Michael Martin has become the second U.S player to achieve a major victory in the European Poker circuit after John Juanda’s stunning performance at the WSOPE in London, England, winning the fifth PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Open and a record £1,000,000 first prize ($1.960.000.) The 24 year old a former college hockey player outlasted a field of 595 players that included the German tennis legend and Team PokerStars recent addition Boris Becker, plus more than twenty Team PokerStars Pros including World Series of Poker bracelet winners Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Joe Hachem as well as PCA champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier,  Season 3 EPT London winner Vicky Coren, EPT5 Barcelona champion Sebastian Ruthenberg, ski champion Alberto Tomba, WSOP bracelet winner Kathy Liebert, and Indy stock car racer Gualter Salles.

The final table gathered 8 players from 7 different countries, the action started with Eric Liu on Seat 1, German player Johannes Strassmann on Seat 2, Philippe D'Auteuil from Canada on seat 3, French player Antony Lellouche on Seat 4, Michael Tureniec from Sweden on Seat 5, Irish player Alan Smurfit on Seat 6 and Michael Martin on Seat 8. The first player facing the elimination was Antony Lellouche, the French moved all in with A-9 and was called by Johannes Strassmann, who won the hand with a pair of Kings. However, Strassmann was eliminated in 7^th place only a few hands later by Michael Martin, who also sent Alan Smurfit to the rail in sixth place with £153,351 in prize money.

Canadian player Philippe D'Auteuil took the fifth position and almost $400.000, while Eric Liu has to comfort himself with the 4^th place after moving all in vs. Michel Martin. A few hands before his elimination, Liu crippled Martin by taking a huge stack that left Martin alive with 95.000 in chips. Martin impressively recovered his chip stack, moving from 95.000 to 645.000 in only three hands. But Martin didn’t stop there and just a few hands after sending Liu home, he achieved another impressive victory by sending Marcin Horecki to the rail in 3^rd place.

The Heads Up started with Martin holding a 4:1 chip lead over Mike Tureniec. On the last hand of the event, Tureniec moved all in holding K-9 and was called by Martin with a pair of 4’s. The board came 6-3-2-4-2, giving Martin a full house and the most important victory of his career.

The PokerStars London EPT results and prizes are as described below.

1. Michael Martin: £1,000,000
2. Mike Tureniec: £525,314
3. Marcin Horecki: £303,439
4. Eric Liu:  £234,920
5. Philippe D'Auteuil: £195,766
6. Alan Smurfit: £153,351
7. Johannes Strassman: £120,723
8. Antony Lellouche:  £81,569