We spend a lot of time here talking about the people who win the life changing money. Every Sunday somebody is winning around a quarter million bucks for one day of work. They deserve the credit.

What gets left on the cutting room floor from time to time are the stories of people who win a nice chunk of change on nothing but a time investment. That's people like the player known as WillCK, a man who normally wouldn't try to match talent with the online tournament pros.

"At my skill level I could never justify paying the full buy-in to go against seven to ten thousand runners," he told us, "but I have always wanted to play in it."

Ah, yes. How many people have you known who have looked longingly at the Sunday Million and thought, "If only I could afford a chance to play."

"It's the brass ring on the Merry-Go=Round for an amateur player...a shot at house-buying money for a relatively small buy in," said WillCK.

Our hero had about $50 in his PokerStars account a couple of weeks back and thought he might try his hand at a 25 Frequent Player Point Round 1 satellite. He ran well and managed to get through to the 4,500 FPP round.

As the bubble approached, he was all-in in the big blind with a raggy, off-suited hand. There was nothing he could do but wait and see what happened.

And what happened? Well he lost the hand, but so did a lot of other people in the tournament. He got his ticket.

"I was in the Million for the first time!" he said.

From there on out, all he really wanted to do was make it into the money. He figured making $300 on his 25 FPP investment would be a good day's work.

As fate would have it, he managed to hold on a lot longer, eventually going bust in a blind vs. blind battle with big slick versus [jc][4c]. The result was a $2,024 paycheck for an 86th place finish. In all he made about $200 an hour on an investment of a few FPPs.

No, it's no great life-changing story. And sure, his $2,000 won't help him buy a house. But it's two grand he didn't have before he spent a little time in the Sunday Million.

Just something to think about the next time you think you don't have the cash or skill to play in the Sunday Million.

See, as much as we've always believed that size doesn't matter, we've just been handed video proof of the biggest poker game ever played. It's a heads-up match between two members of the England Rugby Team.

There aren't many punches pulled during the match. My favorite moment is when one looks across the pitch/baize/whatver and says, "You're a child."

Here, just have a look for yourself.

With degenerates like these among us, it's hard to tell what they will come up with next (I'm formally putting in a suggestion for putting numbers and suits on their fellow players jerseys--make your best five card hand out of the first five guys you can incapacitate).

In any case, you'd best keep up with it all over at the PokerStars UK You Tube channel.

The PokerStars Luxury Ladies Poker Club is a signature series of poker events designed for and open solely to female poker players. It's already staged events at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and 2009 EPT London poker festivals.

April 27 - May 2, the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final in Monte Carlo will host poker-playing women from around the globe in some of the planet's most luxurious surroundings. The ladies will be staying at the chic Columbus Monaco hotel, home of some of the world's best treatments at the prestigious Les Thermes Marins Spa.

Outside they club members will get a chance to see the city's historic marina, casino, and Monaco Gran Prix. Inside, they'll have a world-class poker experience. They'll receive the best in poker training at Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso's Ladies Bootcamp.

Then it's on to the European Poker Tour grand Final where the participants will get automatic entry into the €1,100 Ladies Tournament.

Vanessa Rousso

With travel expenses and a goodie bag added to the mix, the total value of this unique vacation and poker experience amounts to €3,500.

Sure, it's a hefty price. But, as always, PokerStars is giving the ladies a chance to win the full prize for nothing.

Online qualifiers are running daily through April 18. You can find the tournaments in the PokerStars lobby by clicking the 'Events' and 'EPT' tabs.

Good luck, ladies. We'll see you in Monte Carlo.

The Super Tuesday, as it's called, brings players together with the offering of a $1,000 + $50 buy-in for the guarantee of a $250,000 prize pool. Many of the biggest names in online poker register to play each week, so it's never a surprise to see big names (and Team PokerStars Pros) like Gavin Griffin and Chris Moneymaker at the tables, in addition to well-respected players like SCTrojans and AJKHoosier1. But there are also names unrecognizable at first glance, many of whom won their seats via the weekly satellites that offer opportunities to enter the tournament at a fraction of the cost. That makes it even more exciting.

