Just like that the 2008 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Open is over. After just three hands of heads-up play, Fintan Gavin open-shoved all-in and saw Sebastian Ruthenberg make a quick call.

The Irishman tabled 7 4 while Ruthenberg held the advantage with K 9 and only needed to maintain his lead to win the day. The flop, however, brought the 7 in the door and concluded with the A and 2 to give Gavin the lead.

The turn brought it right back as the K fell, giving Ruthenberg the lead but also giving Gavin the flush draw. The Irishman needed a seven, a four or a heart to stay alive, but Fifth Street brought the 9 and Ruthenberg had clinched the title!

For the win, Ruthenberg earns €1,361,000 as well as a gigantic novelty check, a trophy and the adulation of millions of PokerListings.com readers. Runner-up Gavin takes €792,000 back to Galway.

Congratulations to Ruthenberg and all of the finalists, and especially to PokerStars and the EPT for a successful beginning to Season 5!

Heads-up play is underway between Sebastian Ruthenberg and Fintan Gavin at the 2008 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Open.

Here are the chip counts as we get underway:

Sebastian Ruthenberg: $5,050,000

Fintan Gavin: $1,180,000

Sebastian Ruthenberg open-shoves all-in from the button and Davidi Kitai tanks in the small blind before making the call for his last $1,920,000. In the big blind, Fintan Gavin does some thinking of his own before laying down A Q face-up.

Kitai has the same hand, holding A Q, and is racing with some outs taken against Ruthenberg's 4 4. The flop comes J-7-6 with two hearts and the K on the turn gives the Belgian a few more outs. The river, however, is the 2 and Kitai is eliminated, out in third place and the beneficiary of a €455,000 payout.

We'll take a quick break before starting heads-up play between Sebastian Ruthenberg and Fintan Gavin.

Fintan Gavin limps-in from the small blind and Sebastian Ruthenberg checks his option in the big blind. The flop comes 8 8 7 and Gavin bets $140,000. Ruthenberg makes the call and the turn is the 3, prompting checks from both players.

The river is the 2 and Gavin checks to Ruthenberg, who bets $220,000. Gavin raises to $600,000 and Ruthenberg ruminates for a few minutes before ultimately deciding to make the call. Gavin taps the table and mucks as Ruthenberg shows 7-5 for two pair, taking the pot and building his stack up to over $3 million. Gavin is now the short-stack with $1.3 million.

We're back from break and the cards are back in the air from the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Open.

Here are the current chip counts as the players return from break:

1. Fintan Gavin $2.6 million
2. Davidi Kitai $1.9 million
3. Sebastian Ruthenberg $1.4 million

Fintan Gavin open-shoves from the small blind and Sebastian Ruthenberg makes the call for his tournament life from the big blind, showing T T to Gavin's A 7. The board comes Q 9 3 4 2 and the tens hold, giving Ruthenberg the pot and doubling him up.

We're now on a ten-minute break. Hold for chip counts.

Here are the approximate chip counts as three-handed play gets underway:

Fintan Gavin: $3.2 million

Davidi Kitai: $2 million

Sebastian Ruthenberg: $870,000

Sebastian Ruthenberg limps-in on the button and Davidi Kitai completes in the small blind. Daniele Mazzia moves all-in for another $13,000 and both Ruthenberg and Kitai make the call.

The two live players check down the board, which comes Q J T A 8 and Kitai turns up Q-8 for two pair. Ruthenberg has J-9 for the queen-high straight and Mazzia, holding 5-3, is eliminated. He's gone in 4th place and earns €351,000 for a particularly tenacious effort.

Daniele Mazzia open-shoves all-in from under the gun for $1,149,000 and the action folds around to Davidi Kitai, who considers the call from the big blind. After a minute or two of thought the Belgian makes the call for his last $1,048,000, turning up T T and finding himself ahead of Mazzia's 9 9.

The flop comes 6 5 3, the turn the K and the river the Q, meaning Kitai has doubled to over $2 million and Mazzia is now utterly crippled and all but all-in on the big blind in the next hand.

