It took just two hands for Jason Mercier to dismantle talented French player Antony Lellouche. With Mercier holding $5.7 million to the Frenchman's $1.3 million, many were wondering if Lellouche's aggressive style would get him into trouble. That's exactly what happened in the second hand of heads-up play.

In the final hand Mercier made a standard raise from the button and Lellouche reraised to $400,000. Mercier shoved all-in, having Lellouche easily covered, and Lellouche called instantly. The players flip over their cards:

Lellouche: 7 7

Mercier: K Q

The board comes A Q 4 8 2 and with the spiked queen on the flop Mercier gets the check mark and the tournament.

An American has surprised everyone by becoming the winner of the first major poker event ever held in Italy and although many of the Italians will likely be disappointed there's no doubt the event will return next year.

Lellouche will receive €505,000 for his second-place finish while Mercier will take down the big prize for first, which is €869,000.

Congratulations to Mercier and to everyone involved with EPT San Remo. We'll see you in Monte Carlo!

Crowd favorite Dario Minieri opens for $140,000 and Jason Mercier re-raises to $340,000. Minieri calls and the flop comes 8 7 2. Minieri raises $400,000 and Mercier shoves all-in almost instantly. Mercier has Minieri easily covered - before the hand began he had $3.5 million to Minieri's $2.2 million. Minieri calls and the players reveal their cards:

Minieri: Q Q

Mercier: A 4

Minieri is ahead but looks extremely nervous about Mercier's flush draw and the live ace. With the entire Italian contingent on their feet, the dealer flips over 4 for the turn card.

The tension in the room is palpable as the Italian crowd prays that Minieri can dodge any ace or diamond or four. It comes... 3!

In an incredible upset, Jason Mercier has eliminated final-table favorite Dario Minieri. The loud crowd has been silenced and suddenly Mercier is in position to win it all.

Minieri will receive €287,600 for his efforts, although he has to be disappointed with his third-place finish.

We just saw the American Jason Mercier make an unbelievable call to send France's Eric Koskas to the rail. The two were in the blinds and after Koskas limped and Mercier checked, the flop came down J 6 5. Both players checked. The 8 hit the turn and Koskas led out for $200,000. Mercier made the call and the 8 hit the river.

Koskas immediately moved all-in, seemingly without giving it much thought, and Mercier went way into the tank to think things over. It was about $650,000 back to Mercier and after a lot of contemplation he made the call. Koskas quickly turned over T-3 for nothing but ten-high and Mercier tabled 5-9 for bottom pair. With that hand Mercier takes a big lead and Koskas heads out the door with €233,600 for fourth.

Short-stack Gregory Genovese could not recover from his recent clash with Eric Koskas. In his final hand Dario Minieri opened for $90,000 and Genovese moved all-in for $120,000. Jason Mercier called and the flop came A 7 5 and Mercier bet out $120,000. Minieri folded and the remaining players showed their cards:

Mercier: A 3

Genovese: T 9

Mercier is in great shape to knock Genovese out of the tournament as we head to the turn, which comes Q. The river is a meaningless 2 and we have our fifth-place finisher. Genovese will receive €188,500.

Before leaving, Genovese walked over to fellow Italian Dario Minieri and wished him luck in the tournament.

Here are the updated counts after the elimination of Gregory Genovese.

Dario Minieri	$2,395,000
Jason Mercier	$2,368,000
Antony Lellouche	$1,270,000
Eric Koskas	$956,000

Eric Koskas is back in it after doubling through Gregory Genovese in a huge all-in pre-flop race. Genovese opened the pot and Koskas moved all-in. Genovese made a quick call and the hands were rolled.

Genovese: A K

Koskas: 7 7

The board ran 9 3 2 8 6 and and Koskas's pocket sevens are good for the double. Koskas is back in the game and Greg Genovese is absolutely crippled.

Here are the counts for the final five players.

