EPT London - Live Updates

This tournament is over! The final hand began with Joseph Mouawad calling from the small blind and Florian Langmann raising to $110,000 from the big blind. The flop came Q♦ 9♦ 6♥ and Langmann bet out $150,000. Mouawad only took a moment to announce all-in and after a bit of time in the tank, Langmann made the call. When the cards were on their backs we saw it was Langmann in trouble and Mouawad only two cards away from taking down this event!

Q♣ 3♣ for Mouawad for top pair.

8♥ 9♠ for Langmann for second pair.

Langmann needed some help but after the turn brought the Q♠ he was drawing dead on the river. The meaningless 8♣ hit fifth street and it was all over with a wide smile of satisfaction spreading across the otherwise stoic face of Mouawad.

Germany's Florian Langmann is our runner-up and will take home £346,528 and Joseph Mouawad of Lebanon is champion, taking the title, a handsome trophy and the £611,520 that goes with it.

Three-handed play only lasted a few minutes as the severely short-stacked Marcel Baran attempted to double-up and get himself back in this event. He pushed in a few times and got no action but, on what would the last hand of his tournament, he came over the top of a Florian Langmann raise and got looked up.

K♣ 7♠ for Langmann.

Pocket fours for Baran.

The board went K♥ T♣ 3♦ A♦ 8♦ and Florian's pair of kings is good for the elimination. Germany's Marcel Baran is out in third and takes £203,840 with him back to the Fatherland.

Josh Egan has been eliminated at the hands of the resurrected Florian Langmann. Egan moved all-in and it was folded around to Langmann who took one look at his cards and insta-called.

K♣ J♦ for Egan.

A♠ A♣ for Langmann.

The flop came J♣ 9♦ 7♥, giving Langmann a bit of a fright, but the turn and river came 2♣ 5♥, sending Egan to the exit. He is out in fourth place and takes £152,880 with him.

We have had another casualty here at the final table and it is Fredrik Haugen headed home in fifth. Florian Langmann moved all-in and after a bit of thought Haugen made the call.

Q♦ T♥ for Langmann.

A♠ J♣ for Haugen.

The board came out K♣ T♦ 7♦ T♣ 4♠ leaving Haugen drawing dead on the turn. Haugen will take £124,342 for his efforts.

A very short-stacked Florian Langmann just got all-in against two players and managed to make his pocket fours hold up. It began with Marcel Baran opening the pot and Joseph Mouawad making the call. Langmann then moved all-in and got calls from both of his opponents.

Baran and Mouawad checked down the board of 9♥ 6♥ 3♦ 3♣ 2♣. "I have a pair, is it good?" Langmann asked. Apparently it was as both other players mucked their hands, tripling Langmann to $462,000.

Florian Langmann and Joseph Mouawad just had a massive clash that left the German with next to nothing and Mouawad as the overwhelming chip leader. It began with Langmann raising pre-flop and it being folded around to Mouawad in the big blind. He re-raised and the action was back on Florian. Langmann only took a few beats before moving all-in.

Mouawad tanked for a few minutes before making the call and tabling A♠ K♥. It was a race against Langmann's pocket fours that left everyone in the media wondering how we could get $2.4 million in the middle with these two hands.

The most pivotal pot of this tournament sat on the felt between the two players as we went to the flop. The dealer laid A♥ T♥ 8♥ down and Mouawad took a big lead in the hand. The turn came the 7♦ and the river was the K♦, giving Mouawad top two and the win.

"What bad poker," Langmann muttered under his breath. "Such a bad call, there's nothing you're ahead there," he added. Bad call or not the mammoth pot was shipped to Mouawad. He's the leader with $2,441,000 and Langmann is on life support with $160,000.

Fredrik Haugen has just doubled-up at the expense of the Frenchman Anthony Lellouche. It was folded around to Lellouche on the button and he popped in an additional $100K. Haugen, in the small blind, announced all-in and after Josh Egan folded his big blind Lellouche made the call. Lellouche was somewhat priced into the call as Haugen's all-in was only about $120,000 more.

5♦ 5♣ for Haugen.

5♥ 6♥ for Lellouche.

The board was unable to change the situation and Fredrik Haugen is up to about $450,000.

As the previous post stated, Marcel Baran has been going all-in repeatedly for the last few hands. It was fortuitous that he was called on this hand though, as he was holding pocket aces. Baran opened the pot from under the gun to $55,000 and it was folded all the way around to Josh Egan, in the big blind, who re-raised enough to put Baran all-in.

