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Jonathan Duhamel Argues Poker is Luck to Dodge Taxes

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Duhamel Poker is Luck

Most poker players will tell you that poker is a game of skill and that luck has little to do with the outcome. Honest poker players will tell you that poker is a skillful game where luck does play a role, particularly in poker tournaments. Jonathan Duhamel is taking the less popular opinion.

The 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event is claiming that poker is a game of luck. Why? He is trying to avoid paying a tax bill of $1.2 million.

Duhamel Facing Millions in Back Taxes

Jonathan Duhamel has become one of the most controversial former Main Event champions in recent years. Some of that stems from rape allegations in the past, but now he is facing a potential multi-million tax bill from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Normally, Canadian poker players are able to keep all of their earnings because poker is classified as a game of chance. Earnings from online casino games and other games of chance are not subject to taxation. However, things are a bit different for businesses.

The CRA is claiming that Duhamel operated as a business from 2010-2012 and as such is subject to taxation. There are several reasons for its argument. First, Duhamel was formerly sponsored by PokerStars. That sponsorship was worth approximately $1 million. He received $520,000 in poker tournament buy-ins along with $480,000 in cash.

Next, Duhamel ran what the CRA called a “hedging operation.” Basically, Duhamel swapped action with various players to help reduce his poker variance. This is commonly done amongst poker players and poker pros.

Also, the CRA cites the fact that poker and investments were his only source of income during that period. They also made arguments about how Duhamel conducted himself as a businessman at the poker tables and was constantly working on poker strategy to improve his earnings.

The initial claim against Duhamel has him facing $1.2 million in back taxes for his Main Event win. However, if the CRA wins their case, they could force him to pay another $2.4 million covering other portions of his $18.2 million in career poker earnings.

Duhamel Claims That Luck is the Result of His Good Fortune

Duhamel has effectively joined the dark side in his counterargument against the CRA. He is claiming that his winning is due to luck rather than skill. His main claim is that his $8.9 million win in the 2010 WSOP Main Event was due to luck only. His argument is that while he was more skilled than many players in the Main Event, he still had to get lucky to win the tournament.

Frankly, this is perhaps the truest argument that he can make regarding poker tournaments. As Phil Hellmuth has often said, “If it weren’t for luck, I’d win every one.” Often, poker players can play their A-game and then still lose when they run into bad luck.

Next, Duhamel claims that he hasn’t received poker training or coaching in any form. This seems highly unlikely but not impossible. Of course, we haven’t seen any claims from any major companies that they have Duhamel as a student or coach, so maybe this is an argument that he can win.

Finally, Duhamel claims that the only reason that he was sponsored by PokerStars is that he won the Main Event. All one has to do is look at PokerStars’ past history of signing WSOP Main Event champions as sponsors to see that claim may be true. Duhamel claims his sponsorship only came across as a lucky outcome for his WSOP win.

It will be interesting to see the outcome of this case. If the CRA wins, this could set a very dangerous precedent for Canadian poker players as many may be forced to cough up back taxes. We also wouldn’t be surprised to see Canadian players exit the country to move to a country with more favorable tax laws for poker players.

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