2013 World Series Of Poker All About Canada

The 2013 World Series of Poker appears to be a who’s who roster of Canadian poker champions.  As of the halfway point of the 2013 summer series, seven WSOP tournaments have been won by Canadian poker players.  The victories set a new record in the number of gold bracelets that will come home to Canada.

This year marks the 44th annual World Series of Poker, which began with a tournament in Melbourne, Australia as part of the inaugural WSOP Asia-Pacific event.  The new tournament, the third WSOP expansion outside Las Vegas, was won by the most famous Canadian poker pro, Daniel Negreanu.  The Canadian held his own against over 400 entrants in the main event of the inaugural tournament, and secured his fifth WSOP gold bracelet.

Following Negreanu’s victory in the land down under, Quebec-born Charles-Andrew Sylvestre began a string of June victories for Canada by winning his first WSOP bracelet.  PEI restaurant manager Benny Chen later made international headlines by winning the WSOP Millionaire Maker event on a $3,000 buy-in.  Marketing specialist Michael Malm, who hails from Coquitlam just outside Vancouver, won the mixed-game event, and Levi Berger, originally from Ottawa, won the six handed no-limit event.  Mark Radoja from Guelph won the $10,000 no-limit buy in, and Calen McNeil from Victoria won the Omaha hi-low event for his first bracelet.

The action didn’t stop there as Quebec’s Jason Duval became Canada’s latest poker champion.  The 23 year old student won the $1,500 no-limit Hold’em tournament, and won over $520,000 in prize money alongside his first WSOP gold bracelet.  Cheered on by fellow Canadian poker star Jonathan Duhamel, Duval’s victory set a new record for WSOP gold bracelets won by Canadian players in one year.

The 44th WSOP summer series continues until July 15, and Canadians will undoubtedly be sitting at the poker felt to go all-in for their country.  How many more gold bracelets will come home to Canada before the series is out? 

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