When the final table of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Vienna main event began yesterday at the Kursalon, the poker world was abuzz with speculation whether Daniel Negreanu, the chip leader at the time, could be poker’s next triple crown winner, having already earned titles at the World Series of Poker and on the World Poker Tour.  Negreanu, who had never before gone so deep at an EPT event, was clearly the favorite given his experience and legendary skill set, but in the end it would be an online player with no previous live wins, that would snag the title and top prize worth 700,000 euros.

Germany’s Michael Eiler, was that last player sitting in Vienna out of a total field of 578, whereas Negreanu came in fourth, enough to earn him close to $250,000, but not enough to push him past Phil Ivey on the all-time world wide money earners list. If Negreanu had won, not only would he have surpassed Phil, he would have done so despite being the only member in the top ten of that list that never made a highly lucrative WSOP Main Event final table.  Unfortunately for Negreanu though, and for all the media waiting to go crazy, it was not to be- at least not this week- thanks primarily to runner-up finisher Martin Hruby, who took many of Kid Poker’s chips when he rivered a straight against Negreanu’s two pair, and then shortly after took the rest, with ace-four when Daniel moved in with queen-eight.

Hruby also successfully eliminated third place’s Konstantinos Nanos, but that there is where his forward progression would end, first chipped away by Eiler during heads-up play, before eventually falling all together with pocket twos against a rivered flush.

The final table finish positions for the PokerStars EPT Vienna main event were as follows:

1st.  Michael Eiler- €700,000

2nd.  Martin Hruby- €470,000

3rd.  Konstantinos Nanos- €265,000

4th.  Daniel Negreanu- €175,000

5th.  Luca Cainelli- €140,000

6th.  Andreas Wiese- €105,000

7th.  Matthias Lotze- €76,000

8th.  Bruno Launais- €60,000

For more information on Season 7 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour- next stop Barcelona- visit www.europeanpokertour.com.