The World Series of Poker Europe reached a triumphant conclusion last week. The £10,000 ($16,000) No Limit Hold ‘em Main Event brought to an end the most successful WSOPE yet. In this third iteration, the London-based series really began to cement its position in the world poker calendar. It combines the prestige of the WSOP with talent-heavy fields, in a vibrant city outside of the U.S.

The Main Event felt very much like an embodiment of that ethos. Bracelet tournament #4 featured a who’s who of top poker talent. Almost every pro you could care to name was on hand to make their play at winning a bracelet abroad. There were practically no weak links in the 334 strong field, a world away from the amateur laden hordes who buy-in for the Vegas original.

Deep stacks and slow structure allowed the tightly packed maestros to fully demonstrate their expertise. And it wasn’t just the internet young guns who shone under the bright lights of the Empire Casino. Well known personality and UK circuit veteran Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott sneaked into the money in 35th place, Men “The Master” Nguyen finished in 26th and the big man himself, Doyle Brunson, ended a great run in 17th place.

Among the other notable finishers was ex-soccer player Teddy Sheringham, one of the most well known footballers in the UK during the 1990’s. He finished in 14th ahead of Liz Lieu in 22nd and Yevgeniy Timoshenko in 25th. The Ukranian born American added yet another success to his incredible year. As well as winning the $25k WPT Championship in April, he also came 3rd in WSOPE Event #1. Last month saw his biggest triumph to date, taking down the $1.7 million first place prize in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event.

Once play reached the final table there were still plenty of big names and big talent on show. There were 6 WSOP bracelet winners at the table, with Daniel Negreanu contributing four all by himself. Barry Schulman, CardPlayer Magazine CEO and father of November Nine member Jeff, had one of his own, as did Jason Mercier. HitSquad member Praz Bansi, Chris Bjorin, and Matt Hawrilenko rounded out the WSOP winners set. Last year, Ivan Demidov became the first player ever to reach to main event final tables in the same year – in both Las Vegas and London. This year, two players managed that incredible feat – James Akenhead and Antoine Saout. Taking the final seat was unknown Finnish player Markus Ristola.

With such a huge pedigree at the final table, it should come as no surprise to hear that it took 17 hours to crown a winner. Hours ticked by before the first elimination, James Akenhead eventually falling foul of Daniel Negreanu. The Canadian pro had started the final table as the shortstack, but demonstrated why he is considered on of the finest players in the world, brutally ripping through his opposition. On his way to a heads up confrontation with Barry Schulman, he was responsible for 6 of the 7 eliminations.

Daniel took both a slight chip lead and the support of 90% of the rail with him into the 1-on-1 contest. Negreanu is a popular figure at the best of times, but his opponent gave many poker fans extra impetus to side with the Canadian. Barry’s son Jeff has made the final table of the WSOP Main Event and infamously claimed he would throw away the bracelet if were to win. The motive behind his comments is not entirely clear, but seems to stem from some perceived injustice done to the Schulman’s CardPlayer publication and website.

The first big hand of the night came when Schulman pushed all in with A-5 suited and was quickly called by A-A. A turned flush put the ball firmly in Barry’s court, giving him a 5-1 chip lead over his beleaguered opponent. This was Negreanu’s second consecutive WSOPE Main Event final table and he wasn’t about to go down without a fight. Over the next few hours he showed tremendous resilience and skill to work his way back to the chip lead.

Then came the hand that had the whole casino in a state of shock. With the flop reading 5d-8d-Jc, Barry Schulman pushed all-in. After some lengthy deliberation, Daniel elected to call with Qc-Jd, but was way behind to Barry’s pocket Aces. A Jack on the turn had the crowd in a frenzy, with Negreanu only two outs away from his 5th bracelet. However, a miracle Ace on the river completed the double suckout and left Daniel reeling. It was all over a few minutes later, when Negreanu could do nothing to prevent his 4-4 being crushed by Barry Schulman’s 10-10.

Barry was understandably delighted with the victory. “When I moved to Vegas, I took up poker. I tried to prove that I could beat the best in the world. I got pretty good for a while, but then I started to focus more on my business at Card Player. Since then, I have not been playing as hard. Now, I’m back on the winning trail and feeling very good about it.” He picked up £801,603 ($1,278,110) for his efforts.

Negreanu can take some consolation from his £495,589 ($790,166) prize, as it makes him the most successful live tournament ever to have lived. By moving into 1st place, he leapfrogs Phil Ivey and former Main Event champ Jamie Gold. However, should Ivey finish higher than 7th place at the impending WSOP Main Event final table, he would become the most profitable player.

Full payouts for the WSOPE Main Event were as follows:

1. Barry Shulman (801,603 pounds)
2. Daniel Negreanu (495,589)
3. Praz Bansi (360,887)
4. Jason Mercier (267,267)
5. Markus Ristola (200,367)
6. Chris Bjorin (150,267)
7. Antoine Saout (114,228)
8. Matt Hawrilenko (87,074)
9. James Akenhead (66,533)
10. Eric Liu (51,536)
11. Keith Hawkins (51,536)
12. Thomas Bichon (51,536)
13. Tony Cousineau (40,481)
14. Teddy Sheringham (40,481)
15. Ram Vaswani (40,481)
16. Saar Wilf 32,198)
17. Doyle Brunson (32,198)
18. Sandor Demjan (32,198)
19. Craig Burgess (25,918)
20. Steven Fung (25,918)
21. Konstantin Bucherl (25,918)
22. Liz Lieu (25,918)
23. Arnaud Mattern (25,918)
24. Peter Gould (25,918)
25. Yevgeniy Timoshenko (25,918)
26. Men Nguyen (25,918)
27. Andre Akkari (25,918)
28. John Kabbaj (21,142)
29. Christian Harder (21,142)
30. Christian Kruel (21,142)
31. Tommy Pavlicek (21,142)
32. Steve Zolotow (21,142)
33. Michael Fosco (21,142)
34. Oyvind Riisem (21,142)
35. David Ulliott (21,142)
36. David Docherty (21,142)