LONDON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- A short walk away from Buckingham Palace, European poker players staged their own changing of the guard just before midnight yesterday.
Not one of the world's most recognizable poker pros were among the final nine players who advanced to vie for a 1 million pounds Sterling first-place prize at the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe Presented by Betfair.com.
Continuing a theme set in the first two WSOP Europe events, the emergence of aggressive and accomplished young European players heralded a new reality for poker's elite: The global game is no longer dominated by a handful of American pros.
"The stage has been set for European poker players to continue to shine," said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "Clearly, the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe has lived up to its name and promise in every respect."
The finale, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. GMT today, is the most youthful Main Event final table ever assembled. Annette Obrestad, 18, of Norway, who has cashed in a variety of tournaments around the world, is the youngest. European Poker pro Theo Jorgensen of Copenhagen is the senior citizen of the group at age 35.
Sandwiched between those two are: +. 20-year-old Johannes Korsar, a poker pro from Uppsala, Sweden; +. James Keys, 21, of London, a student who won a Main Event seat in a $78 buy-in satellite hosted by WSOP Europe presenting sponsor Betfair.com; +. Oyvind Riisen, 22, a professional poker player and chess enthusiast from Bergen, Norway; +. John Tabatabai, 22, a London fisherman and accomplished chess and backgammon player; +. Magnus Persson, 24, a student and poker player from Gothenburg, Sweden; +. Dominic Kay, 30, of London, a sports betting trader and poker player who also won his Main Event seat on Betfair.com; and +. The lone American, Matthew McCullough, 33, from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, an anesthetist.
The last high-profile pro eliminated was Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen, who added 41,620 pounds or more than $83,000, to his $3.7 million in official prize money for his 10th place finish.
In addition to the 1 million pounds top prize, second place in the WSOP Europe Main Event is worth 570,150 pounds, third 381,910 pounds, fourth 257,020 pounds, fifth 191,860 pounds, sixth 152,040 pounds, seventh 114,030 pounds, eighth 85,070 pounds and ninth 61,540 pounds.
The 10th through 36th place finishers received from 41,630 pounds to 27,150 pounds, depending on their final position.
The final table of the WSOP Europe Main Event begins at 2 p.m. GMT September 16 at The Casino at the Empire on Leicester Square.
Additional information about the WSOP Europe can be found at http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/.
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