2008 WSOP Europe: £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em

The 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event drew the exact same number of players as its inaugural running last year, 362. After the field was reduced to nine, it took a whopping 22 hours of play before a champion was crowned. Poker pro John Juanda, who has been fairly quiet in the past two years, sent a message to the poker world that he is still a force to be reckoned with. The £868,800 first-place prize was the largest of Juanda's storied career.

Stanislav Alekhin battled Juanda heads-up for nearly eight hours. Although he fell short, he received a nice consolation prize of £533,950. Russia's Ivan Demidov finished third for £334,850. A win from Demidov would have made November's WSOP Main Event final table much more dramatic; he enters that event second in chips with the chance to become the first Russian World Champion.

Bengt Sonnert showed up to the final table with a short stack, but battled for a strong fourth place finish (£271,500). Daniel Negreanu was among the chip leaders for the majority of the tournament, but his dream of European glory was erased in fifth place (£217,200). Scott Fischman notched the second largest cash of his career with a sixth place finish good for £171,950.

Other notable players in the money were:

Johnny Lodden (11th - £54,300)
Soren Kongsgaard (12th - £54,300)
Brian "sbrugby" Townsend (15th - £45,250)
Mike Matusow (18th - £36,200)
Erik Seidel (19th - £28,960)
Andy Bloch (23rd - £28,960)

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