They came eyeing a £1m first prize and tonight it has become the opening deposit into the new European bank account of Michael Martin, the 24-year-old from Washing Cross, PA. The popular young American went from hero to zero to hero again and eventually stood firm against the buffeting of an especially brutal final table. At one point, he was down to just 95,000 in chips and in the big blind of 80,000. But he tripled, doubled and doubled up again to vault into a chip lead with four remaining and it was never relinquished from that point on.

Martin's mother, girlfriend and good friend Brandon Schaefer all flew to see him at the final table and each was richly rewarded for their troubles. Despite a wretched opening couple of levels, which his supporters viewed through their fingers, Martin enjoyed a mini-renaissance, then another slump but then that surging comeback through just three remarkable hands. And when the fluctuations finally ended just before 11pm, Martin was a millionaire.

See the interview with Michael Martin shortly after winning the EPT London...

Watch EPT London 08: The Winner - Michael Martin on PokerStars.tv

The final table was notable for more reasons than just that £1m. It was the third appearance there within a year for the Frenchman Antony Lellouche and the second for Johannes Strassmann, who has also twice bubbled one short of the last eight. Lellouche had the chance to go one better than his second place in San Remo in April; Strassmann had the opportunity to make it two from two this season for the German Shooting Stars team after Sebastian Ruthenberg's success in Barcelona last month.

How they lined up

But in the event, they were the first two out the door. Strassmann accounted for Lellouche with K-J versus A-9 - although Lellouche had previously lost a race on the first hand of the final, when his pocket fours lost against Philippe Dauteuil's A-K.

Johannes Strassman

But then Strassmann again found himself on the ropes, thumped relentlessly by the gods of ill fortune. Martin doubled up through the German with the first vicious outdraw, and then the Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki also put Strassmann to the sword with Q-J against Strassmann's A-10. A jack rivered to take another chunk. Strassmann's final hand was jacks against king-queen. Martin had the K-Q but the queen flopped and the Shooting Star was sunk.

Next to fall was Alan Smurfit, the Irish player who probably has more experience of live poker than all of his opponents put together.

Alan Smurfit

The 66-year-old describes himself as a recreational player, but only because he evidently enjoys it too much to describe it as work. But there's no doubt he could also make a living this way: he proudly uses his World Series of Poker bracelet as his card protector and frequently cashes in the major events across the world.

This was his first EPT final table (athough he made 14th here last year) and it would end with £153,351 for sixth place. After allowing himself to get short stacked, he pushed in with A-4 and it was that man Martin who called with J-J. There were no surprises for Smurfit and he was gone.

Philippe Dauteuil, from Canada, took fifth. He had led the tournament for long periods through days two and three, but struggled to get his game going on the final table despite some of the most vociferous support from the rail. Some of them might have been enjoying a beer or two as they hooted and honked from the bleachers, supporting their countryman, but they were silenced when he ran pocket eights into Horecki's pocket kings.

Philippe Dauteuil

While all this sound and fury was playing out on and around the final table, one man had impressed just about everyone who knows anything about poker. His name was Eric Liu, from San Francisco, a high-stakes cash game player who committed himself earlier this year to learning to improve his live tournament play. If he improves it much more, he's going to be one of the all-time greats: he bossed the feature table for two full days hardly ever showing a hand down and building a massive stack.

With four left, Liu had more chips than all of his opponents combined. But even he couldn't survive this most crippling of contests and was knocked out in fourth. In his post-tournament interview, he blamed his inexperience for his demise, but there's not a great deal you can do when you fail to hit flush or straight draws, with an overcard, then run a suited ace into pocket rockets, then collide with a player (Martin) on the maddest run of cards ever seen at an EPT final table. There is no doubt whatsoever that Eric Liu will be back.

The final three were the aforementioned Martin, the Swedish PokerStars qualifier Michael Tureniec and another man we're going to hear a whole lot about: Marcin Horecki. The Pole is the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro, signed up after a glittering start to his poker career with some terrific results across Europe and then a call to poker's brightest Team for the World Series of Poker.

Marcin Horecki

In his first outings in Team colours, he has been quiet and efficient, impressing table-mates with his solid aggression. And here in London it paid rich dividends as he found the right time to shove his short stack in over and over again until, at one point, it was the biggest at the table. Of course, he also couldn't account for Martin and lost a huge pot to him when the American's 10-2 made trips on the river. Eventually, the remainder of his chips were in the middle behind K-8 and it couldn't beat the K-J of Tureniec.

Third place is a terrific showing from the Polish player, matching the superlative exploits on the European Poker Tour of several of his Team PokerStars Pro colleagues. Welcome to the club, Marcin.

Horecki's departure, however, left two for the money. Two for a million pounds - somewhere north of a $1.7m and huge bucks in any language. As it always tends to, it went this way and that, hither and thither, with Martin's three-to-one chip lead reined in, then extended, then reined in again. The crucial pot came shortly into level 31, where the blinds and antes had been raised to 60,000-120,000, and Martin picked off a ballsy bluff from Tureniec. The Swede had a stab at a jack-high board with nothing but queen high, but Martin called for a huge chunk of his stack with second-pair 10s and they were good.

Soon after, it all went in pre-flop with Martin holding pocket fours and Tureniec holding K-9. The fours made a set on the turn and the millionaire was crowned.

A word, though, about Tureniec. He paid $800 to enter a last chance satellite for EPT London on PokerStars held the weekend before the tournament began.

Michael Tureniec turned $800 into £500,000

He won his seat, found his way to Great Britain, and the super parlay began. He took more than half a million pounds for second place, joining that increasingly well-populated club of PokerStars players making fortunes from very little indeed.

But now the dust has settled, it's Martin with the million and the broadest smile. He was on the alternates list for this capacity tournament, not certain to even get his seat. But he was called in mid-way through level one and never looked back. A great champion and richly deserved.

It's good-night from this half of EPT London.

Take a look back at the full list of winners here. Continue to follow the high roller event here. And look back on the day's play with any of these links below:

First days and finals
The contenders
Level 25 updates
Level 26 updates
Level 28 updates
Level 28 updates
Level 29 updates
Level 30 updates
Level 31 updates

And read all about it in numerous exotic tongues. There's German, Italian, Dutch and even Swedish!

And don't forget PokerStars.tv to keep you entertained for as long as you need entertaining.

As alternates still buzz around the building, including the likes of Erica Schoenberg and David Benyamine, both of whom are on the waiting list for a seat, the early chip leader seems to be the former EPT champion Mark Teltscher, who already seems to have doubled to 20,000 which probably also accounted for our first departure. There'll be one of those alternates now in that seat, so we can't even tell who it was.

