We have a decision! After lots of pots that had the potential to get huge, the first massive all-in confrontation was also the last. On a flop 432, Marc faced a very big raise from Gavin, to 2 million total, in a situation where the stacks were very close: Gavin had just half a million more than Marc had. Holding 74 for top pair, Marc decided that Gavin was pushing a draw, and that in fact his top pair was good. So, he decided to push all-in for about 5 million. An excellent read on the part of the Canadian. However, with K5, Gavin actually had a very strong holding of his own: With two cards to come, his open-ended straight draw plus two overcards was by no means a dog to Marc's top pair. So, he correctly had gone for the initial semi-bluff raise, knowing that even if he would get called he could still make his hand, and then the match would be over. And he then also correctly called the all-in reraise with his very strong draw. For the first time at this heads up stage, we had a very big pot where there was a lot of luck involved, as about 10 million of the 10.6 million total chips were in the middle. And in the end, it was Gavin to be the most lucky one, as he hit a king on the river to win with top pair.

So, our 2007 European Champion once again has an American passport. Gavin Griffin has taken the most prestigious title ever to be awarded in European poker history. And, not unimportantly, it was also the largest pay check ever to be awarded in European poker history. So, congratulations to this likeable young man, and also congratulations to the strong Marc Karam for making his second consecutive final table at this EPT in Monte Carlo.

2. Marc Karam (Canada) EUR 1,061,820

1. Gavin Griffin (US) EUR 1,825,010

Anyway, that concludes things from me. It has been very exciting over here: So many big names at the start, then the highly exciting road to the final, and then in the end a long heads up match where there was lots of room for skill, for reads, and for making plays. This EPT Grand Final 2007 concludes the third season of the European Poker Tour that has simply grown huge. Congratulations to John Duthie and his staff for pulling this off this amazing achievement.

For me, it is back to Amsterdam now, and then in two says I will be in Dublin for the 2 million Euros guaranteed over there. I probably won't be there as 'official' reporter, so don't automatically expect any kind of detailed or fequent updates - but I will try to provide you with a little info and a few pics anyway while I'm there. And then of course we will have updates soon from the WPT in Paris, and the World Heads Up in Barcelona. So, make sure that you check out Poker Pages to stay up to date about the important happenings in Europe.

From Monaco, I say: Thank you guys for your attention. It's been a pleasure for me to be front row, and to share all the hands, the stories and developments with you all. From Monte Carlo, it's Au revoir - we will talk again soon.  

Marc has leveled things again. He has turned his aggression up one notch, to win two pots uncontested through aggressive betting. The third pot that he again bet aggressively, he made a rather suspicious-looking 800K river bet on a board with all small cards. Gavin made the call - only to get shown 96 for a full house. 

A very big pot for Gavin Griffin, who has just taken a 7.2 million to 3.4 million chiplead. On the turn JJ6A, Marc checked, and Gavin sighed, and then somewhat reluctantly bet 450K. Marc check-called, and check-called again after the river 8. Now Gavin bet 800K, and Marc went into the tank. Here in our press room, some of the press members said: "Gavin is trying to look weak - he must have a jack." If only Marc would have heard this advice. He didn't, and made the call - only to get shown the third jack. 

We have just raced the blue chips off the table. The blinds are 25K-50K with a 5K ante. Because we had 706 entrants for 15,000 chips each, we have almost 11 million chips total on the table - still very deep money, and quite unusual for a heads up stage.

And right after we started at this new level, we had a very large pot - one of the very first at this heads up stage. Marc had raised from the small blind / button, and on the flop QT5 he bet 300K. Gavin then check-raised to 700K, to which Marc responded by coming over the top for 1 million extra, 1.7 million total. This was too much for Gavin, who lost 850K in a hand where he didn't even reach the turn. 

But not much later, Gavin took back those chips, in a pot where it looked like he had a big hand and was trying to trap Marc. Gavin had raised to 125K, and when Marc reraised to 400K from out of position, the American flatcalled. Then on the flop 557, Marc bet out half a million, and again Gavin flatcalled. Then on the turn 3, it went check / check, and after another 3 on the river Marc check-folded to Gavin's 700K bet. It smelled like a slowplayed big hand from Gavin, but we will only know for a fact after the TV broadcast. 

