The PokerStars.net European Poker Tour London Main Event which was held recently, gave a young American a bankroll boost of $3.207.000 when he finished first in the grand tournament.

The 23 year old player named Michael Martin took home £1 million in an impressive come back against his more experienced and talented opponents at the final table.

The maximum number of players allowed in the event was extended quite a lot above the original 500 that Pokerstars had allowed in the tournament. The large demand for seats in the tournament ultimately lead to 100 additional seats and the starting field ended above 600 players, counting such big names as Gus Hansen, Annette Obrestad, Patrik Antonius, Kathy Liebert, Sorel Mizzi, John Phan, Max Pescatori, Shane Schleger, Joe Beevers, Ross Boatman, Chris Ferguson and Freddy Deeb.

The famous stars from WSOP also joined in, the most remarkable names where Gavin Griffin, Jeff Lisandro, Jean-Robert Bellande and David Williams. The former champs Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Scotty Nguyen and world tennis legend Boris Becker were also to be found at the tournament.

From the EPT Hall of Fame players such as Vicky Coren, Julian Thew, Andreas Hoivold, Mads Andersen and Sebastian Ruthenberg, and top pros Vanessa Rousso, Barry Greenstein, David Benyamine, Peter Eastgate, Roland De Wolfe, Alex Kravchenko and Isabelle Mercier were ready to take off among the 600 players.

By the end of Day 2, only 32 players made it through to Day3, among those a lot of the big stars were missing. Among the survivors were the French pro Philippe D'Auteuil, who had the chip lead, closely followed by his fellow from France Antony Lellouche and David Benyamine. The final table counted eight hopeful players, among them was the WSOP bracelet winner Alan Smurfit and the well known French player Antony Lellouche. The other players at the final table were Martin, who at that point in the tournament was fourth in the chip count on 728.000, the chip leader Michael Tureniec on 1.333.000, Eric Liu closely after on 1.308.000, followed by Johannes Strassmann, Phillipe D'Auteuil and Marcin Horecki who was last in the field with 309.000. He later made a fantastic come back.

It was a huge surprise when Lellouche as the first player hit the rail and left the tournament with a cheque of £81.569, fallen victim for Strassman, who followed after additional two hours of play in the seventh place with a cheque worth £120.723 after he had crossed blades with Martin. Martin moved on to eliminate Smurfit in sixth place who went home with an additional £153.351. Horecki had worked his way up and ended up eliminating the chip leader from Day 2, Philippe D'Auteuil, sending him to the cashier’s office in fifth place with a cheque of £195.766.

Martin kept up the aggressive play and moved on to take out Eric Liu in fourth place with a cheque of £234.920. Martin was unstoppable and 30 minutes later he sent home Horecki in third place and with £303.439 for his efforts. Martin and Tureniec was now heads up, with Martin as chip leader. The heads up lasted for ninety minutes before Martin could raise his hands and celebrate the victory.
The young player is an active internet player under the nickname “Martine23” and this was his 9th big win. It was his first live tournament that ended with a winner’s cheque of $1 million leaving Tureniec with a £535.314 price.