Bodog Beat

After a marathon long final table, poker pro John Juanda took down the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event. (Image courtesy of WSOP)

Poker pro John Juanda has won the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event, and it only took 22 hours for him to get there. The record-setting final table began yesterday afternoon at 1:23pm local time and did not wrap up until the players had completed 19 total hours of game play, with a couple of much-needed breaks sprinkled in, at 10:32am the following day.

Poker veterans Juanda, Daniel Negreanu and Scott Fischman are used to putting in long sessions of play, but this kind of marathon was unheard of. The final table officially became the longest WSOP final table in history once it surpassed 16 hours played in the $1,500 buy-in Razz championship in 2005. All in all, 484 hands of poker were played before Juanda, in a remarkable demonstration of patient poker, finally defeated heads-up opponent Stanislav Alekhin to take down the £868,800 (roughyl $1.5 million).

On top of winning a record-setting WSOP final table, Juanda also becomes the first American to win a WSOP Europe event. The bracelet is Juanda's fourth - his first since 2003 - his 45th career WSOP cash and his 23rd final table appearance.

The other major story line at the final table was the performance of Ivan Demidov, the first player to ever reach the final tables of both WSOP Main Events, Europe and Vegas. He ended the day in third for a payout of £334,850 ($590k), which will go nicely with the $900k that he is guaranteed from the WSOP Main Event final table in November. All in all, if he wins that WSOP Main Event bracelet in November, he could win as much as $9.6 million. Not too shabby.

Here are the full final table results and payouts:

1. John Juanda - £868,800
2. Stanislav Alekhin - £533,950
3. Ivan Demidov - £334,850
4. Bengt Sonnert - £271,500
5. Daniel Negreanu - £217,200
6. Scott Fischman - £171,950
7. Robin Keston - £135,750
8. Toni Hiltunen - £108,600
9. Chris Elliott - £81,450

That wraps up the WSOP events for this year, well….sort of. There is still the small matter of the WSOP Main Event final table that takes place on November 9th. We'll be sure to keep you up to date on the "November Nine," so make sure to stay tuned to the Bodog Beat for all of your poker news and online poker updates.