From the group of Brits i outlined only one made it through to the last 58 at the end of day 4 and that was Andy Black , unfortunately i had missed a couple as expected , they were John McGrane from London and Conor Tate from Bury .

All three were still in action when the field was reduced to 27 and the action moved to Binions for the last 2 days . They were now all guaranteed $304,000 through to 18th when it jumped to $350,000 then 10th would recieve $600,000 and 9th to 1st between $1,000,000 and $7,500,000 ! If there is a bigger purse in any sport anywhere in the world i have never heard of it .

Of the 27 left , one was a lady Tiffany Williamson who resides in London but i believe is American , she had won a $1000 Super Satellite seat at the Gutshot , flown to Vegas , won a seat and found herself as the last surviving female , also there were three top Americans , Mike Matusow , Phil Ivey and the reigning champion Greg Raymer , this is an incredible achievement , having beaten 2575 last year to come back and finish in the top 1/2% of a 5600 field is outstanding , especially as he led the field after day 3 . There were a total of 6 Europeans and one Australian , 3 were from Sweden , 2 from the UK and Andy Black from Ireland .

This is where they finished .

Per Hildebrand Sweden 27th

Greg Raymer US 25th

Phil Ivey US 20th

John Mcgrane UK 18th

Tiffany Williamson UK 15th Highest money finish for a female ever

Oskar Silow Sweden 14th

Ayhan Alsancak Sweden 10th

And so to the final 9

Mike Matusow US 9th Will be very disappointed as had one hand on the bracelet

Andrew Black Ireland 5th Tremendous play from a great guy

And in 1st place , he ended day 4 in 26th of 58 , ended day 5 in 10th of 27 and started the final 9 in 6th place , historically the chip leader has been favourite and usually is an American but none of this mattered to Joseph Hachem a resident of Melbourne Australia who at 6.30am Saturday morning won the WSOP with 73o making a straight on a 4 5 6 flop and winning the bracelet and the richest prize in poker history $7,500,000 rocketing him straight to no 1 in the all time money winners list above Daniel Negreanu and TJ Cloutier .

Congratulations to all who played and cashed this year , it really was a year like no other . To see a convention centre full of stands selling poker related products and to see the level of media and TV coverage made all involved realise that poker has truly come of age and that under the right guidance corporate sponsored events with added prize money and even players being paid to attend is no longer a dream but could soon be a reality.

Personally i had my best WSOP , i played 10 events , made the second day of the $5000 Omaha off just one buy in when the average was $15,000 , cashed 82nd of 1000 + in the $2500 No Limit and made the final of the biggest Pot Limit Omaha tournament ever held in the $10,000 PLO event coming 5th for $93,000 . Sadly i was out on day 1 of the main event but spent 3 hours on the ESPN Feature table which should result in exposure for myself and my sponsors UK Betting when it airs in the US .

Next year my goals will be a top 3 finish preferably with a bracelet and to at least make the money in the main event . I will concentrate on the Omaha events and the bigger No Limits .

For now my focus is back in Europe as my next event is the WPT in Paris , i was 45th last year when my 88 was beaten by Surinder Sunars AK who then went on to win it , i intend to do better this year and i want to finish the year in the top ten in Europe in all games and repeat my no 1 in Omaha .

Good luck to all of you , i hope you enjoyed my Vegas Diaries .