2010 World Champion and Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel has won the PCA $5k NL event for $239,830. The 24-year-old French-Canadian beat a clutch of other Team PokerStars Pros including Jason Mercier who came third for $80,460 and the current world champion Pius Heinz who came fifth for $45,980. Duhamel’s victory last night means he has already earned more than $550k at the PCA this year, and there’s still another four days to go including the televised $25k High Roller event which starts tomorrow.

Last Saturday, Duhamel won $313,600 after finishing fourth in the PCA $100k Super High Roller event (won by Team PokerStars Pro Viktor Blom.) Duhamel has excelled since he won the WSOP Main Event in 2010 for $8.9 million. In January, he won the EPT Deauville €10k High Roller event for €200,000; he also came sixth in an EPT London £2k side event and 7th at WPT Marrakech, not to mention fourth in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship in Las Vegas last March.

The final eight in the $5k NL event were as follows:

1, Jonathan Duhamel, Canada, Team PokerStars Pro, $239,830 2, Edward Kim, Canada, $134,100 3, Jason Mercier , USA, Team PokerStars Pro, $80,460 4, Keven Stammen, USA, $57,470 5, Pius Heinz, Germany, Team PokerStars Pro, $45,980 6, Owen Crowe, Canada, $38,320 7, Laurence Houghton, UK,, $30,650 8, Kenny Hallaert, Belgium, $22,990

A total of 158 players competed in the $5k No Limit 8-Max event generating a whopping $766,300 prize pool and $239,830 for the winner. Other cashers included Italian Poker Tour Player of the Year Mustapha Kanit, Dmitry Vitkind, EPT Warsaw champ Christophe Benzimra, Jason Koon and NAPT Venetian champ Tom Marchese.

JAMIL WAKIL SCORES BIGGEST LIVE CASH AFTER WINNING PCA $1k SURVIVOR TOURNEY Canadian Jamil Wakil scored the biggest live cash of his career last night when he won the PCA $1k Survivor tourney. Wakil, from St. Catharines, Ontario, bested a 128-strong field to take down the event for $10,000. The Survivor event is played as traditional No Limit Texas Holdem but the prize pool is divided up to create as many $10k prizes as possible, with any money left over used as the final prize. The other 11 players who snagged $10k included EPT6 Prague champion Roberto Romanello, serial EPT casher Mick Graydon and EPT London £5k Heads-Up champion Berndt Gleissner.

ISTVAN BELA TOTH WINS PCA $300 NL TURBO Hungarian Istvan Bela Toth beat a bumper field last night to take down the $300 NL Turbo event for $14,710. A total of 255 players competed creating a $66,780 prize pool. Canada Cup finalist Sarvesh Pershad min-cashed the event, as did Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder from Belgium. 28 places were paid.

ESPOSITO WINS PCA $1K H.O.E EVENT American pro John Esposito has won the $1k H.O.E event for $11,640. The event, which combines Holdem, Omaha 8 and Stud Eight, attracted 30 players, creating a $29,110 prize pool. Full results are: 1, John Esposito, USA, $11,640 2, Melissa Burr, USA, $7,860 3, Valdimer Kochelaevskiy, Russia, $4,370 4, Peter Moore, USA, $2,910 5, Jeffrey Duvall, $2,330

MICHAEL MALM SCORES BIGGEST LIVE CASH AFTER WINNING PCA $1k ‘WIN THE BUTTON’ TOURNEY Canadian Michael Malm scored the biggest live cash of his career last night when he won the $1k “Win the Button” tourney. Malm, from Mississauga, Ontario, bested a 210-strong field to take down the event, beating a bunch of top pros along the way.

Dutch player Tommie Janssen, who came second in the EPT London £1k NL Turbo Bounty event last October, was runner-up again in Win the Button fro $32,000. Brazilian Marco De Oliveira was third for $32,000 after the top three cut a deal. PokerStars Greek Challenger Stavros Kalfas was sixth for $9,370 while Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder min-cashed in 17th place.

The total prize pool was €203,700 with 24 places paid. The turn-out for the “Win the Button” event surprised everyone; Win the Button is one of those fun poker variants that typically attracts lots of recreational and low-stakes players – plus the odd high-stakes pro who is killing time before a bigger event.

It was first suggested as an idea in last years’ 2+2 PCA Player’s Choice tourney. It didn’t get voted for the 2011 PCA but has been played at several European Poker Tour stops this season, attracting bigger and bigger fields every time. By the time the EPT visited San Remo in October, numbers were up to 146.

The variant is played as traditional No Limit Texas Holdem but, when each hand is completed, the player who won the pot also wins the button - and the blinds are then placed to that player’s left.

Other cashes here at the PCA included Dylan Wilkerson, Thomas Koo, Peter Akery and Andrew Chen.

KOJO WINS PCA $5K NL TURBO Japanese player Kunimaro Kojo, who was runner-up in the EPT London £2k NL Turbo Bounty event, has stepped up his game by taking down the $5k NL Turbo event at this year’s PCA. The event kicked off yesterday afternoon with 53 players, creating a total prize pool of € 257,050. Kojo, whose previous best live result was 14th in last summer’s WSOP $25k NL Heads-up event, snags $92,540 for last night’s victory. Serial EPT casher Yulius Sepman from Russia came second for $59,120 with American pro Isaac Haxton third. Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel came fifth for $17,990. A total of seven places were paid.

SCHWARTZ WINS PCA $5K PLO 8 MAX American pro Noah Schwartz has won the $5k PLO 8 Max tourney for $97,780. A total of 56 players entered creating a $271,600 prize pool. Chino Rheem came second for $62,470. Among those who played were Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Noah Boeken and Nacho Barbero.