It was a final table for the ages. After 484 hands and over 22 hours of play, poker superstar John Juanda outlasted an intensely difficult field to take down the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. For the victory, Juanda earned his fourth WSOP bracelet and a first prize valued at ?868,800 (over 1.5 million American).

This incredibly long final table shattered the WSOP's previous record for most hands played (354), which had formally been held by the 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event, taken down by Chip Reese.

Juanda entered the final table first in chips, but his victory was by no means a forgone conclusion. After losing a crucial pot to Ivan Demidov within the first 20 hands, Juanda lost his lead and was stuck solidly in the middle of the pack. Juanda was left with less than a million in chips, while still needing to overcome a group of top pros like Scott Fischman, Stanislav Alekhin a.k.a. "The Russian," Daniel Negreanu, and of course, 1/9th of the "November Nine," Ivan Demidov.

Demidov used Juanda's chips well and was able to sustain himself for 12 more hours, but Fischman and Negreanu were no so lucky. Neither bracelet winner seemed able to get much traction and both bowed relatively early on - Fischman in sixth and Negreanu in fifth.

With the demise of Demidov, only Stanislav Alekhin stood in Juanda's way, yet just like the rest of this final table, this last opponent was going to take awhile. The 23 year old Russian perhaps should have been easily dispatched given Juanda's overwhelming experience, but apparently no one told him that. Alekhin battled Juanda heads-up for another amazing 240 hands, before finally losing most of his stack on a flush draw against Juanda's pair of kings. That hand left him nearly felted, and then it was just a matter of a few hands before Alekhin was finally without chips and Juanda was holding his first WSOPE Main Event bracelet.

The final table finish positions for the 2008 WSOPE Main Event were as follows:

1st. John Juanda- ?868,800
2nd. Stanislav Alekhin- ?533,950
3rd. Ivan Demidov- ?334,850
4th. Bengt Sonnert- ?271,500
5th. Daniel Negreanu- ?217,200
6th. Scott Fischman- ?171,950
7th. Robin Keston- ?135,750
8th. Toni Hiltunen- ?108,600
9th. Chris Elliott- ?81,450