Sometimes there's not much logic to poker. With the stacks very deep, one would expect players to lay low, stay calm and pick their spots. But this does not seem to be the case here. Despite the fact that never before a European tournament has had such a good structure, we have gone down to two in no-time. First, we lost Kristian Kjondal. Holding 98, he called a raise from Gavin Griffin, and with a flop 964, he flopped top pair. Gavin bet 170K, and insta-called when Kristian raised all-in. The American had 44 for a flopped bottom set. Turn 5, river K - and Kjondal was out.

And then, we also lost our second Scandinavian. Soren Kongsgaard made a move with absolutely nothing on a board 456A with three hearts, check-raising Gavin's 200K bet all-in with just a T 9. Not a bad bluff attempt in itself, but Gavin had a very strong holding, A J for top pair / good licker with a jack-high flush draw. In fact, he had the sympathetic Kongsgaard drawing dead.

As a result, we are now heads up between Gavin Griffin & Marc Karam, both with very large stacks. And because both players are high-class and tricky, I expect a very interesting heads up stage. Marc Karam start with a very slight chiplead, and has about 6 million, while Gavin has just short of 5.

4. Kristian Kjondal (Norway) EUR 471,180

3. Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) EUR 610,550

After a rather furious first couple of hours, yes in the eyes of some way too furious hours because of the still very low blind pressure, we now have a dinner break. Chip counts at this break:

• Marc Karam 4,148,000
• Soren Kongsgaard 845,000
• Gavin Griffin 3,896,000
• Kristian Kjondal 1,676,000

Blinds will resume at 20K-40, with a 4K ante.

The young Soren Kongsgaard had just made a very courageous call. Having made the initial raise to 90K, it was Marc Karam who set him all-in. Soren hd a little over 400K behind, and calling when he would be either a coin flip or a 4-to-1 dog didn't look like an all too attractive option. But Soren went for the gamble and made the call. Up against Marc's A9, the board came Q65QK - meaning the Dane has gotten back some of the chips he has just lost. With just over 1 million, he is almost back at average.

We have just had the biggest pot of the entire tournament, and considering the depth of the money it should come as no surprise that again we had two big hands - big pocket pairs in this case. No less than 3.3 million went into the middle preflop, and former chipleader Gavin Griffin was all-in - as Soren Kongsgaard had slightly more than the American. But Gavin had the bigger hand, QQ versus JJ, and that held up. A very sad-looking Soren had to push almost all his chips to the other side, and I really felt sorry for the guy. Either way, the chipleader by far is now Gavin Griffin.

With the blinds now at 15K-30K and a 3K ante, we have lost Steve Jelinek. Holding nines against the jacks from (yes, again) Marc Karam, he was unable to improve.

And not much later, it was again two pocket pairs facing each other. With TT versus Josh Prager's 77, Soren Kongsgaard got all the money in with the best hand. No surprises on the turn or river, and as Soren had more chips, Prager was out.

6. Steve Jelinek (England) EUR 305,270

5. Josh Prager (US) EUR 391,550

Our second European Star is out! Andy Black had pocket sevens, amd if I saw correctly, he moved in on the flop 88x. Kristian Kjondal had jacks, and called - meaning that Black was drawing to just two outs. He couldn't hit any of them - meaning he was out in seventh.

7. Andy Black (Ireland) EUR 238,910 

Marc Karam has gone off to a flying start. He has just won his third consecutive large pot, betting 100K on the turn and then an additional 200K on the river with KJ for top pair of kings, decent kicker. Gavin Griffin check-called those bets, meaning that his chiplead has now evaporated.

Josh Prager is getting busy - and with mixed success. First, he won a medium-sized pot with a pair of jacks versus a pair of tens. But then, not much later, he lost all that money - with interest. Raising Marc Karam's 50K flop bet to 200K, Josh was unable to call the Canadian's large reraise. So, last-year's finalist Marc has gone off to an absolutely superb start. And now that also Andy Black has won his first pot, to the delight of the Irish contingent in the audience, we can say that this EPT Grand Final has truly started.

