Joseph Mouawad made short work of Florian Langmann heads up to claim the EPT London title.

He gained the chip lead shortly after heads up play began and never let go.

In the final hand a frustrated Langmann pushed all-in with second pair on a Q8x flop.

Mouawad called instantly with top pair.  A third Q on the turn finished things off and the man from the Lebanon could begin his celebrations.

An exciting tournament comes to an end and, as is often the case, a relative unknown will now be thrust into the poker limelight.

Many big names sat down in the Vic four days ago, but one by one, the likes of Daniel Negraneau, Liz Lieu, Hevad Khan, Roland De Wolfe and Chris Moneymaker fell by the wayside.

Our own Craic Commandos gave it a good crack of the whip but in the end were all finding solace in the bar by the end of day one where they had the “look of the Irish” rather than the “luck of the Irish”!

So goodbye from London and congratulations to Joseph Mouawad who, along with WSOP Champ Joe Hachem (Australia via Lebanon), will help to raise the profile of Lebanese poker on the world stage.

We are down the final two at the London EPT and it’s Germany versus the Lebanon.

Florian Langmann and Joseph Mouawad both have about 2 million in chips.

They will play until someone has all the chips and the first prize of more than £600k.

It has been a disapointing day for the home crowd with Cox and Mendes going out early and for the first time the London EPT will be won by a non English player.

3rd Marcel Baran, Germany £203,840
4th Josh Egan, New Zealand £152,880
5th Fredrik Haugen, Sweden £124,342
6th Antony Lellouche, France £97,843
7th Paul Mendes, England £77,459
8th Ian Cox, England £57,075

After all the huffing and puffing we are down to the final eight players.

This afternoon and tonight they will compete for a first prize of £611,520. Which by quick calculation, and not by using an onine currency exhange site, is equal to exactly €875,858.31.

I don’t want to undermine the quality of the players who are left, but at one stage it looked as if we were on course for one of the most exciting final tables in years.  Unfortunately Chris Moneymaker, Roland De Wolfe, Surindar Sunar, Pascal Parault, Tony Cascarino and Alan Smurfit all finished just short of the final table.

That, as they say, is poker.

14th place finisher, Tony “Big Cass” Cascarino, came very close, but he did not get the cigar.

Nevertheless, one of the remaining eight players will become and overnight superstar. We have an interesting array of nationalities at the felt today, but the fans at the Vic will surely be shouting loudest for the two Brits - Paul Mendes and Ian Cox.

And as if two World Wars and a World Cup Final weren’t enough, Cox and Mendes will do battle against two Germans at the final table.  This time however the Germans appear to have the upper hand, Florian Langmann (who looks kind of like The Terminator behind his big shades) is a commanding chip leader, while countryman Marcel Baran is third in chips.

Players from the Lebanon, New Zealand, France and Sweden make up the rest of this cosmopolitan final table.

Good luck to all, by the close of play tonight we will have a winner…

Official Chip Counts
Florian Langmann (Germany) 927000
Joseph Mouawad (Lebanon) 780000
Marcel Baran (Germany) 583000
Josh Egan (New Zealand) 477000
Anthony Lellouche (France) 466000
Paul Mendes (UK) 282000
Ian Cox (UK) 234000
Fredrik Haugen (Sweden) 190000

Tony Cascarino has left the building.

Shortstacked for most of the day, Big Cass couldn’t hang on any longer and he exits in 14th and takes home £22k for his troubles.

The Irish support should now probably switch to Surindar Sunar who has been a long time supporter of the Irish Open, having played in the event since its inception in the early 1980s. Read about the history of the Irish Open here

He started the day as the big chp leader but he has been pulled back in by the chasing pack and currently sits on around 230k.

Unfortunately he is going in reverse at the moment and has been reraised off a number of hands at the feature table.

Marcel Baran is the chip leader with about 700k.

1. Baran 700k
2. Egan 500k
3. Langmann 400k
4. Haugen 285k
5. Lellouche 270k

Alan Smurfit got it all-in on the first hand at the feature table and was great shape with AQ v A7.

