WSOP EUROPE HAS A WINNER! IT
The 2010 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion is James Bord, from Stanmore, UK.  He is a 29-year-old professional poker player.

Prior to playing poker for a living, Bord worked in banking.  This was only the second WSOP Europe event Bard had ever entered, but it turned out to be his best finish and biggest payday ever.  Bord has now cashed seven times at the WSOP, including a sixth-place finish in Las Vegas earlier this year in the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball championship.  Until this victory, Bord had been far better known among his peers as a cash game player.  When in Las Vegas, he routinely plays $300-600 and $400-800 limits in the biggest poker rooms in the city.  However, with this win he is most certainly going to be seen much more on the international tournament circuit.

Bord staged one of the most dramtic comebacks of the year in tournament poker.  He was virtually absent from coentention when the finale began, and continued as the short stack until play became three-handed.  Even when play became heads up, Bord found himself at a disadavantage, being down almost 3 to 1 when the duel commenced.  But Bord managed to win every late key confrontation and earned a stunning comeback victory.

Bord collected £830,401 for first place, equal to about $1,316,550 (USD).  He was also presented with his first WSOP gold bracelet.

The final table participants and top nine finishers were as follows:

1st – James Bord (Stanmore, UK)
2nd – Fabrizio Baldassari (Monte Carlo)
3rd – Ronald Lee (Jericho, NY -- USA)
4th – Roland de Wolfe (London, UK)
5th – Nicholas Levi (London, UK)
6th – Danny Steinberg (Fairfield, IA – USA)
7th – Dan Fleyshman (San Diego, CA – USA)
8th – Brian Powell (Louisville, KY)
9th – Marc Inizan (Pluguffen, France)

To read more about the play-by-play, please click HERE.

The top 36 finishers collected prize money.  There were six former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event – including Roland de Wolfe (4th), Hoyt Corkins (15th), Phil Ivey (19th), Greg Mueller (22nd), Barry Greenstein (23rd) and Freddy Deeb (30th).

This was the fifth and final WSOP gold bracelet tournament played this year in London.  Recapping all five events which are now complete, the winners were:

EVENT #1:  Phil Laak     (£2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em) – won £170,802
EVENT #2:  Jeffrey Lisandro     (£5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha) – won £159,000
EVENT #3:  Scott Shelley     (£1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em) – won £133,857
EVENT #4:  Gus Hansen     (£10,000 buy-in High-Roller Heads-Up Championship) – won £288,409
EVENT #5:  James Bord    (£10,000 buy-in Main Event Championship – won £830,401

This was the most successful of the four years that WSOP Europe has been played in London.  The total prize pool and total number of entrants for 2010 exceeded all other years. 

For more information about the WSOP and WSOP Europe, please click HERE.

NOTE:  COMPLETE OFFICIAL WSOP REPORT COMING SHORTLY