So much for my predictions: Ram Vaswani has just been eliminated. It was hard for me to see the exact hand, but if my information is correct he check-raised all-in with J T  on a board 544T with two diamonds. (So, Ram had tens and fours, jack kicker with a live flush draw.) Marc Karam called the check-raise with a KT, and when the river was a blank, the Canadian's king kicker played.

8. Ram Vaswani (England) EUR 159,270

In about 30 minutes from now, the final table of the European Poker Tour 2007 will start. With 7.5 million chips in play, Gavin Griffin from the US looks like the absolute top favorite - as he's got exactly one thirds of these chips in his posession. He is an even bigger favorite because he already has the experience under his belt of winning a major event - after all, he has a bracelet in pot-limit hold'em.

However, things may not be that clear-cut. Because this tournament has very deep money, not a single player at this final is shortstacked. So, this means that while Gavin is the clear chipleader, the other players will have all the time to make their moves, and are not desperate by any means.

And these other players are no slouches, either. We have two Scandinavians at the table, and in previous EPT's the Scandis have shown that their combination of good, aggressive play with an attitude of no fear can pay huge dividends. There is one other good American, Josh Prager, and also Canadian Marc Karam who has a stunning participate / cash ratio. (He was fourth at this same EPT Grand Final last year.) Plus, we've got one of the best players in Europe, Andy Black, who is extremely dangerous once he gets into a winning flow. And then of course there is Ram Vaswani, an absolute killer when it comes to final tables. The number 1 in the EPT ranking, plus a very high-stakes player, this player is known to both accumulate and lose chips quickly, in my view mostly because of a lack of concentration & stamina if to him the tournaments aren't truly interesting. But at the very highest stage that this EPT Grand Final signifies, coupled with enough room for play rather than the preflop raise / reraise / move-in that he dislikes, I would not be surprised to see the Crazy Horse turn things around.  

PROFILES OF FINALISTS

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Seat 1: Ram Vaswani, 37, London, England - 432,000

Even before this Grand Final began, Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani was heading the EPT all-time Tournament Leader Board - thanks to winning EPT1 Dublin, coming 2^nd in Copenhagen last year and a string of other high cash finishes (including a record number of EPT final table appearances). Ram is generally considered the UK's top tournament player and although he may be short-stacked right now, it’s worth noting he was also the short stack when he won in Dublin. Ram knows chip leader Gavin Griffin from their joint final table appearance when Griffin won his 2004 WSOP bracelet. Ram is supported in Monaco by as wife Jackie and baby daughter Holly.

Seat 2: Steve Jelinek, 36, Birmingham, UK - 758,000

This popular UK player from Birmingham reckons he has qualified for major events at least 14 times – but has never cashed in any of them. His qualifier “jinx” has included being first out in Monte Carlo two years ago and qualifying with PokerStars three times for the WSOP but never making it past Day 2. Known online as “superowl99” (Steve supports UK football team Sheffield Wednesday aka The Owls), Steve arrived in Monte Carlo last week worrying about work. He heads up an IT department in a UK construction firm but a forthcoming merger means he could be out of a job. Today, looking down at a minimum €159,000 payout, he can think about turning pro with confidence. He is supported here by his girlfriend Irina, also a successful player.

Seat 3: Marc Karam, 27, from Ottawa, Canada - 1,742,000

Marc "Myst" Karam has come a long way since quitting his job as a glazier last year to turn pro. He has cashed in four of the five major live tournaments he’s played - and made three TV final tables, including last year’s EPT Grand Final when he won $270k for 4th place. His other big wins have been $170k for 6th place at the 2006 North American WPT Championship and $275k for 6th at the Aussie Millions in January. At last year’s Grand Final, he busted Dutch pro Marcel Luske with J7 of diamond against Marcel’s 8s. He caught running 77 on the turn and river. After the hand, Lüske stood up, placed his finger in his mouth and pretended to vomit.

Seat 4: Andy Black, 41, from Belfast, Ireland - 683,000

Andy started playing cards with his mother but took up the game seriously while studying law at Trinity College, Dublin - played in the JCR university poker school that had previously included players like Donnacha O'Dea and Padraig Parkinsom. He was famously knocked out of the 1997 WSOP by the eventual winner, Stu Ungar, and when he lost the 1998 WSOP as well, he threw away all his possessions and became a Buddhist, living in a monastery for five years.

