Last week, the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event wrapped up from the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in sunny Las Vegas. Jonathan Duhamel took down the $8.9 million top prize and became the first World Champion from Canada. He defeated Floridian John $JMONEY$Racener heads-up in a 40-hand battle last Monday night. This week, we welcome WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla (pictured) to the PocketFives.com Podcast to break down the Main Event.

The action has unfolded since August 10th every Tuesday night on ESPN and poker fans around the United States have seen a variety of storylines pan out during the two-hour broadcasts. Dalla shared his thoughts on several sub-plots of the final table: “‘The Grinder‘ (pictured) being the most accomplished player meant that a lot of eyes were on him. A lot of people expected him to go deep and he finished about where he should have according to his chip count, so that was something a lot of people were paying attention to.”

Duhamel came into the final table with the chip lead and exited as its champion, marking the first time since 2006 that the Main Event’s pole player has won the tournament. Dalla explained, “Jonathan Duhamel going in with the chip lead and then losing it temporarily to ‘The Grinder’ and Joseph subiime Cheong, eventually regaining the chip lead, and then winning the Main Event was a great storyline.”

Duhamel stacked 80% of the chips in play three-handed after doubling up with pocket queens against Cheong’s A-7. Cheong (pictured) 6bet all-in before the flop with the hand and Dalla, seated just a few feet away, recapped the mood in the Penn and Teller Theater when the chips hit the middle: “Most of us certainly were saying, ‘What did he just show?‘ when we saw that hand… I thought there was some bizarre play considering how strong these players were and how patient the play was to a certain extent. There’s no real reason to get engaged when you have so many chips like that. There was no word other than ‘surprised’ to describe our reaction.”

Racener finished tops among members of the online poker community at the final table; the group also included Cheong and John JRD312 Dolan (pictured). “I thought he employed a fantastic strategy to earn the most money,” Dalla told the PocketFives.com Podcast when asked about Racener’s deep run. “I don’t think he had a real strategy to win the tournament. I thought he was somewhat cautious, obviously very patient, and didn’t seem to take a lot of risks. I thought John Racener did the most with the least in a sense in going after the money ladder and finishing second.”

Heads-up playat the Rio took place about 36 hours after the field was slashed from nine players to two. “Jonathan Duhamel had a 6:1 chip advantage, so obviously most of us thought it was just a matter of time before he closed out the final victory,” Dalla recalled. “It took 40 hands and, in some ways, that was longer than some of us expected. The fact that it went an hour and a half was a little bit of a surprise, but John Racener (pictured) did double up once, so that gave him some extra life.” Racener banked $5.5 million for his runner-up showing, although his double up hand did not appear on ESPN’s coverage of the poker tournament.

PocketFives.com was among the media outlets covering the Main Event live from the Rio. For Dalla, it was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago, long before anyone knew the name Chris Moneymaker: “Back in the days when I was working for Binion’s Horseshoe, we used to have to beg media to show up. Now, things are quite the opposite. Major media is here – USA Today had a reporter here [as did]the Associated Press, which is as big as it gets. The hometown media of each of the players was here as well.” One of the first interviews following Duhamel’s victory went to Canada’s Rogers Sportsnet.

Check out the rest of this week’s PocketFives.com Poker Podcast featuring WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla.