It is not exactly a true happy ending, but to this point, it would probably be hard for Jonathan Duhamel to want much more after the frightening pre-Christmas incident that saw him robbed and beaten in his own home. Last Wednesday, the most prized item swiped in the break-in, Duhamel’s 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Championship bracelet, was found. It looks like it was run over by a car, but it has been reunited by its rightful owner.
The diamond-encrusted bracelet looks like it was run over by a car because it was. According to a report on PrincePoker.com, It was discovered by Montreal street cleaner Denis Theriault, who apparently sucked it up in his street sweeper when cleaning the Ville-Marie tunnel. Upon emptying the refuse collection bin, Theriault found the valuable piece of jewelry. There is no definitive explanation as to how the bracelet ended up on the street, but one could guess that whichever culprit was in possession of the poker award decided they could not risk keeping it or selling it, so they just threw it out the window of a car while in the tunnel.
As the saying goes, the bracelet now has “a face only a mother could love.” The links are gone, leaving just the main plate intact. Both the front and back are mangled, dented, and chipped every which way and Jonathan Duhamel’s last name has been scratched off the reverse (which strikes us as funny considering it is still an ornate WSOP bracelet engraved with the date and name of the tournament and the first name “Jonathan,” so removing the last name does nothing to disguise the bracelet’s identity).
In his blog in the days following the events of December 21st, Duhamel wrote of the items that were stolen, “The thieves stole some money, but mainly my WSOP champion’s bracelet and the Rolex watch that my sponsor, PokerStars, gave me to commemorate the event. I won’t hide the fact that these two items have a much larger value for me than their commercial value, and I really hope we will be able to retrieve them in (the) near future.”
After the incident, WSOP Media Director Seth Palansky told the Montreal Journal, “The tournament director, Mitch Garber, contacted Jonathan after the incident and informed him that the bracelet can be replaced.”
Poker News Daily contacted Mr. Palansky to confirm that the offer was still in place, even though the bracelet was recovered. He reiterated that the WSOP will still do what it can to make Duhamel whole, saying, “We stated previously we will work with Duhamel on this issue and intend to do so if he determines he wants the bracelet replaced.”
The Rolex was found before the end of December and half of the $115,000 that was taken from a safe in Duhamel’s residence, was found earlier this year. Acting on a tip, members of the Longueuil Police Department located an envelope containing the cash in a mailbox. It was easily identifiable as Duhamel’s because much of it was in high denomination Euros, which are not frequently seen in North America.