But here's some more information:

There's an early table of death contender in the bar area. In a row, we have: Alexandre Gomes, Isaac Haxton, John Kabbaj and Chris Ferguson.

Haxon also wins quote of the level: "We're going to have fun!" he says, as his pre-flop bet to 300 is bumped up to 1,500 by the player in the big blind. "But not yet," he continues, and folds.

Local table: Again all in one line are Vic regulars Nick Gibson, Tony Cascarino and Teltscher.

Double Deeb: Both Freddy and Shaun Deeb are in the building and in the day 1a field. The seasoned veteran and the internet sensation are not related, despite what you might read elsewhere. Or here.

Familiar faces from EPT battles past: Previous winners Pascal Perrault (Vienna, season one); Patrik Antonius (Baden, season two); Gavin Griffin (Monte Carlo, season two); Jason Mercier (San Remo, season four); Joseph Mouawad (London, season four).

And others: Joe Alpayaa, Annette Obrestad, Phidias Georgiou.

By Howard Swains

It could be Barcelona, it could be Monte Carlo. It could be Las Vegas, Copenhagen, Warsaw or Dortmund. It could be any country, any culture, any time zone in the world. But some things are constant, and we’re grateful for them to keep our feet firmly rooted to the ground.

The welcome party to a PokerStars EPT event is one of those things. We know what to expect and it always delivers: lavish setting, great company, spectacular entertainment, free-flowing refreshment and an enraptured atmosphere of anticipation for a week of poker to come.

So it was at Cafe de Paris tonight in London’s West End, where the great and the good of the European poker scene gathered to prepare for the first day of competition on the second event of season five of the EPT. While the fish and chips were offered to guests, Joe Hachem, (un)fresh from a 30-hour plane journey to get here, seized the microphone to talk to the crowd and introduced the all-new EPT welcome video, on screens surrounding the dance-floor. It looked a bit like this:

Watch EPT London 08: A Taste Of Things To Come on PokerStars.tv

And once that had stirred up the excitement, it was time for the burlesque dancers to take to the floor – or rather to take to a big spherical cage, where there were feathers, powder, enigmatic lighting and the result of hours of practise on a trapeze. It was, well, wait for the pictures.

So tomorrow is day 1a, the first of two opening days where half of the field attempts to survive with enough chips to challenge Thursday’s survivors on day two proper on Friday. Then over the weekend, they play down to a final table and a winner, who will be good for £1m.

Team PokerStars Pro are out in force. The PokerStars Six, otherwise known as the Million Dollar Men or the November Nine are also in the city. This is going to be one of the toughest tournaments ever witnessed in poker. But we’re brave enough. Follow it all here.

Here's a list of poker players, who are also members of an exclusive club.

Brandon Schaefer (USA); Jeff Williams (USA); Gavin Griffin (USA); Magnus Petersson (Sweden).

As of tonight, there's another name to add to the subscription list: Joseph Mouawad. He comes from Lebanon and he's the most recent champion of a European Poker Tour event who won his seat in the tournament after succeeding in a PokerStars.com satellite event.

Joseph Mouawad: the latest EPT champion

It's only exaggerating the truth slightly to say that these are the people who stump up about the equivalent of a small blind on a cash table and turn it into the equivalent of ten years' wages for the average banker. Like turning a toothpick into a lumberyard, as one poker sage once described it.

Mouawad won £611,520 in today's tournament in London, the second stop-off during season four of the EPT. He beat 391 other players, who each parted with £5,200 for their seat in the Grosvenor Victoria casino. But only Mouawad, a property developer from Beirut, can walk out onto the Edgware Road as the new champion. And with that chunk of cash in his pocket.

We convened at 3.30 p.m, with the following people holding the following chips:

Florian Langmann - Germany - 927,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 780,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 583,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 477,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Antony Lellouche - France - 466,000
Paul Mendes - England - 282,000
Ian Cox - England - 234,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 190,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)

All eyes were on Florian Langmann, the reigning German poker champion, who came to the final table with the chip lead. But neither he, nor anyone else around the table, was willing to put too much at risk during the early stages, and that allowed the young Swede named Fredrik Haugen to haul his way up the chip ladder.

Fredrik -- a 19-year-old PokerStars qualifier (surprise, surprise) -- was the short stack, but shoved it in time and again early in the day to surrender that ignominous title.

Ian Cox, from Poole, England, was the victim of many of these powerful plays and soon found himself peering over the shortest stack. Without many other options, he pushed it in from the button behind king-seven. Florian Langmann called from the small blind with king-three, a dominated hand. But a three on the flop ended it for Cox.

Next out was the only other remaining Briton in the field: Paul Mendes, from London. In each of the preceding three seasons, the London leg of the EPT had always produced a home champion, John Shipley, Mark Teltscher and Victoria Coren.

But when Mendes's king-ten couldn't overtake the ace-king of Antony Lellouche, the run of British champions was over.

That left six, and the big stack was still Langmann's. But not for long. Mouawad had played solidly throughout all three days so far, but had also demonstrated a keen ability to change gears when the situation demanded it.

Sensing an opportunity here, Mouawad, who has played poker for 15 years, put his entire tournament life on the line with ace-king, calling a huge bet of Langmann's. The German held 4-4 and was visibly sickened by the call, even more so when an ace flopped and a monster pot, the largest of the tournament so far, went to Joseph.

Joseph's stack contained more than two million in chips and that allowed him to pick off some of the remaining players. It was barely a ripple in the Atlantic for Joseph to call Anthony Lellouche's all in with 23,000, the Frenchman having been crippled in a massive pot against Marcel Baran, another PokerStars qualifier from Germany.

Mouawad only had jack-two, but had hit both on the flop. Lellouche's ace-five had been outdrawn and he was out the door.

That left five players, four of whom had qualified on PokerStars. There was Mouawad, of course, Marcel Baran, Fredrik Haugen and Josh Egan, from New Zealand, all of whose adventure began on the online tables of PokerStars.

But when something had to give, it was Haugen. Florian moved all in pre-flop, clearly just hoping to pick up the blinds and antes. But he ended up picking up much more: Haugen called with ace-jack, which couldn't retain its lead against Langmann's queen-ten.

Haugen took £124,342 for fifth place, which is a lot of buy-ins in cyberspace.

So, down to four. And one of them, Josh Egan, must have been licking his lips. Egan, known as Tycoon_Kid on PokerStars, is something of a specialist in single-table events. Proof? Well, he won back-to-back double shoot-outs to earn his place in both the Barcelona and London EPTs. That, essentially, is winning four sit n goes in a row, which the number-crunchers have determined is a 6,642 to one shot.