Cards are back in the air at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Open as our final four face off for the million-Euro grand prize.

Here's how the chip counts stack up as the action gets back underway:

Fintan Gavin: $2,987,000

Davidi Kitai: $1,265,000

Daniele Mazzia: $1,104,000

Sebastian Ruthenberg: $796,000

We have our fifth place finisher and it’s definitely not Irishman Fintan Gavin. In a hand where Gavin and Dren Ukella both saw a flop of T 9 2 it was the German player who shoved all-in.

Gavin made the reluctant call and tabled Q-9 for middle pair. Ukella showed A 4.
The board finished with the 7 and then the T, which spelled doom for the former chip leader. Ukella will receive €292,000 for his pokering efforts in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Gavin now has nearly $3 million chips, which is more than the other three players combined. Baller!

We're now on a quick break as we prepare for four-handed play.

Action folds to Fintan Gavin in the small blind and he raises to $160,000. In the big blind, Sebastian Ruthenberg makes the call. The flop comes K Q 8 and Gavin bets out. Ruthenberg makes the call and the turn is the 2. Gavin immediately moves all-in.

"If I lose this hand, psychologically I'd be devastated," Gavin tells Ruthenberg. "So I have to push."

Ruthenberg thinks for a minute. "I might be making a bad laydown."

"I haven't seen you make a bad laydown yet," Gavin replies. Ruthenberg lays it down, flashing a king. Gavin flashes a king as well. 

"I was afraid of getting counterfeited," he says as he rakes the pot.

After Dren Ukella’s recent stumble against Daniele Mazzia some are starting to wonder if the Italian player is destined to win this thing. Fintan Gavin still holds the chip lead with $1.8 million but even that lead is starting to slip as Sebastian Ruthenberg and David Kitai are pouring it on.
Here’s an updated look at the chip counts:

1. Fintan Gavin $1.8 million
2. Sebastian Ruthenberg $1.4 million
3. Davidi Kitai $1.1 million
4. Daniele Mazzia $982,000
5. Dren Ukella $836,000

Fintan Gavin raises and Dren Ukella moves all-in over the top for just over $500,000. Gavin makes the call, showing K T against Ukella's A K. The flop comes 9 8 7 to give Gavin the open-ended straight draw, but that's as close as he'll come as the board finishes out 8 5 to give Ukella the pot and a new lease on life.

Dren Ukella raises to $120,000 and Daniele Mazzia ships it all-in for $460,000 total. Action folds around to Ukella, who makes the call and tables Q J. Mazzia has him dominated with A J and is in great shape to double again.

The board comes 5 3 2 8 3 and ace-high is good to take the pot. Mazzia doubles to over $900,000, while Ukella is down to his last $540,000.

The dinner break is over and the cards are back in the air from the final table of the PokerStars European Poker Tour's Barcelona Open. We return to action midway through Level 27.

Davidi Kitai ships it for $771,000 and the action folds around to Fintan Gavin in the big blind. "I have a good gambling hand," Gavin says on his way into the tank. He fiddles around with his chips for a few minutes and tells Kitai. "I think I have to call, I think. I have a really big hand."

"I'll show you if you fold," Kitai responds. The two negotiate over the fold for a minute and then Gavin mucks. Kitai shows pocket sixes and Gavin claims Q-J suited. Hardly a really big hand, in our opinion, but we're not playing for a million-plus Euro, so what do we know?

Anyway, they're on dinner for an hour. See you at 9:30 p.m. CET!

The landscape of the PokerStars EPT Barcelona Open has changed considerably after the last hour of play. Irishman Fintan Gavin, who was holding on for dear life last night, has managed to assert control over the table and currently leads with $2.5 million chips. Sebastian Ruthenberg is his closest competition while the remaining three players are jockeying for position on the bottom.