This week, 382 players came to the tables, which pushed the prize pool well beyond the guarantee to where it landed at $382,000. That sum allowed payouts for the top 45 players in the tournament, and in that group this week was the aforementioned Moneymaker. Money800, as he's known online, soared toward the top of the leaderboard midway through the event, and though he lost momentum along the way to the final few tables, his 29th place finish in such a tough field was nothing to sneeze at.

As play continued, it was down to two tables just before the six hour mark, and it took more than another hour to get to hand-for-hand play and reduce the field to nine players. That occurred when GHSE00011364 moved all-in preflop with [Ad][Qc]. HHHUGO called from the small blind with pocket queens, and the board brought [4h][Kh][7s][8s][Kd]. That left GHSE00011364 out of the tournament in tenth place with $5,730.00 in prize money.

Few strangers among them

The final table was then set and ready to go in the midst of Level 25, with blinds at 1.4K and 2.8K with a 350-chip ante. The starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: JACKPOT786 (107,575 in chips)
Seat 2: lechuckpoker (100,233 in chips)
Seat 3: HHHUGO (291,746 in chips)
Seat 4: cotrim333 (260,583 in chips)
Seat 5: iCeVeNoM (361,877 in chips)
Seat 6: 1$ickDisea$E (296,889 in chips)
Seat 7: jogjeg (102,042 in chips)
Seat 8: kenneeoin (130,283 in chips)
Seat 9: TIITTIIT (258,772 in chips)

Many players at the final table were no strangers to PokerStars final tables. It was iCeVeNoM who took down a 2009 WCOOP event, cotrim333 who won a Sunday Warm-Up in late 2009, and others who were still seeking their first big Stars title.

On the very first hand of action, one of the players with a shorter stack decided to risk it. Go big or go home, it seemed. It was jogjeg who made the all-in move for 101,692 chips, and JACKPOT786 called from the small blind with [Ac][Kd], which was found to dominate the [As][Qd] of jogjeg. The board blanked with [3s][6c][8h][7s][9c], and jogjeg was eliminated in ninth place with $6,685.00.

Chips and more chips for cotrim333

The big stacks were mixing it up. One pot ran itself up to more than 110,000 chips in preflop raises that resulted in iCeVeNoM finally folding and cotrim333 raking the chips. The latter was climbing the leaderboard quickly.

When short-stacked kenneeoin dared reraise the initial raise of cotrim333, it was an over-the-top all-in move from cotrim333 that prompted kenneeoin to call for his tournament life with pocket queens. But cotrim333 showed [Ad][Kd], which immediately turned into two pair on the [6c][As][Ks] flop. The [Js] came on the turn, and one of kenneeoin's queens was a spade, but the [4h] on the river failed to make the flush, only eliminating kenneeoin in eighth place, which was worth a $9,168.00 payout.

So sick

The fast-moving action was about to find itself a new chipleader. It happened when lechuckpoker decided to move all-in with pocket jacks preflop, and 1$ickDisea$E called with [Ac][Ks] from the big blind. A little reminiscent of the last hand, the flop came [Qc][Kc][7h] to give Big Slick the advantage, and the [9s] turn and [5h] river ended the hand. That sent lechuckpoker out of the tournament in seventh place with $12,988.00 for the effort.

With iCeVeNoM getting a bit low on chips, he proceeded to double through TIITTIIT to climb again, but that left TIITTIIT with less than 3,000 in chips. Two hands later, TIITTIITpushed it with [Ks][6c], and HHHUGO was along for the ride with pocket eights. The board brought [5d][Qs][9s][9h][Jh], which gave TIITTIIT a sixth place finish and $16,808 to go along with it.

But 1$ickDisea$E was having none of losing the chip lead to iCeVeNoM, and the two tangled in the monster pot that found consistent bets and calls all the way through a board of [Qd][Tc][As][8d][5d]. When 1$ickDisea$E showed [Jc][9c] for the turned straight, iCeVeNoM had to fold his hand and allow 1$ickDisea$E to take down the 409,147-chip pot.

