Jonathan Duhamel: “Businessmen Make One Drop Worth it”

Duhamel believes that the charity-driven tournament attracts enough poker amateurs to make it a good choice for poker pros.

“All the best poker players in the world are here right now but there are a lot of businessmen playing,” he said. “It makes it worth it for all the pros to play.”

The former WSOP world champion was one of 166 players who paid the $111,111 buy-in to play the massive tournament today.

Thanks to the big field the tournament will offer an overall prizepool of $17.8 million with $4.8 million dedicated to first place.

Duhamel Surprised by Huge Field for One Drop

Jonathan Duhamel

 

Even Duhamel admitted he was surprised by the massive turnout of the high roller event.

“I knew it would be big but I didn’t think it would be this big,” he said. “Those are some pretty surprising numbers.”

Of course the field is laden with some of the best players in the world including Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen.

“You’re going to have some tough tables but you’ll also have some easier ones too,” he said. “You just want to be on the good one. Table draws are really important here.”

Duhamel is hopeful that next year the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop will run again with an even bigger field.

“This tournament is a big, big success,” he said. “It’s good for charity and good for the players. It’s good for everyone."

To follow the Big One as it unfolds follow our WSOP live updates here.