Here’s at updated look at the chip counts:

1. Fintan Gavin $2.5 million
2. Sebastian Ruthenberg $1.5 million
3. Dren Ukella $943,000
4. Davidi Kitai $662,000
5. Daniele Mazzia $572,000

Fintan Gavin raises preflop and EPT4 San Remo champ Jason Mercier ships it all-in for a little over $500,000. Gavin makes an instant call and turns up a pocket pair of queens while Mercier is far behind with a pocket pair of sevens.

The flop comes K-3-3 and Mercier needs to hit a two-outer to stay alive. The turn is an ace and the river a five, giving Gavin the check mark and sending Mercier to the rail in sixth place. "treysfull21" will take €227,000 back to Florida with him.

We've reached the end of Level 26 and the action continues into Level 27. We'll play out half of this level before the field breaks for dinner.

Dren Ukella gets his last $511,000 all-in preflop holding 2 2 and Jason Mercier makes the call with K Q. The flop comes A 3 4 to give Ukella the straight draw. The turn is the 2 and Ukella's got a set, leaving Mercier needing a five for the chop. The river, however, is the 2 and Ukella makes quads to double through a frustrated-looking Mercier, who is now the shortest stack at the table. Ukella's on over $1.1 million.

Fintan Gavin raises to $190,000 from the button and Davidi Kitai makes the call in the big blind. The flop comes 4 3 2 and Kitai checks to Gavin, who bets $200,000. Kitai makes the call and the turn is the T, prompting another check from Kitai and a $400,000 wager from Gavin. Kitai mulls it over but ultimately lays it down and Gavin flashes a ten, claiming to have another behind. After the hand the Irishman is up to over $2 million in chips.

Daniele Mazzia moves all-in from early position and in the small blind, Davidi Kitai makes the call, holding a pocket pair of tens and again dominating Mazzia, who holds Q T. It looks like curtains for the Italian, but the flop comes J 9 9 and Kitia lets out a sigh of disappointment as Mazzia flops the open-ended straight draw.

The turn is the 3 but the river the 8, sending a roar up from the pro-Italian audience and doubling Mazzia up to $671,000.

Davidi Kitai raises preflop and Daniele Mazzia moves all-in for his last $300,000. Kitai makes the call and turns up A K. Mazzia is dominated with A 8 and the situation looks dire after the flop comes Q 7 6, giving Kitai the flush draw. The turn, however, is the Q and the river the 6, giving both players two pair and chopping up the pot.

One hand after doubling up Davidi Kitai, Daniele Mazzia moves his last $95,000 into the middle and gets called by both Sebastian Ruthenberg and Jason Mercier. Both players check down the board, which comes Q 3 2 9 6. Ruthenberg has king-high, Mercier ten-high and Mazzia a pair of nines, tripling him up to over $300,000.

Davidi Kitai gets all-in preflop and Daniele Mazzia calls for almost all of his chips. Kitai turns up A K and is racing against Mazzia's 7 7. The flop comes J J 2, giving Kitai some odds to counterfeit. The turn is even better, bringing the A and after the river is the 5 Kitai doubles up to over a million, leaving Mazzia with just $100,000 to his name.

The break is over and the cards are back in the air from the final table of the PokerStars EPT Barcelona Open.

Here are the current chip counts as the action gets underway:

Samuel Chartier open-shoves all-in for his last $411,000 and gets a call from Fintan Gavin, after some serious rumination on the side of the Irishman. Chartier turns up K T and will need to improve to stay alive against Gavin's A 9.

The board runs J 7 2 J 3 and ace-high takes the pot, sending Chartier to the rail in seventh place. The young Canadien will take home €178,000 for his time.

We're now on a quick level break.

Jason Mercier opens for $103,000 and Martin Nielsen moves all-in from the button for about $250,000 more. Action folds back to Mercier, who makes the call with T T. Nielsen has A 2 and it's, in the words of PokerStars' Daniel Negreanu, "A very bad play."

The board runs K 5 5 2 K to give Mercier the pot and eliminate Nielsen, who may have been slightly on tilt after seeing Mercier suck out to stay alive just a few hands earlier. 