Ice, Ice, Baby

(You all knew that song title was going to find its way into this recap, didn't you?)

Another big pot soon developed. And again, it was between the two aggressive players just mentioned. Though four players went to see the [6s][5h][2s] flop, some serious betting and raising prompted JACKPOT786 and HHHUGO to fold and led to an all-in reraise from iCeVeNoM. The call was made by 1$ickDisea$E with [Ts][9s] for the flush draw, and iCeVeNoM showed pocket kings for the overpair. A [Th] turn card and [9s] river card gave iCeVeNoM the double-up and significant chip lead.

That lead only grew over the next few hands as iCeVeNoM surpassed the million-chip mark. He took a 311K-pot from cotrim333 and a 340K pot soon thereafter. He was simply dominating the table at that point.

Five-handed play continued for awhile until HHHUGO was relegated to a stack of little more than 100K in chips. From the big blind, HHHUGO got involved with cotrim333 and iCeVeNoM preflop to see the first three cards come [Ac][Kc][Js]. When cotrim333 bet and HHHUGO check-raised all-in, iCeVeNoM got out of the way, and cotrim333 called with pocket aces for the flopped set. HHHUGO showed [Tc][7c] for the flush and straight draws, but he couldn't get there on the [5d] turn or the [Th] river. HHHUGO was ousted in fifth place with $21,774.00.

Melting the ice?

Down to four players, the action took some interesting turns. First, cotrim444 came back from a super short stack by doubling through iCeVeNoM, and then 1$ickDisea$E did the same by doubling through cotrim333. While iCeVeNoM maintained a solid lead over his competitors, the others showed they were willing to make some risky moves to climb back from deficits.

But it was JACKPOT786 who needed the most luck. Though able to double-up once through 1$ickDisea$E, JACKPOT786 decided to attempt it again, this time with only 95,985 in chips and [Ac][6d] in the hole. cotrim333 made the call holding a dominating [Ah][Td], and JACKPOT786 couldn't find enough help on the [5s][4h][Qd][Tc][6s] board to stave off elimination. JACKPOT786 walked away with $31,515 for the fourth place finish.

It seemed that cotrim333 had momentum, showed by the raking of a 276K pot from 1$ickDisea$E and a 192K pot from iCeVeNoM. Slowly climbing toward the leader, it looked as if cotrim333 had a chance.

But one hand put a stop to that. Two players - iCeVeNoM and cotrim333 - got involved to see a [Js][9s][3c] flop. They checked to the [5c] on the turn, and a bet from cotrim333 was called to take them to the [7c] on the river. cotrim333 bet 56,000, iCeVeNoM raised to 150,000, and when cotrim333 pushed it again, iCeVeNoM made the all-in move. cotrim333 called all-in for his tournament life with [Qc][Jc] for the queen-high flush, but iCeVeNoM turned over the [Ac][8c] for the nut flush. The pot worth over 1.25 million went to iCeVeNoM, and cotrim333, the winner of a December 2009 Sunday Warm-Up, had to settle for the $42,020.00 that went with the third place finish.

A comeback to cure the sickness

Suddenly, heads-up play started with the following chip counts:

Seat 5: iCeVeNoM (1,733,019 in chips)
Seat 6: 1$ickDisea$E (176,981 in chips)

There was cautious play from 1$ickDisea$E for several rounds, but at one point the move was made with J-8, and iCeVeNoM just happened to call with another J-8. The two split that pot. But soon after, 1$ickDisea$E did it again, this time with pocket fives against the pocket sixes of iCeVeNoM. But the board came [4c][4h][5s][8s][Qs] to give 1$ickDisea$E the flopped full house and the much-needed double-up.

That momentum carried. 1$ickDisea$E took pot after pot going forward, using sheer aggression to collect chips. A bit later, another opportunity presented itself as the two players went through a board of [8s][5c][6s][Ks][Qc] board, at which point, 1$ickDisea$E pushed all-in with [Js][5s] and the flush, and iCeVeNoM called with pocket eights for the set that wasn't good enough. 1$ickDisea$E doubled up and took the chip lead for the first time during the match.

