On Wednesday we learned that 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel was the victim of a brutal home invasion at his home in Boucherville, Quebec just outside of Montreal. The initial details were few and far between (with local police not even willing to confirm the identity of the victim, something Duhamel’s agent did) we did learn that Duhamel was treated and released from the hospital with no major injuries.

First reports claimed that two white males (one around 5’8” tall and weighing 180 lbs.) rang Duhamel’s doorbell at around 9AM. When Duhamel answered the door the two men forced their way in and assaulted the 24 year-old. No mention of what, if anything, was taken from the residence.

On Thursday more details of the crime trickled in, and Duhamel posted on his own website about the incident. Duhamel stated he feels lucky to be alive after what turned out to be far more than your typical burglary:

“As police reported, I was victim of an home invasion early yesterday, as two persons forced my entrance and beat me up and robbed me. After they threatened to kill me I gave them all I had. They then tied me up and beat me, hitting me in the face and all over my body before leaving my house. I’m glad to tell you that I did not sustain any major injuries. I spent yesterday at the hospital and I’m black and blue all over but no broken bones, no blood clots, nothing to worry about. Today, I am exhausted, both physically and mentally but I’m happy to be alive.”

Taken in the robbery were Duhamel’s 2010 World Series of poker Main Event Championship Bracelet, an engraved Rolex Submariner given to Duhamel by PokerStars after his historic win, as well as money in both Canadian Dollars and Euros.

The theft of the two one-of-a-kind items is a bit bizarre –not only does it make fencing these items far more difficult, but it also lays guilt at the feet of anyone in possession of them– and as Duhamel explains on his website, the intrinsic value is nowhere near his valued of the items:

“I won’t deny that these two items have a value much larger than money to me than their commercial value, and I hope with all my heart that we will be able to recover them in the near future… My bracelet is unique in the world. My name is engraved on its back. My watch is a black Rolex Submarine also with my name engraved. As for the money, it was mainly 500 Euros bills, these being quite rare here”

Local police are now of the opinion that Duhamel was targeted by the assailants, having gained worldwide fame after winning $9 million at the 2010 WSOP.

Tags: Blood Clots, Boucherville Quebec, Broken Bones, Burglary, Canadian Dollars, Doorbell, Expl, Fencing, Home Invasion, Initial Details, Own Website, Poker Main Event, PokerStars, Robbery, Rolex, Two Persons, world series, World Series of Poker, World Series Of Poker Champion, World Series of Poker Main Event

This entry was posted on Friday, December 23rd, 2011 at 10:06 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.