However, he couldn't quite make it one in a million, or so, when Florian Langmann managed to get all Josh's chips in the middle behind king-jack. Langmann had aces - the first time today, he claimed - and they stood up. The Tycoon_Kid is on his way back to New Zealand with £152,880. Someone else can do the calculations as to how impressive a mark up that is, but his initial outlay was only $215.

That left three players, which quickly became two. Marcel Baran, another PokerStars qualifier, might have been quiet at the table, but had nonetheless made all the right moves when necessary, getting his chips in when ahead, keeping them out the way when behind.

His elimination hand was no different, although his pocket fours were only a marginal favourite over his countryman's king-seven. And Langmann, who had lost a huge pot with fours earlier in the day, also watched them outdrawn again, this time to his profit. An ace flopped and Marcel missed his two outs: he was heading back to Germany with £203,840.

So, we were heads up. It was Lebanon versus Germany, and neither was going anywhere fast.

As in most heads-up battles, it was this way and that, but Joseph never really surrendered his chip lead. It all ended when both players limped to a flop and hit a pair. But Joseph's queens were bigger than Florian's nines. And another queen turned to give Joseph the money.

And there ended the EPT London, where PokerStars qualifiers ruled the roost. The four who made the final table ended up with more than a million pounds between them.

Anyone know a property developer who might know a good spot for a lumberyard?




Quotes:

Joseph Mouawad, winner

"It was a great experience; I didn't expect it at all. It was fun and a big achievement and I went up against some good players. But I never thought I'd win the championship.

"I've played casinos in Lebanon where a lot of people are starting to play. People know about Joe Hachem who's from Lebanon."

On the call with ace-king:

"We talked about the hand in the break and he said: 'How can you call with ace king?' I said: 'How can you go all in with a pair of fours?' But at the time I thought 'what the hell' and I played my intuition."

"Sometimes you get nervous but again you get used to it. He had more experience than me so I played my game. I thought if it happens it happens."

"I promised my son I'd buy him a car, so he'll get a car."

Florian Langmann, runner-up

"There was always a chance I could win, even with the short stack. At one point [Joseph] had all the chips while the others had just a few hundred thousand each. I had to push in all the time. Then Antony made his move so I waited until he went out.

"Heads up is always a gamble. He played very strangely and I tried to hit something but I didn't. I'm always trying to win but you don't expect it. This is really great."

EPT London final table results and payouts:

1st -- Joseph Mouawad -- Lebanon -- £611,520 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
2nd -- Florian Langmann -- Germany -- £346,528
3rd -- Marcel Baran -- Germany -- £203,840 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
4th -- Josh Egan -- New Zealand -- £152,880 (PokerStars double shoot-out qualifier)
5th -- Fredrik Haugen -- Sweden -- £124,342 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
6th -- Antony Lellouche -- France -- £97,843
7th -- Paul Mendes -- England -- £77,459
8th -- Ian Cox -- England -- £57,075

Click HERE for complete list of payouts.

Pictures (c) Neil Stoddart.

Joseph Mouawab, PokerStars qualifier from Lebanon, wins EPT London and £611,520

10.15pm: Florian Langmann, Germany, eliminated in second place, winning £346,528
That's it. It all goes in on a flop of queen-nine-six and Florian has a pair of nines, Joseph a pair of queens. The turn brings another queen and that's trips and the title for the man from Lebanon.

10.10pm: A scary board of 4-9-5-8-7. Florian bets 300k, Joseph called immediately. Just king high for the Florian, a pair of sevens for Joseph in a pot that had crept up to 900k.

10.00pm: Florian takes a step towards levelling his stack against that of Joseph, winning a 900k pot, when he made a full house, nines over aces. Joseph had called Florian’s big bet on the river adding a little extra to Florians’ stack.

9.45pm: Not much to report at this stage other than a few pots split evenly. Joseph still holds the overwhelming chip lead.

9.25pm: Joseph wins a pot worth over 500k when he moves all-in over a 240k raise from Florian after the flop was dealt 6-9-J. The expectation was for Florian to call but instead he mucked his cards.

9.05pm: Players take a break for a quick leg stretch, comfort stop and a sip of water before heads-up action begins.

9.00pm: Marcel Baran, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, eliminated in third place for £203,840
The story has ended for one PokerStars qualifier. All in with 4-4 it was countryman Florian Langmann calling once again, this time with K-7. Unfortunately for Marcel he was behind from the start when a king hit the flop with no four coming to his rescue.

8.45pm: Josh Egan, New Zealand, PokerStars double shoot-out qualifier, eliminated in fourth place for £152,880
When Josh Egan moved in all he could hope for was that his K-J would give him a chance. Unfortunately for him Florian Langmann had found aces and called immediately. The flop brought a jack but that alone was not enough. The Kiwi, with handshakes all round, was eliminated.

8.40pm: We're four-handed now, three of whom are PokerStars qualifiers, proving once again what we already knew about these internet players. Once more: they're quite good, on the whole. Joseph Mouawad is king of the castle still, by some significant measure, and so the other three remaining are playing all-in poker. No one is calling just yet, but they surely will very soon.

8.25pm: Fredrik Haugen, Sweden, eliminated in fifth place for £124,342
Florian moved all-in pre-flop and found Fredrik calling with A-J. Q-T for Florian, covering the Swede. The flop brought a ten and the turn brought another. It was all over for Fredrik whilst Florian’s revival continues.

8.10pm: Florian Langmann’s tournament looked all but over, except for a three way hand that has revitalised his chances. Following a bet from Marcel Joseph called before Florian moved all-in for 134k. Both Marcel and Joseph called but after a 9-3-6-3-2 board Florian’s 4-4 was good with both Marcel and Joseph mucking their cards. Florian triples up.

8.00pm: Antony Lellouche, France, eliminated in sixth place for £97,843
In a quiet hand that almost passed by unnoticed, Frenchman Antony Lellouche left the tournament stage when his last 23k was swallowed up by Joseph Mouawad’s juggernaut stack.

7.55pm: Marcel bets and Antony Lellouche decides it’s his moment to push all-in. Thinking it over Marcel eventually calls showing 8-8. Antony can only manage 7-3. The board quickly reveals nothing to help the Frenchman and Marcel doubles up again. After the smoke clears Lellouche is left with just 23k.

7.50pm: After that huge pot went towards Joseph, he has taken a commanding chip lead. The latest counts:

Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 2,237,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 592,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Antony Lellouche - France - 324,000
Marcel Baran - Germany – 276,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Florian Langmann - Germany – 254,000
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 222,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)

7.40pm: Florian Langmann and Fredrik Haugen split a pot when Florian moves in with A-3. Fredrik called with A-2 with a high board. Back to where they started.