Mounting a comeback, iCeVeNoM chipped up a bit but finally fell to less than 400K with the loss of a 558K-chip pot to 1$ickDisea$E. It took only a few minutes to decide to make the final move, and iCeVeNoM did it with [Kd][Qc], which was called by 1$ickDisea$E holding [Ac][9h]. The flop was positive for iCeVeNoM when it fell [Tc][Kc][9c] for the pair of kings, but his opponent caught part of it as well. The [5d] turn card did nothing, but the [As] on the river gave 1$ickDisea$E two pair, leaving Saul "iCeVeNoM" Khalili, 2009 WCOOP event winner, to finish the tournament in second place with $55,390.00.

The hard-fought victory went to 1$ickDisea$E, who battled back from a serious chip deficit in the half-hour heads-up match to ultimately win the tournament, for which a prize of $73,917.00 was awarded.

Super Tuesday Results for 03/09/10:

1st place: 1$ickDisea$E ($73,917.00)
2nd place: iCeVeNoM ($55,390.00)
3rd place: cotrim333 ($42,020.00)
4th place: JACKPOT786 ($31,515.00)
5th place: HHHUGO ($21,774.00)
6th place: TIITTIIT ($16,808.00)
7th place: lechuckpoker ($12,988.00)
8th place: kenneeoin ($9,168.00)
9th place: jogjeg ($6,685.00)

Tuesdays are fast becoming a must-play night for online poker on PokerStars. In addition to The Super Tuesday, Team Pro Tuesdays bring some of the world's greatest players to the felt for the Outlast the Pro tournaments.

The Sunday Million saw a four-way chop that still resulted in a $260,000 won for MAE9690. Jen Newell has all the details in our 3-7-10 Sunday Million final table report.

As if the four-way chop wasn't enough, this weekend's Sunday Warm-Up enjoyed a six-way deal. Take a peek at John Hartness' 3-7-10 Sunday Warm-Up final table report for a full rundown of the chop and Ramux's $139,163 win.

For a complete look at the final tables of all the big events this past weekend, be sure to check out the 3-7-10 PokerStars Sunday tournament results.

Congratulations to all of last week's winners, and good to luck to everybody playing this week.

Whatever the reason, the Sunday Million was packed with players. The final registration number was 10,123, which translated into an impressive $2,024,600 prize pool, well beyond the $1.5 million guarantee. The top payout of $283,449.40 was reserved for the first place finisher, but 1,440 players would receive some sort of payout for their $200 + $15 investment.

As the tournament ran into the nighttime hours in America, there was one Team PokerStars Pro who is no stranger to deep tournament runs these days. Argentinian Veronica "Princesa" Dabul just scored 18th place in the March 2nd Super Tuesday event and followed that up with a solid 48th place finish in tonight's Sunday Million. Should Ms. Dabul continue this trend, she may be one that takes her South American success to an entirely new level.

The playdown toward the final table was quicker than anticipated for the substantial starting field, but action got stuck at hand-for-hand play that went into effect for the last two tables with ten players remaining. Players were hesitant to hit that bubble, knowing what it meant - financially and otherwise - to make a Sunday Million final table. But eventually, it had to happen to someone. The all-in move came from rigodoncio with less than 100,000 in chips, and calls came from maestrocaggi and camillo30. After the [7h][8s][8c] flop, a bet from camillo prompted a fold from maestrocaggi. The cards were then shown: camillo30 had [Ad][Ks] and rigodoncio was on the line with [As][6c]. The [Qh] turn and [Ts] river ended the action for rigodoncio, who finished in tenth place with $10,123.00.