Nielsen is out in 8th place and will earn €119,000 for his efforts.

Short-stacked Jason Mercier has been trying desperately to stay alive at the final table and just caught a huge break.

After stealing the blinds twice with all-in shoves, Mercier was finally caught by Martin Nielsen.
In the hand Nielsen min-raised and Mercier pushed for a little over $400,000. Everyone else got out of the way and Nielsen thought for a minute before calling. The players flipped over their cards and Mercier was indeed in trouble.

Nielsen: T-T

Mercier: 6-6

With Mercier looking somber about his chances the dealer flopped A-Q-3 and the American was one step closer to the rail. With everyone on their feet the dealer turned… 6!
Mercier was suddenly in the lead with a Cloven-Hoofed Set. The lead held as the river bricked out 2. Mercier goes from being the short stack to top three with over $1 million chips.

We've reached the end of the first level of the day and action continues into Level 25. Stay tuned for more hot and heavy poker action as we continue down towards that million-euro payout.

Daniele Mazzia moves all-in for his last $282,500 and Dren Ukella re-raises all-in to isolate. Jason Mercier looks troubled but opts to fold the big blind, showing pocket sevens as he does. Ukella turns up T T while Mazzia shows A 2 and will need to improve to stay alive.

The flop comes 9 6 3 and Ukella retains the lead. The turn is the 8 and Mazzia picks up more outs, one of which is the K that lands on the river. The pro-Italian contingent goes nuts as Mazzia rakes the pot, doubling through Ukella and staying alive.

Dren Ukella raises to $82,000 and gets a call from Samuel Chartier. On the button, Samuel Ruthenberg mulls his options before deciding to make the call. The flop comes J J 7 and Ukella bets out $86,000. Chartier makes the call and Ruthenberg bows out.

The turn is the Q and Ukella bets out $96,000. Chartier thinks for a minute or two before matching the wager and the river is the 2. Now Ukella fires again, this time betting $72,000. Chartier, looking miserable, sighs and tells Ukella, "I call." 

Ukella turns up K-Q for two pair and Chartier mucks, giving the German the pot.

Jason Mercier raises to $73,000 from the cut-off and the action folds to Finton Gavin, who raises to $160,000 from the big blind. Mercier gives the matter some thought before asking Gavin if he'll show the hand once he folds.

"If you have a genuine hand, I'll show," Gavin replies.

"What's a genuine hand?" says Mercier.

"Pair of deuces."

"Pair of deuces?"

"Or two face cards." 

"Oh," says Mercier. "I've got better than two face cards."

"Well," Gavin replies. "Now you're getting into my territory."

Finally, Mercier lays it down, showing A 8 as he does. Gavin shows 10-6 offsuit and rakes the pot. 

"I'd only do that to a fish," he says. "Not a genuine player."

Cards are in the air from the PokerStars EPT Barcelona Open final table. Stay tuned for live updates as the action unfolds!

Sebastian took up poker while studying IT at college. Six months later, after he graduated, he turned pro and swiftly climbed the levels from 50/$1 to $3/6 Limit, later changing to SNGs and No Limit cash games.  In 2006, he won the German Open in 2006 and was runner-up last year at a WCOOP event as well as coming 3rd in EPT3 Dortmund. This summer he crowned his achievement by winning a WSOP bracelet – in the Seven Card Stud Hi-low event. He is one of seven pros who make up the PokerStars.de ShootingStars team – alongside top players such as Benjamin Kang, Jan Heitmann, Johannes Strassman and George Danzer. He starts today as chip leader.

Although one of the less well-known faces at today’s final table, Finton Gavin is no poker novice and works in the industry – as the card room manager at the Eglinto Casino in Galway.  Thanks to his casino duties, Fintan says he doesn’t get  to play as much as he’d like but, having played poker for 30 years and NLHE for six years, he has a wealth of experience to draw on. This is his first EPT but he’s so impressed with the way PokerStars run things that he’s planning to try and qualify for many more. This is his best result to date although he cashed in the Aussie Millions main event last year for AS$ 20,000.