7.25pm: A Florian raise, followed by a Joseph re-raise, followed by a Florian all-in move. Joseph called for what would be a race for his tournament life. A-K for Joseph, 4-4 for Florian. “I didn’t think you’d call that” said Florian turning his cards over. An ace hit the turn, and king hit the river. PokerStars Qualifier Joseph Mouawad doubles up.

7.20pm: Big double up, to 458,000, for Fredrik Haugen. Antony Lellouche made a button raise after it was passed to him, and Haugen, the PokerStars qualifier from Sweden, moved all in. Lellouche was committed and called with 5h-6h, which was especially weak against Haugen's pocket fives. No six appeared and Haugen took it down.

7.10pm: Players are back from the dinner break, and Joseph Mouawad is already firing: moving all in when an ace appeared on the turn in a pot against fellow PokerStars qualifier Marcel Baran. There was no raising pre-flop but Joseph bet out on a flop of Qh 10c Jc and Marcel called. Marcel folded, though, to that big turn bet.

6.00pm: An old fashioned aces versus queens hand develops with Marcel Baran all-in with the rockets. No help for Josh Egan and his queens as Marcel doubles up.

Latest chip counts as players take a dinner break:

Florian Langmann - Germany – 1,241,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 716,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany – 656,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Antony Lellouche - France - 601,000
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 457,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 263,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)

5.45pm: A slight lull broken by two consecutive all-ins from PokerStars qualifier Marcel Baran. It brought us some high drama for a few moments but each time Marcel found no takers.

5.35pm: The big stacks -- or, rather, stack -- is now dominating. Florian Langmann has extended his lead with a number of strong pre-flop re-raises, taking a couple of pots from Josh Egan. Antony Lellouche is also joining in the fun, and has also pinched a couple of smaller pots. Six handed still here.

5.25pm: Paul Mendes, England, eliminated in seventh place for £77,459
The EPT London has always had an English winner – not so this year as Paul Mendes is eliminated, all in with K-T and called by Antony Lellouche holding A-K. First card out of the deck was another ace, ultimately condemning Mendes to the rail.

5.20pm: After Fredrik Haugen bets 55k pre-flop Kiwi Josh Egan pushes all-in for 329k. Fredrik calls, showing A-T. Josh is ahead with pocket Queens and makes a set on the flop. No further help for the Swede and Josh doubles up.

5.10pm: Marcel Baran makes it 50k pre-flop with Joseph Mouawad calls. On the flop of 7d-9s-Ts Marcel again leads, betting 100k which prompts Joseph to push all-in. After some thought Marcel calls showing J-9. Joseph is ahead though with A-Th. The turn brings another ace, the river a jack. Two pairs each but Joseph’s aces double him up.

5.05pm: Ian Cox, England, eliminated in eighth place for £57,075
We've lost one. It's folded round to Ian Cox on the button, and he moves all in for about 150,000. Florian Langmann calls from the small blind. Langmann, the chip leader, has king-three and is dominated by Cox's king-seven. But the three comes on the flop and Florian's one pair takes it down, eliminating the Englishman.

5.00pm: Wags in the press room are already predicting a long night. We've only had one all-in called so far - the Lellouche hand reported at 4.45pm - and there's not much gambling going on. Fredrik Haugen has been busiest and has moved up a couple of places as a result.

4.45pm: Anthony Lellouche is the first player to move all-in with a caller. Chip leader Florian Langmann did the calling, showing 6-5s. A-T for the Frenchman who paired his ace on the flop, doubling up. Lellouche now third in chips.

Chip counts:

Florian Langmann - Germany - 759,000
Marcel Baran - Germany - 714,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Anthony Lellouche - France - 660,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 579,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 465,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 342,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Ian Cox - England - 227,000
Paul Mendes - England - 178,000

4.35pm: It's been the short stack who's been bullying the table so far today, and Fredrik Haugen just took another pot of 205,000 from Ian Cox with a re-raise after an ace-high flop. Cos had about 40,000 invested, but folded when faced with Fredrik's 105,000 bump.

4.30pm: Still no eliminations from the final table, with chips sliding this way and that but no significant moves up or down the leaderboard. Calm before the storm?

4.15pm: The biggest pot of the day so far goes to Marcel Baran, who makes a king-high flush on the turn and manages to get Anthony Lellouche to pay him off on the end. It's worth 382,000.

4.00pm: First big hand, and it's PokerStars qualifier versus PokerStars qualifier. Double shootout maestro Josh Egan makes a small pre-flop raise and Fredrik Haugen moves all in. The pot is 313,000 and Josh has a real decision to make. He counts, he riffles, he chews gum. He counts, he riffles, he chews again. He folds and Haugen starts counting.

3.50pm: Florian Langmann flexes his muscles and picks up another uncontested pot. We've seen some flops but no showdown yet.

3.40pm: As expected, play is cagey in the opening exhanges. With blinds at 6,000-12,000 and a 1,000 running ante, no one is under any immediate threat. Antony Lellouche nicks a couple of small pots, before Fredrik Haugan slides a large percentage of his short stack into the centre to take a pot from Marcel Baran, uncontested.

3.30pm: Play is underway on the final table. We'll have full updates until the final hand.

Seat 1: Ian Cox, 45, UK – 234,000
Of all today’s final table players, Ian Cox, a poker pro & sports bettor from Poole, Dorset, has the most experience beneath the studio lights. His first live poker came after qualifying online for the 2005 Poker Million and he’s played in three later TV tournaments. Cox spent 11 years terrorizing fixed odds bookmakers with his knowledge of golf betting, before moving to the exchanges. He took up poker while waiting for market moves. Three final tables from 11 live events in 2006 and six from 14 this year attest to the skills of a natural.

Seat 2: Florian Langmann, 24, Germany – 927,000

Florian, the reigning German champion, carries the chip lead to the final table of the EPT and is enjoying the best year of his fledgling poker career. A professional player taking a break from studies in Dresden, he made two final tables in this year's Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas and cashed in EPT Dortmund last year. Oiginally from Verden in Germany, Florian usually plays high-limit SNGs on PokerStars.

Seat 3: Anthony Lellouche, 27, France – 466,000

Parisian Antony Lellouche mainly plays live poker in high stakes cash games around the world. He is both respected and well-liked by his peers and mentors, including the “godfathers” of French poker Claude Cohen and Jan Boubli. Antony turned pro nine years ago, honing his skills at the smallest limit games at the Aviation Club. Fearless and intuitive, Antony has already made two WSOP final tables and come close in two EPT Grand Finals – 12th in 2005 and 21st in 2007. Today gives him his biggest tournament payout to date.

Seat 4: Fredrik Haugen, 19, Sweden, PokerStars cash qualifier - 190,000
Fredrik, from Gothernburg, is already a highly experienced poker player. With EPT final tables often dominated by Swedes, Fredrik is – unusually - the last Swedish survivor at EPT London and, being the short stack, his task is hardest. One thing in his favour is his girlfriend Elvedina who made the journey with him, providing moral support from the rail. She admitted to being “very nervous” but Fredrik looks far more relaxed. His previous biggest win was 32nd place at EPT Dortmund last year.

Seat 5: Josh Egan, 23, New Zealand, PokerStars double shoot-out qualifier - 477,000

Student Josh has had a "massive roller-coaster" at the London EPT. Down to 3,000 in chips on Day 1, three great hands (fives, sixes and kings) turned it around for the 23-year-old from Auckland. Josh also qualified for the Barcelona leg of this year's EPT via a double shootout, on the same day that he also won his double shootout ticket to London -- four sit and go wins back-to-back, a 6,642 to one shot. He also previously qualified for the 2006 World Series where he came 602nd for $20,000. His strategy for today is suss out the table – and avoid chip leader Florian Langmann.

Seat 6: Marcel Baran, 28, Germany, PokerStars cash qualifier – 583,000

Marcel, from Aschaffenburg in Germany, has been pro for two years after quitting his job as a web developer. The decision has paid off as he’s now on the verge of his biggest cash yet. Marcel took up poker after coming home late one night and catching TV highlights of EPT Season 1. He is now set to improve on his previous best - 11th (€25,870) in EPT Dublin. “I’m not nervous. I’m only nervous when I’m all in. In a hand, I’ve no time to be nervous!”

Seat 7: Paul Mendes, 44, UK - 282,000

Londoner Paul has been a striking figure at EPT London thanks to his distinctive Stetson– a gift from Vegas. He said: “I wear it for special occasions – and this is certainly one of those.” Today’s final table place is by far Paul’s biggest result to date. His previous biggest win was £1,200 after coming 8th in a tournament in Edinburgh a couple of years ago. The 44-year-old screenplay writer took up poker when he was working in a petrol station. He was invited to a game by some regulars, won the game and hasn’t looked back since.

Seat 8: Joseph Mouawad, Lebanon, PokerStars cash qualifier - 780,000

It was nearly over before it began for Joseph Mouawad. He planned to come here with friends but when they cancelled, he nearly did too. Thankfully he changed his mind and is now 2nd in chips. “My friends are following the action from home instead. They’re very excited.” Married with three children, the real estate developer from Beirut began playing poker nearly 15 years ago. He took up Hold’em two years ago when it became popular in his local casino. Today will be his best result yet. “I’ll be nervous for the first 15 minutes - but then I’ll get going.”


Back row L to R: Antony Lellouche, Florian Langmann, Fredrik Haugen, Ian Cox
Front row L to R: Josh Egan, Marcel Baran, Paul Mendes, Joseph Mouawad

All pictures (c) Neil Stoddart

Credit: Neil Stoddart

Hello and welcome back - for the final time - to London.

It's final table time on the second stopping point of season four of the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT). We've been holed up since Monday at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in Great Britain's venerable capital.

And late last night, we lost the 384th player from the 392 who entered the event, leaving us with the following eight who'll fight it out for the big money:

Florian Langmann - Germany - 927,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 780,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 583,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 477,000 (PokerStars double shootout qualifier)
Anthony Lellouch - France - 466,000
Paul Mendes - England - 282,000
Ian Cox - England - 234,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 190,000 (PokerStars cash qualifier)

A reminder of what they're playing for:

1st -- £611,520
2nd -- £346,528
3rd -- £203,840
4th -- £152,880
5th -- £124,342
6th -- £97,843
7th -- £77,459
8th -- £57,075

The final table is due to begin at 3.30 p.m. GMT, which is 10.30 a.m. ET. We'll have photographs and biographies of all the contenders before then, and then all the action as it happens.

Let's start at the end.

Tomorrow, the final table of this week's EPT London will feature the following eight players chasing this trophy.

Florian Langmann - Germany - 927,000
Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 780,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 583,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Josh Egan - New Zealand - 477,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Anthony Lellouche - France - 466,000
Paul Mendes - England - 282,000
Ian Cox - England - 234,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 190,000 (PokerStars qualifier)

How we got there is a long, long story that began at 1pm today. At that point there were 40 players, headed by Surinder Sunar, Ben Grundy and Anthony Lellouche. As you can see, only the Frenchman Lellouche survived unscathed on a day where the poker "names" had it rough.

Erik Friberg, who had previously sat around a World Series main event final table, came back today with just 7,000 chips and shoved them in on his second hand. He went out. And then we raced towards the bubble, losing Carlo Citrone, another well-known professional in 33rd place, the last not to get paid.

In the money, we found some genuine world class players: former EPT champions Pascal Perrault and Roland de Wolfe; WPT champion Sunar, and a certain Team PokerStars pro named Moneymaker.

But none of them would make it to the end. De Wolfe hit a couple of miracle flops to stay alive early in the day, but went out in 19th. Perrault was edged out in tenth, just an inch, or metric centimetre, from the final table.

And as for Moneymaker? Well, he'd played some of the best cards of his career to go deep here: he was the star that everyone was trying to dethrone. He dodged some bullets and shot plenty of his own, but he couldn't stop Florian Langmann's flush draw getting there, and he'll have to wait to add an EPT win to his WSOP bracelet.

Let's hear it, then, for the PokerStars qualifiers - all in one way or another following in Moneymaker's footsteps. There was Katja Svendsen, who had bossed and bullied her way through the field for three days, only coming unstuck when a well-timed squeeze-play, with 5-4, was miraculously called by Joseph Mouawad's 7-8. She came 27th.

That was one place higher than Martyn Reeve, of Wales, and five below Vijayan Nagarawan, who is going back to Malaysia with £12,230. Peter Petersen takes the same back to Denmark.

And we also bade a sad farewell to Phidias Georgiou, from Cyprus, who had entertained railbirds and struck fear into players all the way to 11th place, good for £28,537.

But that's not all. That's by no means all.

Of the eight men reconvening for that final table tomorrow, four of them are PokerStars qualifiers, undoubtedly one of the best showings by qualifiers in these events.

Leading them is that man Mouawad, who knocked out Katja. He continued to eliminate player after player, until he'd got up to 780,000.

