Jonathan Duhamel 2nd Place at LAPC $5,000 Event after 2-way deal made with Vanessa Selbst

The LA Poker Classic series has been well underway at the Commerce Casino in California. The popular tournament series has been gearing up this week for the larger buy-in tournaments with the signature WPT LAPC Championship underway on Friday.

Canadian Jonathan Duhamel has been having a stellar start to the 2012 poker year. Having already reached four final tables at the first major live tournament of 2012, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure with one of those a victory and a total of $1,205,970 in cashes at the PCA, Jonathan adds to his collection with a 2^nd place finish at the $5,100 No-Limit Hold’em event after making a deal with fellow poker pro Vanessa Selbst.

The two pros made a deal to split the prize when they were in heads-up and decided to play for the title and the remaining $20,000 after the chop. Selbst won the title but Duhamel added another $121,115 to his year’s winnings and is also poised to move up in the all-time poker career earnings.

A total of 98 players entered the event to create a prize pool of $485,000. Another Canadian, Yuri Siniak of Richmond Hill, Ontario finished in 5th place to cash in $26,140.

Here are the final results of Event #45 the $5,100 No-Limit Hold’em:

Congratulations Jonathan!!

Shortly after the close of the $5,100 event on Thursday after getting some sleep, Jonathan went back to work as Day 1 of the $10,000 WPT LAPC Championship Event begun on Friday.

Jonathan Duhamel impressed everyone by catapulting to an early lead during the first level, and continued strong throughout the day to finish 5th in chips with 98,950. Duhamel was named the Club WPT Player of the Day.

You can watch the interview with Jonathan Duhamel below.