Marcel insta-called and turned over A♠ A♣ which was, to no one's surprise, in good shape against Egan's Q♥ Q♦. The board went 6♦ 5♦ 3♠ 5♥ K♦ and Baran's rockets were good for the double. He is now up to $656,000 while Josh Egan is down to $457,000.

Paul Mendes, England's last surviving representative at this table, has been eliminated. The EPT London main event has been won by a U.K. player every year in the past but with Mendes' departure that streak has been broken.

Mendes got all-in bad with K♠ T♥ to Anthony Lellouche's A♣ K♥ and after the board went A♦ 4♦ 3♦ 6♥ Q♣ it was all over. Paul Mendes is out in seventh place and takes £77,459.

Josh Egan has just doubled through Fredrik Haugen, getting the money in the middle good and making his hand hold up. Haugen opened the pot to $50,000 and Egan, directly to his left, moved all-in for $329,000 more. After a bit of time in the tank Haugen opted to call and saw he was way behind:

A♦ T♦ for Haugen.

Pocket queens for Egan.

The board went Q♥ 6♠ 3♦ J♠ 4♥ and Egan doubled through with his set of queens.

Lebanon's Joseph Mouawad has just doubled through Marcel Baran and is now sitting with a whopping $898,000. It began with Baran raising pre-flop to $80,000 and Mouawad making the call. The flop came T♠ 9♠ 7♦ and Baran led out for $100,000. Mouawad quickly announces all-in and forcefully pushes his stack into the middle.

Baran takes his time, thinking his way toward a decision. It was $250,000 more to him and after a few moments he makes the call. A♥ T♥ for Baran for top pair is in the lead against Mouawad's J♠ 9♦. The A♠ on the turn gave Mouawad a flush draw to go along with his outs and the J♣ on the river made him two pair, good for the check mark and the double.

Ian Cox has become our first elimination of the day, bringing the count of survivors to seven. Cox was on the short stack with just $112,000 and after it was folded to him on the button he decided to make a stand.

He moved all-in and got a call from Florian Langmann in the small blind. Anthony Lellouche folded his big blind and it was heads-up with Cox's tournament life on the line. He saw he was in great shape with K-7 dominating Langmann's K-3. The flop was a disaster for Cox though, coming Q♦ 3♦ 2♥ and after the it finished out 8♥ 6♥ it was all over for Ian Cox.

Cox is out in eighth and will take £57,075.

It was nearly over before it began for Joseph Mouawad. He planned to come here with friends but when they cancelled, he almost did too. Thankfully he changed his mind and is now second 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."

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.

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!"

We've had our first double-up of the day and it was France's Anthony Lellouche raking the pot when the dust had cleared. It was folded to Florian Langmann who limped from the small blind and Anthony Lellouche, in the big blind, raised to $80,000. Langmann announced all-in and Lellouche quickly called.

5♠ 6♠ for Langmann.

A♣ T♠ for Lellouche.

The flop came out A♥ 9♣ 4♠, extending Lellouche's lead, but the 9♠ on the turn gave Langmann the flush redraw. Fifth street missed him though, coming the 3♦ and doubling Lellouche to $660,000. Langman, meanwhile, is down to $759,000.

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 won his double shootout ticket to London. He also previously qualified for the 2006 World Series where he came 602nd for $20,000. His strategy for today is to suss out the table - and avoid chip leader Florian Langmann.

Fredrik, from Gothenburg, 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. PL.com first met Haugen when he took down last year's Caribbean Poker Classic in St. Kitts.

Parisian Anthony 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, Anthony 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.

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 is a regular on PokerStars, where he usually plays high-limit SNGs.

Of all today's final-table players, Ian Cox, a poker pro and 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.

Anthony Lellouche raises to $32,000 from early position and it’s folded to Marcel Baran in the small blind who makes the call. Paul Mendes, in the big blind, also makes the call and it’s three players to the flop. Q♦ 8♦ 8♠ hits the felt and it’s checked around. The T♦ hits the turn and Marcel leads out for $55,000.

Lellouche takes another look at his cards before making the call and Mendes gets out of the way. The 4♥ hits fifth street and Baran begins counting out a bet, making it $80,000 to go. Lellouche snap-calls and Baran shows K♦-Xd for the second nut flush. Lellouche takes one last look at his cards before tossing them in the muck, forced to watch the $382,000 pot pushed to Marcel Baran of Germany.

Voilà the seating arrangement and chip counts at the onset of this final table: