For Jonathan Duhamel, the road to riches meant dropping out of a finance degree program at the University of Quebec in Montreal to concentrate on playing poker. The move paid off recently when, at the age of 23, Duhamel won the World Series of Poker’s main event and the $8.9 million prize that went with it.

Duhamel is the latest poker champ to highlight the connection between finance and poker. Hedge fund manager David Einhorn placed 18th in the World Series of Poker’s main event in 2006. Aaron Brown, a former professional poker player, is now a risk manager at Cliff Asness’ big hedge fund firm AQR Capital Management. Chris Moneymaker, who helped launch the current popularity of poker when he won the World Series of Poker’s main event in 2003 as an amateur, was an accountant. Steven Begleiter, who used to head corporate strategy at Bear Stearns and now works at a private equity firm, made the final table at the main event in 2009. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, who won the World Series main event in 2000, used to day trade at a proprietary trading firm. Billionaire banker Andrew Beal became a poker legend by challenging poker pros to some of the highest stakes games ever.