Jonathan Duhamel Poker
Going back a decade
Jonathan Duhamel. Biography: Jonathan Duhamel is a French-Canadian Poker player, who was born on August 24, 1987. He was raised in a family of four in a town Boucherville which is close to Montreal, Canada. His father, an airplane engine mechanic and cashier mother were very strict and disciplined in. Jonathan Duhamel: Canadian Professional Poker Player. Jonathan Duhamel is an incredibly talented, young poker player from Canada. His most impressive accomplishment was when he won the main event of the World Series of Poker in 2010, but that certainly isn’t his only victory, as he has gone on to win a plethora of different tournaments worldwide. Jonathan Duhamel (born August 24, 1987) is a Canadian poker professional from Boucherville, Quebec, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). He is the first Canadian player to capture the Main Event bracelet. Almost every online casino offer a welcome bonus Jonathan Duhamel Poker Profile in form of a first deposit bonus. For example 100% up to £100. This Jonathan Duhamel Poker Profile means the casino will match your first deposit with 100% up to a maximum of £100. So, if you deposit £100 you will receive £100 extra in bonus money.
The Canadian taxman is going after 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel. According to a report from The Canadian, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is seeking $1.2 million (USD $907,000) in unpaid taxes from Duhamel, spanning 2010-2012.
To make matters worse for the champ, if the CRA wins its court case, Revenu Québec, might also decide to try to get the same amount from Duhamel.
Stories like this are not necessarily out of the ordinary. Tax agencies seek to get back taxes from people all the time, and there have been plenty of poker players who have been delinquent of their taxes. But this case is a bit different. Duhamel has paid taxes to the IRS in the United States, but games of chance are not taxable in Canada, so he never paid up in Canada.
Canada says he’s a businessman
But…The Canadian reports that a Canada resident who “carries on a business” is required to pay taxes and the CRA considers Duhamel to have operated a professional poker playing business. Hence, why the agency believes he owes taxes.
The CRA isn’t just coming up with this out of thin air. It has put together a case to prove that Duhamel operated a poker business from 2010-2012. In a nutshell, poker was and has been his job. His “sole occupation” since 2008 was as a poker player, he behaved like a “serious businessman” while playing, he “considers himself” a professional poker player, poker was his only source of income, and he devoted 40-50 hours per week playing.
Additionally, the CRA pointed to swaps with and investments in other tournament players, which earned him millions in profits in 2010. It looks like the agency considers this a sign of a businessman. It also pointed out that he signed with an agent in 2010 and earned sponsorship money from PokerStars.
The CRA also sees Duhamel’s study of poker strategy and mathematics as another indicator that he treated poker as a business.
Duhamel says he’s just lucky
But hold on, check this out. Duhamel’s defense is that poker is a game of chance, not skill. Seriously. For the first time in human history, a poker player is claiming that poker is luck-based. The 2010 WSOP Main Event winner, a guy who has won over $18 million in live tournaments, is trying to prove in court that he is just lucky.
Duhamel is saying that he has never had poker training and that he has never used a defined system. Better yet, though, he is specifically arguing that his winnings at the 2010 WSOP were “only the result of chance” and that poker is mostly based on luck.
Wow. In every poker legalization argument, the pro-poker side argues that poker is a game of skill. Duhamel is trying to get a court to believe that he is basically like me, but instead of me bubbling in a $5 online MTT, he was just a lucky donk who binked the Main Event and parlayed that into a professional poker career.
Table Of Contents
Jonathan Duhamel is taking the phrase 'embrace the variance' to a whole new level.
The 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion has become embroiled in a tax dispute with the Canadian government, according to a report from The Canadian.
A $1.8 Million Question
Josh Duhamel Poker
The Canada Revenue Agency alleges that Duhamel's poker activities constitute the running of a business and he's therefore responsible for CA$1,219,114 in federal back taxes stemming from 2010-2012. That number could double with state taxes to Quebec, which would bring the total to roughly CA$2.4 million (~$1.8 million).
Duhamel, who has won $18 million and sits 33rd on the all-time money list according to The Hendon Mob, counters that his poker winnings are 'the result of chance.'
Not coincidentally, Canadian tax law does not require payments from winnings stemming from games of chance.
Both sides have laid out arguments in the linked piece for the case, which is set to hit the courts next March.
The tax authorities maintain that Duhamel's poker playing clearly constituted a business and not recreational gambling because he took the game very seriously, played heavy volume with 40-plus hours per week, and didn't earn other income. They also cited his piece swaps as evidence he was operating a business.
Duhamel's counter is that has never 'received specific training' in poker, and that luck therefore drove him to the millions he won. He says being labeled a professional poker player by sponsoring site PokerStars was purely for marketing purposes.
Unanswered Questions and Other Notes of Interest
The tax dispute isn't the only notable thing to come out of the story. The piece from The Canadian provided some fascinating insight into the life and finances of a WSOP world champion.
For instance, the piece notes Duhamel's swaps cost him $4.1 million of the $8.9 million he won when being crowned world champion in 2010.
Jonathan Duhamel Poker Club
Furthermore, Duhamel's post-WSOP contract with PokerStars was spelled out as a contract worth $1 million for the following year. Of that $1 million, $480,000 was paid out in cash while another $520,000 was provided as tournament entries and fees.
It's also interesting that the only taxes in question seem to stem from 2010-2012. By no means did Duhamel's poker exploits stop then. In fact, while he has slowed down immensely in recent years, he won about $6.5 million from 2013-2015. He produced a banner campaign in the latter that saw him win just shy of $5 million, highlighted by his second bracelet and almost $4 million in the $111,111 High Roller for ONE DROP.
He also maintained his sponsorship with PokerStars through early 2015.
There are also some discrepancies between his alleged incomes in these years and the cashes credited by Hendon Mob, though they could be made up by sponsorships and changes in exchange rates.
Jon Duhamel
What are Duhamel's chances of success when the case hits the courts next March, assuming there's no settlement?
Answering such a question would be beyond the scope of this piece, but The Canadian reports that Duhamel's lawyer plans to zero in on a 2006 case in which two recreational Canadian gamblers were cleared of tax liability after a hot streak betting sports.
However, it's notable that many Canadian pros, even the elites, have frequently opted to skip the WSOP and other U.S.-based events because the heavy tax burden strongly hinders their expected value. The withholding treaty with the U.S. combined with paying normal Canadian taxes makes it a tough proposition, and if those pros are paying up, Duhamel will likely be expected to do so as well.
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