Dario Minieri	$2,577,000
Jason Mercier	$2,124,000
Antony Lellouche	$1,195,000
Gregory Genovese	$636,000
Eric Koskas	$457,000

William Thorson was the only Scandinavian at this final table but, as he was just eliminated, this table is now Scandie-free. On his final hand he opened from the button to $85,000 and got re-popped to $225,000 from Jason Mercier in the big blind. Thorson took only a moment before moving all-in and Mercier snap-called.

Mercier: A K

Thorson: A Q

Things were looking grim for the Swede but it got a lot worse when the flop came down K 6 5. Thorson would need to catch running queens to stay alive and when the turn brought the A it was all over. The river is the 4 and Thorson is out in sixth for €140,600.

We've seen nothing but pressure coming from Dario Minieri and it doesn't look like he's going to be letting up any time soon. Jason Mercier opened this pot to $96,000 and Antony Lellouche called before Minieri announced reraise. The Italian pushed an additional $206,000 into the middle and everyone folded. Minieri has now extended his lead to right around $2.6 million.

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. In October, he came 6th at EPT4 London for €140,081 – making this his second final table in one season.

Here are the counts after that last elimination.

Dario Minieri	$2,406,000
Jason Mercier	$1,597,000
Antony Lellouche	$1,360,000
William Thorson	$672,000
Eric Koskas	$503,000
Gregory Genovese	$501,000

 

As we near the end of the first level of the day another player has been eliminated. Dag Palovic made the final table at the recent EPT main event in Prague, something everyone is aware of since he had the back of his shirt stitched with that info, and made it all the way to seventh here before going broke.

His last pot began with Dario Minieri limping in and Palovic raising to $96,000. It was folded back to Dario and he called before the two of them watched the flop come down 6 3 2.

The action here was hard to discern since it happened in the blink of an eye but we think Dario checked, Dag moved all-in and Minieri snap-called. Pocket queens for Palovic were in bad shape against Minieri's pocket threes, which had nailed a set on the flop.

The board finished out with running eights and Minieri's full house is good for the pot and the elimination. Palovic takes €111,800 and another final-table appearance to embroider on the back of his shirt.

The PokerStars.com EPT San Remo has been a baptism of fire for 21-year-old Jason, playing in only his second live event. He mainly plays cash online. The American spent three years studying to become a math teacher before discovering online poker, which he has now turned into a lucrative career.

Although he busted out on Day 1 of the PCA, he captured the chip lead on Day 2 in San Remo and hasn’t looked back since. Jason qualified via the steps system on PokerStars but almost pulled out when his travel buddies opted for a trip to Amsterdam instead.

Outside of poker, Jason is a huge basketball fan and coaches the team from his former high school. He rates William Thorson as the biggest challenge at the table today: “I’m glad I’ve got position on him,” he said. He also says hi to his best friend Darko back home.

Eric – “moumouth” on PokerStars - is one of France’s best-known and most colorful poker characters. This is his first EPT final table, although he won the €1,000 side event at last year’s Grand Final.

He has played strongly here in San Remo, lying second each day, but says he played horribly in the last few minutes of Day 3 and lost 65% of his chips including a $1 million pot against Jason Mercier.

Eric, who married his wife Julie during the 2006 World Series and has a 17-month-old daughter Lea-Marie, is looking forward to the final table and desperately hoping for a heads-up against his great friend Dario. For the last year, he and Dario have been playing $5k heads-up against each other on PokerStars but have had to postpone their nightly game while they play EPT San Remo. He also came 118th at this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January for $16k.

Marcus Bower represented one half of the American contingent at this final table and is now out, leaving Jason Mercier to carry the Stars and Stripes all by himself. Bower came into the day as the short stack and allowed his stack to dwindle down to just over $150,000 before putting his chips into play.

Antony Lellouche opened the pot to $70,000 and it was folded around to Bower, who moved all-in for $155,000. It was folded back to Lellouche, who made a quick call and tabled A J. Bower was racing with pocket fours which held up on the K 9 8 flop. The 7 on the turn changed nothing, but the A on the river paired up the Frenchman and spelled disaster for Marcus Bower.

