Juanda Wins WSOP Europe Main Event

World Series of Poker hit Europe with a storm and had many players and fans glued to their seats as the cards came out. John Juanda won the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE)В£10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event. He outlasted Stanislav Alekhin in a marathon 22 hour final table to cash В£868,800.

Held at the Casino at the Empirein London, the WSOPE has become one of the top poker tournaments in Europe with cash and bracelets up for grabs to the winners.

The tournament kicked off with the В£1,500 buy in No-Limit Hold'em tournament. There were 410 entries making a total prize pool of В£615,000. Dane Jesper Hougaard outlasted American Fuad Serhan to take home В£144,218 in first place. Serhan finished in second for a payout of В£89,175. Another American, Yevgeniy Timoshenko finished third for В£55,350.

Next up was the В£2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event. This mixed play poker event takes in 5 variations on poker Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, , Seven-card Stud high, Seven-card stud hi-lo Eights or better. This is the true poker all-rounders game requiring players to be skilled at various forms of poker. How many times would you hear than an Afghan outlasted names like Lederer, Ivey & Lisandro? Well that’s what happened when Afghan Sherkhan Farnood took down a epic 14 hour final table to win В£76,999. A truly fantastic achievement for a great champion.

Event three on the schedule was the В£5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. With Denmark already claiming a bracelet in the В£1,500 Hold'em event, It was another great Dane that took home the soils as Theo JГёrgensen won В£218,626. Canada’s Sorel Mizzi was second with В£132,000 and Britainв's Eric Dalby in third for В£84,562.

Onto the Main Event of 2008 World Series of Poker Europe. The main event had 362 buy-ins for a total prize pool of В£3,620,000. The field split into two starting days, to stagger the entrants. Day 1a finished with 86 of the original 159 entrants. Justin Smith had over 150,000 in chips, with Andy Bloch, Scott Montgomery, and Andy Black among those in high chip counts.

Day 1b finished with under half of the 203 starters still left. Daniel Negreanu led the day 1b field with 154050 in chips. Day 2 managed to whittle down to 67 players by the day’s end with Erik Seidel and Andy Bloch in the chip lead.

By Day 3, the field was fighting it out for the guaranteed cash finishes with the top 36 being paid. Play finished with only 24 players left and John Juanda, Justin Smith and Daniel Negreanu in the top positions.

Day 4 was the day for players to see whether they could step up and make the final table. It was a tough battle in a long day’s play. In the end, the final 9 players were: Robin Keston, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Elliott, Bengt Sonnert, John Juanda, Ivan Demidov, Toni Hiltunen, Scott Fischman and Stanislav Alekhin.John Juanda held the chip lead of 1,349,000 going into the final table on day 5.

The final table finished after an incredible 484 hands and 22 hours of poker, John Juanda won the 2008 WSOPE Main Event. This is a record for a final table. Stanislav Alekhin finish the tournament is a credible second place.

In an incredible final hand, Juanda’s Ks, 6c was up against Alekhin's Ac, 9s. The flop hit 6d, 6s, 2d. Unbelievable given this was for first place and a difference of over В£300,000 in prize money. The river hit the 6h giving Juanda quad sixes and another WSOP bracelet. He pockets В£868,800 for his troubles.

Second place Alekhin takes home В£533,950 for his troubles with third placed Russian Ivan Demidov winning В£334,850. Canada’s Daniel Negreanu, who had a solid game right throughout the tournament and many people’s favourite to take the title finished in fifth with В£217,200.

Juanda said afterwards, "This is the longest final table that I have ever played". Delighted with his victory he was happy to be a WSOP winner “It's so long ago when I won my last bracelet”.

WSOPE Main Event Final Table Placings:

1st John Juanda - В£868,800

2nd Stanislav Alekhin - В£533,950

3rd Ivan Demidov - В£334,850

4th Bengt Sonnert - В£271,500

5th Daniel Negreanu - В£217,200

6th Scott Fischman - В£171,950

7th Robin Keston - В£135,750

8th Toni Hiltunen - В£108,600

9th Chris Elliott - В£81,450