Camillo30 in front but not out of reach

In the start of Level 36, with blinds at 200,000/400,000 and a 40,000 ante, players quickly launched into final table action as follows:

Seat 1: over.be (9,465,306 in chips)
Seat 2: adam eterno (1,932,992 in chips)
Seat 3: camillo30 (22,425,333 in chips)
Seat 4: maestrocaggi (18,292,096 in chips)
Seat 5: asturiano (17,730,819 in chips)
Seat 6: reelhugefish (5,508,071 in chips)
Seat 7: Lagerborg (7,959,486 in chips)
Seat 8: MAE9690 (15,234,599 in chips)
Seat 9: AA TURON AA (2,681,298 in chips)

It took only two hands for camillo30 to wield that chip lead at the expense of the shortest stack at the table. The all-in move came from adam eterno preflop from the small blind with [Qc][Js], and camillo30 made the call from the big blind with [8h][7s]. The board came out smoothly for camillo30 with [6c][6s][9d][Th][7d] for the turned straight, and adam eterno was out in ninth place with $13,767.28.

AA TURON AA made a small dent in camillo30's stack with a double-up through the chip leader, though the former was still one of the shorter stacks. AA TURON AA went on to double again soon after, though, through asturiano to live to fight a few more rounds.

Beginnings of a climb for over.be

The battle consisted of two hands, the first that saw over.be double through Lagerborg and leave the latter with little behind. It was only a few hands later that Lagerborg pushed all-in for his last 174,179 chips with [Kh][8c], and three players - over.be, MAE9690, and asturiano went along to see the [8s][7s][9d] flop. When over.be bet, the other two players got out of the way, and over.be showed [Td][9s] for the straight draw and top pair. The [Jh] on the turn made that straight, and the [7h] eliminated Lagerborg from the tournament in eighth place with $20,246.00.

Then it was over.be who put a serious dent in the stack of maestrocaggi with the collection of a pot worth nearly 20 million chips. It didn't take long after that for maestrocaggi to move all-in with [Ad][7h] from the big blind. Original raiser camillo30 called from the small blind with [Kd][Jd], and the board came [8c][9c][Tc][Qs][As] to make a Broadway straight for camillo30. That left maestrocaggi out in seventh place with $40,492.00 for the deep run.

MAE9690 rises while over.be falls

After steady movement up the leaderboard, the loss of a 23.5 million-chip pot to MAE9690 hurt the stacks. And a short while later, when MAE9690 pushed all-in, over.be called from the big blind for his tournament life with pocket eights. But the race was on as MAE9690 showed [Tc][9s]. The cards fell in favor of over.be with the [4c][5s][Js] flop and [3h] turn, but the [9d] on the river gave MAE9690 the pair of nines. Suddenly, over.be was gone in sixth place with $60,738.00.

MAE9690 was at it again, shoving preflop. AA TURON AA looked down at [Ad][Jd] in the big blind and decided to make the call, which forced MAE9690 to show only [9s][7s]. But the flop couldn't have been better to put MAE9690 in the lead as it came [9c][7d][Ac]. The last two cards brought [4d] and [6h], and that put MAE9690 at the top of the leaderboard by a large margin, while AA TURON AA was headed out in fifth place with $80,984.00.

Let's make a deal

The final four players soon decided to take a look at chip-chop numbers, which weren't to the liking of any of the finalists. But they continued the discussions and came up with numbers they decided were fair. With the agreement that $30,000 be set aside for the eventual winner, the deal amounts were as follows:

Seat 3: camillo30 (22,257,597 in chips) = $176,959.80
Seat 5: asturiano (10,254,769 in chips) = $150,000.00
Seat 6: reelhugefish (10,283,052 in chips) = $150,000.00
Seat 8: MAE9690 (58,434,582 in chips) = $230,000.00

On the first hand back, short-stacked asturiano decided to raise preflop from the small blind, but when original raiser MAE9690 came back with an all-in move, asturiano called all-in for his tournament life holding [As][Td]. MAE9690 showed pocket sixes, and the board allowed that pair to win the race when it came [2s][6h][Kh][5c][9c]. And with that, asturiano was gone in fourth place with $150,000.00.

