliminations to this point. Just before starting the duel, the two came to an agreement on a chop whereby Selbst would take $130,295 and Duhamel $121,115. The two left $10,000 on the table to play for.

Duhamel is having continued success in 2012. With just under two months of the year gone by, Duhamel has already earned $1,345,366 in live tournament earnings. This second-place finish came after Duhamel made his sixth final table of the year. What makes that number even more prominent is that Duhamel has cashed exactly six times in 2012, meaning he's made the final table each time he makes it to the money.

With the deal done, play only lasted one more hand. According to Duhamel's Twitter account, he six-bet shoved with seven-three off suit and Selbst called with ten-eight off suit. Selbst won the pot, locked up the extra $10,000, and took the title.

Upon winning the event, Selbst tweeted:

Won the 5k for 140k! Everyone played really well and the tourney was a lot of fun. Gotta rest up for tomorrows main now!
— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst)

LAPC Event #45 Results

Place	Player	Prize
1	Vanessa Selbst	$140,295*
2	Jonathan Duhamel	$121,115*
3	Josh Brikis	$61,790
4	Stephen Chidwick	$42,780
5	Faraz Jaka	$33,270
6	Yuri Siniak	$26,140
7	Matt Stout	$21,390
8	McLean Karr	$16,640
9	Jonathan Poche	$11,880