Marcel Baran, from Germany, also hacked and slayed his way through the field. He'll be back with 583,000.

And Josh Egan's long flight from New Zealand was clearly worth the trouble. He'll be returning tomorrow with 477,000 and the prospect of a huge win.

The final PokerStars qualifier is also still in with a great shout. Fredrik Haugen, of Sweden has 190,000 and is in the unique position of being the only Nordic player on an EPT final table. I'm sure that's a first.

So, that's it for now from London. The final table begins at 3.30 p.m. tomorrow. Join us then for all the action.

And here's all the action from today:

Play begins

Qualifiers on the charge

Making moves

Boom or bust on the bubble

Lights, cameras, action...

Money men (and woman)

All the way to the money

Photo gallery

The shape of things to come

Going slowly into that good night

Hand for hand

PokerStars qualifier Phidias Georgiou is out of the EPT London having experiencing the highs and lows of both the chip lead and the short stack on the same day. It came as the hour was just minutes from midnight after play had for hours given the illusion of standing still. It wasn’t, it was just the death crawl that accompanies the approach of the TV bubble.

With a flop dealt Q-9-T Phidias bet out 40k. The decision was now with Florian Langmann whose stack looked mightier than the Cypriot’s, with plenty to spare – even with the re-raise of over 200k. Phidias, who had led the tournament before losing a mammoth hand to fellow qualifier Marcel Baran, was out of his chair, his jaw working a piece of gum in what is the loneliest part of a poker player’s day – the decision for your tournament life. He called, wincing almost immediately as Florian turned over his A-Q. Phidias could only manage K-Q. He’d need help.

Alas it didn’t come. To the handshakes of all at the table Phidias was gone, the curtain drawn on his impressive performance.

Phidias Georgiou now out of the EPT London

“I gave my chips away” I heard him say to one of those people trying their best to offer some consolation. Sometimes you can talk to a player as he leaves the tournament area - either they’ve exceeded their own expectations or they know another tournament is just around the corner. But sometimes it’s best just to let a man grieve. It might take him a while but Phidias will be back, but right now we’re left with ten players at the EPT London.

Tournament update:

Or so we thought. On the next hand it was Frenchman Pascal Perrault heading for the rail. Just as he had eliminated his countryman Thomas Fougeron earlier in the tournament, it was another countryman Anthony Lellouche who quashed Perrault’s hopes of a second EPT title. All in pre-flop it was Q-J for Pascal, K-Q for Lellouche. No help and Pascal was out in 10th place.

Chip counts in seat order:

1. Ian Cox – England – 239k
2. Florian Langmann – Germany – 835k
3. Anthony Lellouche – France -- 452k
4. Fredrik Haugen – Sweden – PokerStars Qualifier – 201k
5. Josh Egan – New Zealand – PokerStars Qualifier – 500k
6. Marcel Baran – Germany – PokerStars Qualifier – 606k
7. Paul Mendes – England -- 340k
8. Jason Hacket – England -- 92k
9. Joseph Mouawad – Lebanon – PokerStars Qualifier – 674k

Well, it would be nice to report a rush of eliminations, the foundation of a final table, and my fingers hovvering over the keys labelled G-O-O-D-N-I-G-H-T. But the truth is something different.

Although we're now down to 11 players, having waved goodbye to Tony Cascarino, David Obrobac and Surinder Sunar, they've been trickling out the door rather than rushing. That's understandable, of course, because we're playing for more than half a million pounds. But in contrast to the boom and bust of yesterday, this has been very slow progress.

One man not complaining, however, is Joseph Mouawad, the PokerStars qualifier from Lebanon, who was responsible for the most recent two eliminations. Both were from the feature table and both were of exceptionally dangerous players.

Mouawad first took his pocket queens up against the A-K of Obrobac and survived a flush draw on the flop to take out the young Swede.

He then accounted for Surinder Sunar, the overnight chip leader, who had been bleeding chips for most of the day and then moved all-in pre-flop with queen-ten. Mouawad had pocket sevens, made the call, and the best hand stayed that way, despite Surinder picking up myriad outs on the J-J-A 9 board. The 5 on the river was not one of them.

Joseph has now quietly assumed the chip lead - another PokerStars qualifier tearing up a major tournament field.

Here are the latest counts of the featured table players:

Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - 707,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Jason Hackett - England - 146,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 201,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Marcel Baran - Germany - 599,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Ian Cox - England - 157,000

Out on the other table, things aren't quite so clear for the chip counters. But Florian Langmann, Josh Egan (PokerStars qualifier) and Anthony Lellouche are still the big stacks, with Paul Mendes, Phidias Georgiou (PokerStars qualifier) and Pascal Perrault slightly shorter.

The latest official counts:

Marcel Baran -- Germany -- 602,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Florian Langman -- Germany -- 421,000
Josh Egan -- New Zealand -- 350,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Fredrik Haugen -- Sweden -- 313,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Anthony Lellouche -- France -- 277,000
Paul Mendes -- England -- 264,000
Pascal Perrault -- France -- 264,000
Phidias Georgiou -- Cyprus -- 249,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Surinder Sunar -- England -- 233,000
David Obrobac -- Sweden -- 214,000
Joseph Mouawad -- Lebanon -- 165,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Ian Cox -- England -- 119,000
Jason Hackett -- England -- 108,000
Tony Cascarino -- Ireland -- 99,000

And all the eliminations so far:

15th - Trinh Lam - England - £16,307
16th - Alan Smurfit - Ireland - £16,307
17th - Chris Moneymaker - USA - (Team PokerStars pro) - £12,230 ($22,785)
18th - Roland de Wolfe - England - £12,230 ($22,785)
19th - Ken Wong - China - £12,230 ($22,785)
20th - Peter Petersen - Denmark - (PokerStars qualifier) - £12,230 ($22,785)
21st - Ben Grundy - England - £12,230 ($22,785)
22nd - Vijayan Nagarawan - Malaysia (PokerStars qualifier) - £12,230 ($22,785)
23rd - Nicky Roeg - Holland - £12,230 ($22,785)
24th - Christopher Andler - Sweden - £12,230 ($22,785)
25th - Javed Abrahams - England - £8,153 ($15,174)
26th - Daniel Mangas - Spain - £8,153 ($15,174)
27th - Katja Svendsen - Norway - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
28th - Martyn Reeve - Wales - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
29th - Marc Goodwin - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
30th - Fuat Can - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)
31th - Stuart Nash - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
32nd - Mehmet Cinar - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)

EPTs champions are a varied bunch - casino locals, old timers, the new boy on the scene playing his first live event, and journeyman players due a result. One category of winner is the ‘player nobody seems to notice until things get serious.’ Natural ability and a knack for blending in trigger this phenomenon, and one player of this ilk is young Swedish PokerStars qualifier Fredrik Haugen.