A few hands later, the other short stack pushed. It was camillo30 with the original raise from the small blind, but reelhugefish moved all-in from the big blind with [Ah][8c]. camillo30 showed [Ac][Jc] for the dominating hand, though reelhugefish took the lead when the flop came [Qc][8s][7s]. The [4c] on the turn changed nothing, but the [Js] on the river gave camillo30 the bigger pair and eliminated reelhugefish in third place with $150,000.00.

MAE9690 takes lead into heads-up with camillo30

The starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 3: camillo30 (32,240,649 in chips)
Seat 8: MAE9690 (68,989,351 in chips)

Though camillo30 tried to chip up, it was the following hand that gave MAE9690 more than a four-to-one chip lead.

RSS readers click through to see replay

MAE9690 didn't let up, which soon prompted camillo30 to move all-in for his last 18,140,649 chips with [Qc][Tc]. MAE9690 called with [Ad][4d], and the [Ah][2h][5d][3d][8h] board turned a straight. The $176,959.80 prize money went to camillo30 for finishing in second place.

And the winner of the tournament was MAE9690, and the prestigious Sunday Million title went with a solid $260,000 payday.

Sunday Million Results for 03/07/10:

1st place: MAE9690 ($260,000.00)*
2nd place: camillo30 ($176,959.80)*
3rd place: reelhugefish ($150,000.00)*
4th place: asturiano ($150,000.00)*
5th place: AA TURON AA ($80,984.00)
6th place: over.be ($60,738.00)
7th place: maestrocaggi ($40,492.00)
8th place: Lagerborg ($20,246.00)
9th place: adam eterno ($13,767.28)

*payouts based on a four-way agreement

For more information on ways to register and qualify for upcoming Sunday Million tournaments, visit the Sunday Million page.

Before the rest of the table could catch their breath, all the chips were in the middle again as L C P open-shoved with [Kd]-[Qd]. His only opponent was Ansgar2000, holding the charmed hand du jour - pocket eights. Ansgar's [8c]-[8d] was good enough to send another competitor to the rail, however, as the board ran out [6h]-[9s]-[5s]-[Js]-[3d]. After two hands, and two coin flips, there were two fewer players at the table as LCP collected $12,450 for 8th place.

But the frenzy wasn't over yet, as Ramux and gaffel tangled in one last huge pot to kick off the final table. Ramux opened for a raise with [Kh]-[Qh], and made the call when gaffel moved all in over the top with [Ac]-[Js]. The flop brought a huge draw to Ramux, as it came down [3h]-[3s]-[7h], giving Ramux the flush draw to go with his live cards. The flush hit the turn on the form of the [Th], leaving gaffel drawing dead. The river was the irrelevant [Jc], and gaffel headed to bed with an extra $22,410 for 7th place in his bankroll.

With the breathtaking pace of the first few eliminations, the remaining six players decided to chat about a deal. The massive chip lead the Ramux had accumulated made the deal process difficult, but after some lengthy debate, a deal was reached that left $10,000 for the winner and locked up comfortable guarantees for everyone.

The deal locked up $129,163.73 for chip leader Ramux, while the second-place Ansgar2000 picked up $86,163.71. Hismoon nabbed $77,163.71 for his third-place stack, Method999 locked in $68,163.71, juda10 took down a guaranteed $66,163.71 and Feez0 grabbed $48,163.71 for his 6th-place stack. That left $10,000 for the eventual winner of the tournament, and play resumed.

After some jockeying for position at the final table and a few double-ups, the first big confrontation sent two players to the rail at once. Feez0 found himself on the extreme short stack and put his last few chips in the middle of the table as the big blind. Method999 raised from the button, and Ramux made the call from the small blind. The flop came down [9d]-[Ks]-[7h], and the rest of the chips went in the middle. Feez0 showed [Qs]-[4s], Method999 opened [Kh]-[6d], and Ramux held the lead with [Kc]-[Td]. The [Kd] on the turn did nothing to change that, and when the river brought the [Ts], it was all over for Feez0 and Method999.