Daniele Mazzia has been playing poker professionally for the last two years and, as a regular competitor in tournaments all over Europe, has a string of notable results to his name.  In July 2007, he took down the Velden Masters event for over €70k and since then has cashed in a further seven events, including first place in the Italian Championship’s $500 NLHE event in October. Daniele is great friends with Italian-speaking pros Claudio Rinaldi and Alessio Isaia – the three travel to events together - but his biggest supporter is girlfriend Carla Solinas, also a highly successful poker player.

French Canadian Sam has been playing poker for five years and turned pro three years ago. He is great friends with Jason Mercier after meeting him on the first day of EPT San Remo. All Sam’s friends had gone on a trip to Italy so Sam and Jason ended up sharing a room. He said: “I played a side event in San Remo which I won, with Jason railing me all the way. Then I railed him in the main event.”

While in San Remo, Sam qualified online for the Season 4 Monte Carlo Grand Final but busted on Day 2. His biggest cash before today was 80th place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January for $16,000.

Jason first came to attention at the PokerStars.com EPT Season 4 event in San Remo in April. It was his only second live event and he’d qualified online with PokerStars but – facing one of the toughest final tables in EPT history - he secured a stunning victory worth €869,000. His opposition included Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri, William Thorson and Eric Koskas.

He followed up the San Remo triumph with three WSOP cashes in the summer, adding another $50,000 or so to his bank roll – and now seems set to be a dominant force at poker tournaments across the globe. Outside of poker, Jason – who had studied to be a maths teacher before discovering online poker - is a huge basketball fan and coaches the team from his former high school.

Dren Ukella has been playing poker “forever” and first kicked off with five card draw. A brick builder by trade, Dren was born in Germany but grew up in Kosovo until his family returned to Germany when he was 14. Married with three children, Dren’s biggest cash to date was winning €37,000 in a NLHE tournament in Belgium.

Although he has studied the game and read various poker books, he says “I know the other guys are better than me”. If he wins, he plans to take some time off and go on a two-three month vacation with his family.

Poker pro Davidi made his first impression at EPTs when he made the TV stages of EPT Barcelona last year, eventually finishing 11th for his biggest ever live win: €46,000. His reputation then shifted from ‘solid’ to ‘spectacular’ when he went on to win the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event at  the World Series,  the first Belgian ever to win a coveted WSOP bracelet. He reached his 2nd WSOP final table only a week later.  Davidi perfected his poker skills during a trip to Los Angeles in 2003. He had gone to the States to learn English, but it was Texas Hold’em that he mastered. In 2006 he also took down the Euro Finals of Poker in Paris.

They don't come much more relaxed than Martin Nielsen, the former merchant banker now competing at his second major final table this summer. After earning $120k at the Bellagio in July, Martin resigned from his job of five years, figuring that there was more to life than battling the rat race in London. "I bought a ticket to Indonesia for the autumn," he said. "That's my only plan for this year.

But that plan might have to change now." He admits that he's much less experienced at poker than most of the other finalists but has been using some instinctive mathematical knowledge to make solid decisions based purely on odds. It has served him well. He's never appeared flustered and has eased to the final table with a chip-leader's stack of more than a million. "I may have found another job now," he said.

It's final table time at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Open and the excitement is palpable at the Gran Casino in the Port Olympic. Of the 619 runners who entered play on Days 1a and 1b only eight remain in contention for a first prize worth €1,361,000.

Last year, roommates Mark Teltscher and Sander Lylloff played heads-up for the title and this year it's EPT San Remo champ Jason Mercier and his roomie, Canadian Sam Chartier at the final table. Can the BFFs replicate the successes of Lylloff and Teltscher a year before? Only time will tell.

The TV crew is just getting organized at the final table and we should get down to business shortly. Tune in to PokerListings.com throughout the day for comprehensive coverage of this event, including live updates, photography and an interview with the winner. Game on!

Here are the chip counts for the final nine: