There always seems to be a player or two each year who makes a deep run in the World Series of Poker Main Event after a similarly strong showing the year before. One of those players at the 2012 WSOP was the chip leader entering the November Nine play down day, Canadian Marc-Andre Ladouceur.

Ladouceur had a fantastic go of it in 2011, reaching the final seven tables before busting out in 63rd place in the Main Event. That $130,997 payday paled in comparison to the minimum of $294,601 he was guaranteed after the 2012 Main Event field was down to the final 27 players. And with a field-leading 15.875 million chips, three million more than the second place of Daniel Deoxyribo Strelitz, it looked like Ladouceur could look forward to at least a few more bucks.

One of Ladouceur’s most prominent hands came as the clock approached 10:00pm on Day 6 of the 2012 Main Event. With around 3.5 million chips at the time, he and Amit amak316 Makhija saw a flop of Q-4-4. What didn’t normally look like an action flop turned out to be one, as Ladouceur bet 190,000, Makhija check-raised to 450,000, and Ladouceur re-raised to 710,000.

Makhija just called at that point and the two saw the seven of hearts on the turn. Both checked that street, bringing on the ace of clubs on the river. Makhija checked, but was then put to a decision, as Ladouceur put him all-in.

That got Makhija talking to himself, saying at one point, “I don’t want to bust the Main Event calling off on the river. That’s not my style.”

After a lot of thought, Makhija finally folded K-Q face up, only to be shocked when Ladouceur presented J-9 for a total bluff.

That wasn’t Ladouceur’s most lucrative hand of the day, as he won a five million chip pot later on a turned flush, but it was almost certainly his most significant one. The pot gave him the momentum he needed to start a charge to the top of the leaderboard. However, he bowed out in 13th place from the 2012 WSOP Main Event for $465,000.