Canadian youngster Glen Chorny won the European Poker Tour final with over two million euros in winnings.

In just the fourth year of its existence, the European Poker Tour (EPT) is already one of the world's leading tournament series. Launched by TV producer John Duthie, this series kicked off in 2004 in the style of the WPT (World Poker Tour), which has proven very successful in the USA.

Soon the consistently growing tournament series was catching the attention of international stars also due to its big prize money. In its fourth year, the EPT visited Barcelona, London, Baden, Dublin, Prague, the Caribbean, Dortmund, Copenhagen, Warsaw and San Remo.

The Grand Finale was held in Monte Carlo once again and 842 poker enthusiasts took part - a record for the event. International stars such as Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Chris Moneymaker, Gus Hansen, Tony G, Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Marcel Luske, Vanessa Rousso, Lee Nelson, Humberto Brenes, Isabelle Mercier, Roland de Wolfe, Liz Lieu, Annette Obrestad, Patrik Antonius and Jeff Lisandro were all spotted. Last year's winner, Gavin Griffin, also made a return visit.

The two usual start days of the EPT were played. On the second day of the tournament, the field of participants was merged. At this point in time, there were still 382 players in the running.

Many poker pros were even out before the second day of the tournament. Katja Thater, the German poker player and bracelet winner, was particularly annoyed about her early exit. The same applied to Chris Moneymaker, Elky Grospellier and Michael Keiner.

Frenchman Cyril Bensoussan started as chip leader with 128,000 chips on the second day.

The best-placed German at this point was Thomas Boekhoff with 83,000 chips. WSOP winner Joe Hachem still had 41,000 chips and poker star Daniel Negreanu had 26,000.

By day three of the tournament, only 80 players were left out of the starters, and all of those had now reached the prize money levels.

The last eight finalists should have been decided on the fourth day of the tournament. There were still 40 players left in the tournament at that point in time. Attention was focused on Australian Joe Hachem and on American Antonio Esfandiari, who was leading the field with more than a million chips.

It was to have been a long night for the poker players. The final group of players simply couldn't be decimated further, so tournament director Thomas Kremser had to end the day's play with ten players still involved. This was particularly tough on world champion Hachem. He lost the last hand of the day against Isaac Baron and had to exit the tournament in 11th place. Hachem received 101,000 euros for his achievements.

The last ten players were:

Glen Chorny [Canada] 3,370,000

Isaac Baron [USA] 2,365,000

Michael Martin [USA] 1,579,000

Maxime Villemure [Canada] 1,220,000

Denes Kalo [Hungary] 957,000

Antonio Esfandiari [USA] 735,000

Luca Pagano [Italy] 705,000

Valeriy Ilikyan [Russia] 650,000

Stig Top-Rasmussen [Denmark] 590,000

Henrik Gwinner [Denmark] 466,000

On the last day of the tournament, the final table had to be determined first. The two Danes, Gwinner and Rasmussen, exited in places 9 and 10.

Unexpectedly, the favourite up to that point - Esfandiari - was the first to leave the final table, losing against Luca Pagano. The Italian had been contesting the tournament up to a short time earlier with his father, who exited in 22nd place.

Chorny soon managed to assume the table lead en route to overall victory. The 22-year-old online qualifier from Canada decided the tournament in his favour, netting himself 2 million euros in the process. At the end of the game, the young player had an almost 10-1 chip lead over his opponent from Hungary. Chorny only needed two hands to put Denes Kalo out of the tournament in second place and secure the title.

Glen is an online pro and lives in Ontario, Canada. He has already played in several large live tournaments. In January alone, he came away with winnings of over $80,000 from each of two tournaments. He prefers to play cash games when online.

Chorny's victory marks the end of a fantastic tournament season. The EPT's return will be eagerly anticipated after the summer and will again form the focus of European tournament poker.

The top 10 in Monte Carlo read as follows:

1. Glen Chorny [Canada] 2,020,000 euros

2. Denes Kalo [Hungary] 1,179,000 euros

3. Maxime Villemure [Canada] 715,000 euros

4. Isaac Baron [USA] 589,000 euros

5. Michael Martin [USA] 421,000 euros

6. Luca Pagano [Italy] 337,000 euros

7. Valeriy Ilikyan [Russia] 253,000 euros

8. Antonio Esfandiari [USA] 168,000 euros

9. Henrik Gwinner [Denmark] 126,000 euros

10. Stig Top Rasmussen [Denmark] 126,000 euros

Eurosport