Ansgar2000 was the next to fall, busting in 4th place at the hands of juda10. Action folded around to juda, who moved all in preflop with [6h]-[9h]. Ansgar thought for a moment but finally called with [Ac]-[8c]. Juda10 picked up a pair of nines on a flop of [Th]-[Ks]-[9c], and that was enough to hold up and send Ansgar packing as the turn and river came down [7d]-[Qd] and thin the field to three.

It took a little while to whittle it down, and there were several double-throughs along the way to heads-up play, but finally juda10's run at the final table came to an end. After Ramux folded from the button, juda10 moved all in from the small blind with [Ac]-[6c]. Hismoon made the call with [Ad]-[9c], and his lead extended with the flop of [4d]-[As]-[9s]. Needing running sixes to stay alive, juda was drawing dead after the [Tc] hit the turn. The river was a meaningless [Qd], and the tournament was heads up for $10,000.

Heads up play was a real battle, with multiple lead change and double ups before everything was finally settled. But in the end, it came down to who could catch cards when it counted most, and that was Ramux on the last hand. After crippling Hismoon, then doubling him up on back-to-back hands, all the money went in the middle preflop once again, but this time Ramux had the right ammo - pocket aces. His [Ac]-[Ad] was firmly in the driver's seat against Hismoon's [Kc]-[Jh]. The flop brought more suspense as it came down [Tc]-[7c]-[Qs], giving Hismoon the up and down straight draw, but the [5h] on the turn was no help. Ramux just needed to fade an ace or nine on the river to win the tournament and the extra $10k, and when the river brought the [Qd], that's exactly what he did. Hismoon played a brilliant final table, even taking over Ramux's seemingly insurmountable chip lead a couple of time, but in the end he could only come away with second place.

Congrats to Ramux, who picked up $139,163.73 when all was said and done, and congratulations as well to all our final table players!

Today's final table, however, was the perfect tonic to end a week of highs and lows. It featured eight players who had each earned their place by playing the best poker of their lives, and they gave a terrific show of fearless deep-stack final table play. When we were down to three - Kevin MacPhee, Ilari Tahkokallio and Marc Inizan - any of them would have been a more than worthy winner. The other five weren't too shabby either.

In the event, our first EPT Berlin champion is that man MacPhee from Coeur d'Alene, in Idaho, USA. MacPhee, a serial qualifier to major tournaments on PokerStars, is better known as "ImaLuckSac" online, and his immediate reaction echoed the sentiments of that username.

"I am a luck-sack," MacPhee said. "What can I say? I ran extremely good and I had the nuts every time someone played back at me." Advised that he was now a millionaire, MacPhee said: "Yeah, that's nice. About time." MacPhee is 29-years-old.

Kevin MacPhee: EPT Berlin champion

Tahkokallio, from Finland, who finished second, emerged with immense credit too. "He's an amazing player and my hat's off to him," MacPhee said of his adversary. And MacPhee was in the best position to judge.

Early yesterday, MacPhee had turned to Tahkokallio and said: "Are we going to get heads up again?" It was a reference to a side event at EPT London earlier this season, when the same two players had gone mano-a-mano for that title. "Probably," Tahkokallio replied, and despite all the intervening disturbances, the two of them kept their date tonight.

Ilari Tahkokalio, defeated heads up

Their heads-up battle this time lasted more than three hours, with more than one exchange of the chip lead. MacPhee eventually persuaded Tahkokallio to get all his money in on a low board with the Finn holding a couple of overcards. MacPhee had middle pair and rivered a straight. Cue hugs, handshakes and a new champion.

Final table line-up: (l-r) Marko Neumann, Marc Inizan, Artur Wasek, Kevin MacPhee, Ilari Tahkokallio, Marcel Koller, Nico Behling, Ketul Nathwani

MacPhee had the dominant stack coming into the final, but he was gracious enough to allow two of the shorties to get involved early on, costing Nico Behling his shot at the million. Behling was out on the second hand of the day, sent packing by Marcel Koller's pocket tens.