With a ton of chips and the support of his girlfriend Elvedina on the rail, Fredrik is getting close to the final table, and has already beaten his previous best EPT result of 32nd in EPT Dortmund. But it might not have been such a pleasant trip to London for Fredrik who came close to falling at the first hurdle.

“I was down to 3k after two hours on day 1 but I worked my way up. I was all-in with A-5 and was called by Q-Q. I hit an ace on the river.”

Luck goes nicely with a little talent and since then the Gothenburg native hasn’t looked back.

Another player, a PokerStars qualifier no less, fits this 'from out of nowhere' description. Joseph Mouawad survived a spell in glorious Technicolor on the TV table against the likes of Chris Moneymaker, Roland de Wolfe and French pros Anthony Lellouche and Pascal Perrault. The quiet man from Lebanon, who only started playing a few years ago at the home game of a friend, now finds himself looking at his best tournament result yet, and has a stack of 160k.

EPT Tournament update:

PokerStars qualifier Peter Petersen is eliminated in 20th place.

Ken Wong followed shortly after in 19th place

Roland de Wolfe is eliminated in 18th. After surviving multiple all-ins Roland came second in a clash with Pascal Perrault - two EPT champions locking antlers, leaving only Pascal in the chase for a remarkable EPT double.

Chris Moneymaker is also out. Florian Langmann made the nut flush to send the Team PokerStars pro and 2003 World Champion is out in 17th place.

There’s a new chip leader after a monster pot developed between two PokerStars qualifiers (who seem to be flying right now at the EPT London). German Marcel Baran took the chips when his flush draw paid off, trumping Phidias Georgiou’s set. Marcel is now up to over 600k.

As mentioned in a previous post, the action has slowed significantly in London. We need to get down to a final table of eight tonight, but there are a lot of medium-sized stacks out there, meaning most of the pots remain small unless there are two big hands. Blinds are at 8,000-4,000 with a 1,000 ante, giving potential bullies something to aim at.

Roland de Wolfe, on the featured table, has doubled up a couple of times, outdrawing kings with an ace-jack in one notable hand. Josh Egan, the PokerStars qualifier from New Zealand, has also recently doubled his short stack.

But this slight slackening of the pace works in our favour, allowing us the chance to take a glimpse at the work of another PokerStars star: photographer Neil Stoddart, who produces many of the peerless pictures from these EPTs.

As a rule, if the photos are crisp and inventive, they came from Neil's camera. Photos like these, for instance:

Ben Grundy, the Milky Bar Kid departed in 21st


Tony Cascarino, former "Irish" footballer, now poker star


Josh Egan, PokerStars qualifier from New Zealand


Jospeh Mouawad, PokerStars qualifier from Lebanon


Marcel Baran, PokerStars qualifier from Germany


Paul Mendes, from England (Texas)


Jason Hackett, from England, on the feature table


Chris Moneymaker, Team PokerStars pro


Stuart Nash, British pro departed in 31st


Phidias Georgiou, PokerStars qualifier from Cyprus, leading the way in London


Roland de Wolfe, EPT champion grinning his way deep again

All photos (c) Neil Stoddart

Earlier tonight I caught up with Martyn Reeve in his hour of defeat. The Welshman who qualified on PokerStars seemed happy enough with his £8,200 – the biggest cash of his career.

Martyn Reeve: looking down, and out
Credit: Neil Stoddart

“The first day went really well. I had about 50,000 at the end of the day so at the start of day two I was in 15th. But I didn’t get many cards yesterday, I went down to 35k then one pot took me back up to 60k. I went up a little and came back today with 82k.”

Moving all-in he found ex-footballer Tony Cascarino calling, ahead on the showdown by the narrowest of margins, A-Q to Martyn’s A-J. Another ace arrived on the board but no sign of a jack, putting end to Swansea’s hopes of an EPT title.

“I tried to play a bit today,” said Martyn. “I wasn’t afraid of going out. I would have liked to make it to tomorrow but I’m glad I made it to the money after all this work! ”

A worthy effort from Martyn - £8,200 for four days work.

Tournament Update:

After a hectic spell of eliminations and chip movement players have now returned from their dinner break in something of a post-prandial slumber. There have been no further eliminations since Ben Grundy's departure in 21st and the chip leaders of before maintain their lead over the others.

The tournament floor at the Vic is its usual chaos this afternoon, with a side event starting and drawing many of the earlier casualties from the main EPT contest.

That tournament is, of course, still progressing and edging ever closer to the final table. We're down to three of them at the moment, around which we now have 24 players. That means that we've lost the following:

21st - Ben Grundy - England - £12,230 ($22,785)
22nd - Vijayan Nagarawan - Malaysia (PokerStars qualifier) - £12,230 ($22,785)
23rd - Nicky Roeg - Holland - £12,230 ($22,785)
24th - Christopher Andler - Sweden - £12,230 ($22,785)
25th - Javed Abrahams - England - £8,153 ($15,174)
26th - Daniel Mangas - Spain - £8,153 ($15,174)
27th - Katja Svendsen - Norway - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
28th - Martyn Reeve - Wales - (PokerStars qualifier) - £8,153 ($15,174)
29th - Marc Goodwin - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
30th - Fuat Can - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)
31th - Stuart Nash - UK - £8,153 ($15,174)
32nd - Mehmet Cinar - Sweden - £8,153 ($15,174)

Of those still afloat, some of the top chips counts are:

Phidias Georgiou - Cyprus - 480,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Surinder Sunar - England - 470,000
Anthony Lellouche - France - 432,000
Lam Trinh - England - 420,000
Fredrik Haugen - Sweden - 205,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Chris Moneymaker - 176,000
Florian Langmann - 164,000
David Obrobac - Sweden - 160,000
Peter Petersen - Sweden - 157,000 (PokerStars qualifier)
Josh Egan - 118,000
Roland de Wolfe - 109,000
Josh Hackett - 84,000

Day three of the EPT means the introduction of a television table. One group of eight will today have every move scrutinised by a swarm of cameras, serried ranks of supporters, an army of technicians and, eventually, millions in the comfort of their own homes (in edited form, at least.)

While for some that's a daunting proposition, others relish their time under studio lights. And around the first television table of this year's London EPT, there are significantly more of the latter category than the former. Take a look at today's first feature table.