7 was the first card out.

Q was the second card and things were looking good again.

But the third card was a third heart and Smurfit was facing the nut flush draw for Baran.

(they deal the flop one card at a time in the Vic)

The turn was a blank but the flush came on the river and Smurfit had been horribly outdrawn. He takes home just over £16,000 for his weeks work.

Big Cass is now the only Irish hope left - come on Ireland!!

On a flop of 64TJ  (two diamonds) Chris Moneymaker moved all-in and was instantly called by Florian Langmann with AT of diamonds.

Moneymaker was in big trouble with 89 leaving him only six outs.

The 5d on the river sealed the deal and the 2003 WSOP champ was gone.  He had played fantastically well all week and one brain frazzle undid all his good work. 

I have now also lost my bed with Mad Mike and he is already texting me for his money - goddamit Chris, I really thought you would do it this time!!

With Roland De Wolfe exiting only a few hands earlier, the EPT London has lost two of its most fascinating characters.

We are now down to the final 16 and two tables of 8.

Ireland, Ireland, Repub-e-lic of Ireland!

Big Cass and Alan Smurfit are both hanging on by the skin of their teeth with around 70k each. Big Cass rivered an Ace holding AT against 77 a while ago to stay in the tournament.

Hopefully the luck of the Irish will stay with them and they can both get back in contention.

What a result it would be if they could both make the final table.

Stay tuned…

Chirs Moneymaker has been the action player at the feature table of late. 

In the last hand he limped with AJ and then checked an Ace-high flop to the turn.  On the river the big blind bet 12k when a third diamond hit.  Reluctantly Moneymaker called saying “i probably let you catch up”.  His opponent turned over A5 and Moneymaker took the pot.

With 23 players left Surindar Sunar is still chip leader with 470k but Anthony Lelouche is closing in with 420k.

Smurfit and Big Cass are still surviving and are very close now to the final two tables.

1st £ 611,520
2nd £ 346,528
3rd £ 203,840
4th £ 152,880
5th £ 124,342

The pay out for 32nd - 25th is £8,153. The next jump in pay is 24th - 17th which is £12,230.

Smurift and Big Cass are still in the mix and are on course for a nice pay day.  The feature table has seen both Roland De Wolfe and Chris Moneymaker all-in, both have survived their big hands and have increased their chip stacks.

On personal note I would just like to say that it was heartbreaking to see Katja Svendsen get knocked out… let’s just say that the rest of the feature table are no oil paintings!  in fact she was very unlucky when her aggressive reraise forced her to call a rereraise all-in - by a player with 78 suited!!  She had made her move with 45 suited.

She hit a 5, but then he hit a 7… and then another 7. She was crippled and exited shortly afterwards when her pocket JJs ended up in a threeway pot against Mangus’s KJ and Moneymaker’s QQ.  A king on the flop gave Mangus the main pot, Moneymaker increased his stack by winning the side pot.

Roland De Wolfe, who so painlfully outdrew Brian “The Fox” O’Keeffe at the Irish Open final table, reraises all-in with AdJd and is instantly called by Daniel Manguswith pocket Kings.

Roland De Wolfe (right) with Thomas Finneran at the final table of the 2007 Irish Open

Flop:5d Jc 9s

Turn: 4d (giving De Wolfe 9 more outs)

And the river is a … diamond? … of course not, it was another J!

So De Wolfe doubles up and the cheeky chappy from London continues his rollercoaster adventure through the tournament.

Carlos Citrone was the bubble boy, finishing 33rd and we are now down to the really serious business.

Shane Reihill unfortunately didn’t make it through but Alan Smurfit and Big Cass are both still very much alive.

Smurfit, who won a WSOP bracelet this summer, is in 9th place on 130k. Big Cass is fighting the good fight in 27th with 50k.

31 players remain including: Surindar Sunar (1st, 400k), Chris Moneymaker (19th, 80k) and Roland De Wolfe (21st, 75k).