MacPhee then came out firing, flopping a set with pocket sevens to out-run Marko Neumann's big slick, and busting Ketul Nathwani in fifth with [ad][9c] against the Englishman's [as][6d].

Ketul Nathwani

Tahkokallio stuck his head briefly above the parapet to knock out Marcel Koller in between. That was a standard queens (Tahkokallio) against [ac][qs] (Koller) cooler - a rare moment of normalcy amid all the fireworks.

Marcel Koller

The first slowdown came four-handed, but the most pressure was on the Polish player Artur Wasek. He had made a last-minute decision to play this event, wagering money made at the cash tables on the eve of day one, and so had already progressed further than he could have hoped.

Artur Wasek: happy throughout the tournament...

He wouldn't be shifted without a fight - or another cooler. Wasek found queens when Inizan had kings, and Inizan had a bigger stack. It all went in, the board was dry, and out went Wasek.

...until it all went wrong for Wasek

Inizan's tournament didn't last much longer, but here was a man who had demonstrated beyond doubt that he is a shark patrolling the waters of the biggest tournament fields. He led almost from pillar to post in a recent 800-strong event in Belgium, making the final table but finishing ninth, and he had been in the top nine at the end of every day here.

Marc Inizan

The momentum took him further than ever before in Berlin, but he was halted in third, flopping top pair when MacPhee had hit the nut straight. All in. Gone.

So here it was, the second date MacPhee and Tahkokallio had arranged in October. And although this time it was MacPhee picking up the check, few would bet against this tete-a-tete prospering around the tables of major poker tournaments on many more romantic occasions from here.

That, then, is that. The full list of who won what here in the German capital is on the prizewinners page. And you can look back at all the video blogs from the tournament floor at PokerStars.tv.

Today's typos action can be relived in all their its glory at the following links:

EPT Berlin final table player profiles
Levels 27 through 29 live updates
Levels 30-33 live updates
Level 33 live update (one hand!)

And who knows if what they write in German, Swedish or Dutch is worth the strain on the frontal lobe, but there's a link nonetheless.

All the photography on PokerStars Blog comes from Neil Stoddart and the words are the combined magic of Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young. Hubble hubble, boil and bubble, etc.

We'll be back on the EPT at Snowfest in Austria in a couple of weeks time. We can safely assume that you'll be there too - without the compound fractures that us non-skiers will surely have suffered during our ill-advised attempts at cliff-hucking and indie grabs.

Until then, cheerio from Germany.

The Berlin Parliament building

MacPhee: [3s][4s] for a pair and straight draw.
Tahkokallio: [9h][6h] for an over card and gutshot draw.

The turn [jh] also gave Tahkokallio outs to the flush but the river came [6s], making MacPhee a straight and making him EPT Berlin Champion.

Stand by for the full wrap of the day's events - MC

10.35pm: Winner
Kevin MacPhee wins EPT Berlin and €1 million. Details of the winning hand and the wrap of the whole day coming up.

10.27pm: Play resumes
A new level, why not start a new post? Players are returning from their break. Here are the scores...

Kevin MacPhee -- 19, 225,000
Ilari Tahkokallio -- 9,400,000

PokerStars blog reporting team (in order of alertness): Simon Young (nicotine), Howard Swains (caffeine), Marc Convey (life), Stephen Bartley (kids).

"Yesterday at approximately 2.15pm, an armed robbery took place at the European Poker Tour (EPT) event in Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. Four armed men were involved in the robbery which targeted the tournament registration desk outside the tournament area.

No shots were fired and the suspects quickly fled after a security guard intervened. The police investigation so far has shown that the suspects had a handgun and a machete. Contrary to tabloid reports, no Kalashnikov assault rifles or hand grenades were used. The suspects did not enter the tournament area and the money taken was substantially less than what has been reported.

The tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is now under way. The tournament is taking place on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and is being held by SPIELBANK Berlin Casino.

The police are working closely with the EPT and SPIELBANK Berlin. Police are asking anyone who has information, video footage or photographs that might aid the investigation to contact them."

Crime scene: the lobby area at EPT Berlin