Seat 1 - Daniel Mangas - Spain
Seat 2 - Roland de Wolfe - England
Seat 3 - Fuat Can - Sweden
Seat 4 - Katja Svendsen - Norway - PokerStars qualifier
Seat 5 - Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon - PokerStars qualifier
Seat 6 - Anthony Lellouche - France
Seat 7 - Chris Moneymaker - USA - Team PokerStars pro
Seat 8 - Pascal Perrault - France

At a quick count, that's two EPT titles and one WPT crown, alongside a WSOP main event winner.

Tough table.

* * * * *

Tournament update:

We're down to 31 players now. And here's how most of them are faring (the others are out of reach):

Ben Grundy – England - 250,000
Tony Cascarino – Ireland - 85,000
Martyn Reeve – Wales - PokerStars qualifier - 45,000
Stuart Nash – England - 43,000
Peter Petersen – Sweden - PokerStars qualfier - 140,000
Vajayan Nagarajan – Malaysia - PokerStars qualifier - 120,000
Fredrik Haugen – Sweden - 120,000
Nicky Roeg – Holland - 75,000
Surinder Sunar – England - 390,000
Alan Smurfit – Ireland - 120,000
Marc Goodwin – England - 66,000
Josh Egan – New Zealand - 160,000
Katja Svendsen - Norway - PokerStars qualifier - 110,000
Phidias Georgiou - Cyprus - PokerStars qualifier - 180,000
Anthony Lellouche - France - 238,000
Lam Trinh - England - 330,000

Eliminated:
Fuat Can
Stuart Nash
Marc Goodwin

Bubble time is the cruellest time in a poker tournament. It's also the most anxious, often the busiest at the rail and among the media but, when all's said and done, usually the slowest too.

For the uninitiated, "the bubble" bursts when the last remaining player goes out of the tournament without earning any money. In this event, the top 32 players are assured at least £8,153, but the person finishing 33rd gets nothing, nada, zilch, zero, nowt and/or nought.

To ensure the playing field is as level as possible, and to stop short-stacks delaying the action unnecessarily, the tournament director instigates "hand-for-hand" play. That means that the dealers on each table can only start shuffling and dealing the next hand when all the other tables have finished the preceding one.

It's often a tortuous process as a player might be faced for a decision for his tournament life, something he or she doesn't want to rush into. This means that the players from the other tables, all of whom have finished their hand, have to sit patiently around their tables, or sometimes crowd around the decision-maker, ramping up the pressure.

Today was no different. And it lasted for about half-an-hour.

The hand that accounted for Carlo Citrone - and burst the bubble

Eventually the bubble burst when Carlo Citrone, the British pro and poker commentator, and Vijayan Nagarawan, the PokerStars qualifier from Malaysia, got it all in pre-flop. Vijay had Carlo covered, in both chips and cards. The Malaysian tabled A-K, Carlo had A-Q. There were no miracles on the flop and Citrone was sent packing after a lot of work for nothing.

That means everyone still remaining is in the money. Unfortunately, Joris Jaspers, a PokerStars W$ buy-in, was among those to beat Citrone out the door. But there are still plenty of big names, more than a handful of qualifiers, and some fitting both categories still in with a shout.

Stay tuned. It's getting towards the business end.

Vajayan Nagarajan was the first PokerStars qualifier to make a move today, pushing all-in only for Peter Petersen to fold an ace rather than risk the damage. It wasn’t quite so straightforward for PokerStars qualifier Joris Jaspers. His exit was of the unlucky kind - with aces...

“I bet 8k pre-flop. He re-raised and I moved all in for 43k and he showed jacks.”

Seemed like a good deal...

“He made a back door flush... Sick!”

Disappointed Joris was in still good spirits. “I enjoyed it” he said, despite the sting at the end. He almost cashed in Barcelona and matched that here. Little consolation, but there’s always EPT Baden.

Another player out was PokerStars qualifier Niclas Svensson. His tournament came to an end after he followed a bet by EPT Dublin champion Roland de Wolfe by moving all-in...

“Anyone else... straight away...” said Roland as he took time to consider his options. “Call.”

It’s the stage of the tournament where that simple word sends anyone within earshot into a frenzy, stretching the rope line to get a better view of some poor soul’s misery. 9-9 for Niclas, A-Qd for Roland – the race quashed when two aces hit the flop shattering Niclas’ hopes for at least a well earned pay check at the end of a hard week.

“Anyone else” repeated Roland “I call (click) like that. But him...”

You may have noticed from the list of remaining players in the EPT London that PokerStars qualifiers are doing rather well. That's nothing new, of course. We've all heard of the likes of Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer in the World Series, as well as Brandon Schaefer and Jeff Williams on the EPT.

And if there's another qualifier turned champion here in London, it will be one of these candidates:

Joseph Mouawad - Lebanon


Marcel Baran - Germany


Josh Egan - New Zealand


Fredrik Haugen - Sweden


Joris Jaspers - Holland


Katja Svendsen - Norway


Peter Petersen - Denmark


Phidias Georgiou - Cyprus


Martyn Reeve - Wales


David Sonelin - Sweden


Niclas Svensson - Sweden


Vijayan Nagarajan - Malaysia

And although he doesn't have to qualify these days, the man Moneymaker will hardly be ashamed to be featured in this company. So here's another snap of the man who started all this, now, of course, a Team PokerStars pro.


Chris Moneymaker - USA

Sat in the cardroom between the TV people at one end making finishing touches to the main stage and bar staff at the other polishing glasses for first drinks of commiseration, is Marcel Baran. The young PokerStars Qualifier from Germany starts the day on 102,800 and is no stranger to the trials and tribulations of making it to the business end of an EPT.

“This is my fifth EPT so I have a bit of experience of live poker – not as much as online of course.”

What kind of tournament has Marcel had so far?

“Early on I had a standard hand of aces against kings. A king came and I was short stacked from then. Going into day 2 I had about two thirds of the average. I had one hand that was pretty big with pocket tens -a raise, re-raise, he moved in and I called. That brought me back up to 200k. Then I lost a few.”

Then came the hand late on day 2 against fellow PokerStars qualifier Katja Svendsen. Not a huge pot but enough to re-ignite Marcel’s tournament hopes. Playing with her trademark aggressive style Katja had set the pace, but with the board showing 7-J-9-3-K Marcel bet out 15k into a 40k pot.

“She took her time and thought for a while but eventually called. I had K-9. I think she had something like K-Q.

"Today I have two guys on my left with 200k stacks. If I raise I can get into problems - I can beat them but I’d rather have smaller stacks on my left. I’ll see how it goes.”

The boxes have been moved, the cables shifted - the stage is set for day 3.