He's out in eighth and will receive €76,700.

William, who turned 25 last Saturday, is one of the most popular players on the EPT tour – everyone’s "favorite fisken." With his fearless attitude and sharp tongue, he can terrify everyone at the table while still wearing a huge grin on his face. Willie Tann once said, as a joke, that when he grew up he wanted to be just like William.

A final-table bubble at this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and two more major final tables without a win, including third place in last season’s EPT Dublin, adorn his record. He also came 13th in the 2006 WSOP for $907,000. With all this in mind, William is determined to win San Remo.

Online, William focuses on Omaha cash games, but he prefers tournaments when he plays live. Outside of poker, William is keen on harness racing and he and his father own several trotting horses back in Sweden.

William Thorson just picked up some much-needed chips after flopping a monster in the big blind. Antony Lellouche limped into the pot and Gregory Genovese called in the small blind. Thorson checked in the big blind and the flop came down 4 4 2. It was checked around.

The turn was the 2 and it was checked to Lellouche, who took a stab at the pot. Genovese folded but Thorson check-raised. Lellouche made the call and the river was the 9. Thorson led out with a bet and, after a bit of time in the tank, Lellouche made the call. Thorson turned over 4-6 for the full house and Lellouche quickly mucked.

Investment broker Gregory, 37, has only been playing Hold’em for a year but has played Italian poker – a form of Five-Card Draw – for a long time. This is his first major live tournament - he qualified via a live satellite back in his home city of Rome.

Aside from his passion for poker, Gregory is a massive soccer fan and every Sunday goes to watch AS Roma – the same team that Dario supports. Gregory is being cheered on in San Remo by girlfriend Diana – the couple have a 17-month-old baby, Gianmarco.

Over the next few minutes we'll be posting the short bios of each final-table contestant supplied by the PokerStars EPT staff... so take the time to get to know the people you'll be watching for the rest of the day.

Like two lovable television characters, Eric "Moumouth" Koskas and Dario Minieri are playing to the cameras perfectly here on Dario's native soil. We've been playing for close to 10 minutes already but have only finished one marathon hand so far. The two have plenty of history together, having played $5,000 heads-up SNGs on PokerStars almost every day over the last year.

Minieri opened the pot, something we can expect to see a lot from him today, and Koskas called. The flop came down 8 6 6 and both players checked. The turn was the 3 and Koskas moved all-in and put the action back on Koskas. The hand had proceeded in an orderly fashion up to this point.

Both players stood up from the table and launched into a long conversation. Minieri began running through the hands his opponent could have, perhaps drawing on the long history the two have together. "You wouldn't move all-in with nothing on the first hand would you?" asked Minieri.

"I'm crazy but I'm not stupid!" said Koskas, referring to yesterday when William Thorson told Dario the same thing. Minieri then said, "If I fold, will you show me?" To which Koskas replied, "If you show me both of yours I'll let you see one of mine," again referring to the conversation between Thorson and Minieri yesterday.

After a bit more time in the tank and some more banter back and forth Minieri opted to fold his hand. Koskas rakes the pot.

We're a few minutes behind schedule but the cards are finally in the air here at the Casino San Remo on the Italian French Riviera. It looks like they added a level not originally in the blind structure since we're now playing with blinds of $12,000/$24,000 and a $3,000 ante. Shuffle up and deal!

We're here on the final day of the PokerStars EPT4 San Remo main event. The countdown to the final table has begun as we wait for the final eight players to take their seats and begin the battle for the title and the first-place cash. Dario "Mini" Minieri is out in front but there's plenty of other talent in the mix so it won't be an easy road to victory for anyone. Action is still about half an hour away so grab some food and get ready as we take you down the road to an eventual winner.

For now check out these chip counts.

Dario Minieri	$1,832,000
Jason Mercier	$1,591,000
Antony Lellouche	$1,192,000
Gregory Genovese	$694,000
Dag Palovic	$585,000
Eric Koskas	$449,000
William Thorson	$418,000
Marcus Bower	$278,00