Black returned to poker in 2004, and the following year came 5^th in the WSOP main event. Since then, he has cashed in two Dublin EPTs as well as dozens of other tournaments. In 2006 Andy won $100,000 for 5^th place at the Tournament of Champions and he’s enjoyed a spectacular start to 2007 at the Aussie Millions: 2nd for $100k in the Pot Limit Omaha event and 3rd in the Main Event for $550k. As of 2007, Andy’s total live tournament winnings exceed $2,600,000.

Seat 5: Soren Kongsgaard, 19, from Jutland, Denmark - 1,612,000 

Since qualifying for EPT Deauville last year after winning a magazine freeroll, Soren is enjoying great success. The young student has played in four EPTs and made around $150k in live tournaments, including winning a Hold’em side event at EPT Copenhagen in January. He's also fresh off a 6^th place finish at the Asian Poker Classic in Goa, India.

Seat 6: Josh Prager, 33, from California, USA- 1,593,000 

E-mails have been pouring in to the EPTlive webcast, offering words of support and encouragement for popular Josh, he trains a college tennis team in Yuba City with his wife Helen. After cashing for $77k in the 2005 WSOP, Prager took a year off to be with he and Helen’s their new baby, Ezra. Now, though, Josh is back on the circuit. The PokerStars qualifier just cashed in the Aussie Millions (41st place) and is now on his way to posting his biggest ever tournament cash.

Seat 7: Gavin Griffin, 25, Chicago, USA - 2,597,000

Chip leader and PokerStars qualifier Gavin Griffin arrived in Europe for the first time last week sporting pink-dyed hair and a pink wristband. But the gently-spoken 25-year-old from Chicago is no poker punk: the pink theme is to mark his involvement in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer charity (see http://tinyurl.com/ytyx3z) Gavin and his girlfriend Kristen, 21, who suffered breast cancer a few years ago, set off on their 39-mile, two-day Los Angeles marathon in September.

Gavin first came to poker fame in 2004 when he became the youngest player ever to win a World Series of Poker bracelet at 22. (He took down the $3k Pot Limit Hold’em event for $240k) University-trained as a speech therapist, he turned pro four years ago and is having a great 2007. He’s made four final tables already, including 3^rd place for $86,685 in the San Diego WSOP Circuit Event in February.

Seat 8: Kristian Kjondal, 21, Oslo, Norway – 1,203,000

In the world of high stakes online poker, Kristian “Kris85” Kjondal is already a huge name and has turned over at least $250k this year alone. He was nominated for Online Player of the Year in the Pokerstars’ Scandinavian Poker Awards in January but was beaten by his good friend and fellow Norwegian Johnny Lodden. Kristian is now working his way into the brick-and-mortar poker world but this is first major final table. He most recently posted a 19th place finish at a WPT event in Canada.

YESTERDAY'S WAY TO THE FINAL

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It is over! The first hand of the nine-handed table, we lost the shortstacked Eric van den Burg. Having been lucky two times before in crucial all-in confrontations, he was very unfortunate this time. Reraising Soren Kongsgaard's 80K raise to 90K total (i.e., just 10K more), Eric had Soren dominated with AQ versus A 5 - an excellent position to double up and get back into the event. But the flop K Q 3 gave Soren the nut flush draw, and after a blank on the turn he completed that flush with the 2 on the river. All in all, unlucky for the Dutchman, who had been playing to survive - but in the end, busted just before reaching his goal.

This means that tomorrow at 4 p.m., we will start in the following line-up:

1. Ram Vaswani (England) 432,000
2. Steve Jelinek (England) 758,000
3. Marc Karam (Canada) 1,742,000
4. Andrew Black (Ireland) 683,000
5. Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) 1,612,000
6. Josh Prager (US) 1,593,000
7. Gavin Griffin (US) 2,597,000
8. Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 1,203,000 BUTTON

The blinds may be reduced at the final table, but considering that the money is very deep, I actually expect that we will simply resume at the same level tomorrow: 12K-24K with a 3K ante.

Anyway, I hope you all liked this coverage. From Monte Carlo, I say: Thanks for your attention - see you all tomorrow!