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(Seat 1) Paul Gourlay -- 122,000
(Seat 2) Jeff Wallace -- 103,000
(Seat 3) Will Ma -- 610,000
(Seat 4) Yuri Kerzhapkin -- 111,500
(Seat 5) Tor Gammelgard -- 255,000
(Seat 6) Runar Runarsson -- 309,000
(Seat 7) Ram Vaswani -- 413,000
(Seat 8) Jeff Lisandro -- 490,500
(Seat 9) David Redlin -- 370,500

 
Will Ma -- 610,000
Jeff Lisandro -- 490,500
Ram Vaswani -- 413,000
David Redlin -- 370,500
Runar Runarsson -- 309,000
Tor Gammelgard -- 255,000
Yuri Kerzhapkin -- 111,500
Jeff Wallace -- 103,000
Paul Gourlay -- 122,000

Prize Structure:

1  €422,560
2  €224,480
3  €158,460
4  €105,640
5   €79,230
6   €66,020
7   €52,820
8   €39,615
9   €26,410

Up and running nine handed, clock 3k/6k about to rise to 4k/8k ante 1k.  Fashionably late entrance for Will Ma, who strolled in after one hand had already been dealt...

And just like that (hmm, Tommy Cooper?), we have a double up.

All-in pre-flop, Jeff Wallace's Kd Jc is swiftly called by Jeff Lisandro and his leading Ahrt 7h, but, and most likely to the chagrin of Rocket Man, the first card out was a King, follwed by a rainbow 3-4-4-9 board.

Double up for the American, still on 9.

15 cagey minutes later, I swap back off with Snoopy... we have great final table hovering access, btw - the scarcity of journalists and the lack of TV paraphernalia means that we can actually see everything that goes on.  Oh, the luxury...

Ram Vaswani, Jeff Lisandro and Yuri Kerzhapkin take down some little pots preflop, the latter, however, pushing in pre over the top of a 25k raise from David Redlin to add a few extra.  He also checked an entire board down with big blind caller of his 25k button raise Runar Runarsson, winning with Ace-high.  If that doesn't sound like enough action to you -

Paul Gourlay limps in early position, the button and small blind join the party and big blind Jeff Lisandro checks. 
Flop:  3s 7d 5c.  Lisandro bets out 25k, only to find Paul moving in straight away and springing up from his seat like someone had put something pointy on it.  It's 83k more to Lisandro (pictured left next to David Redlin)...who passes, saying, "Got any of that?" in a tone which implied skepticism.  Paul only shows him the 7c 7h.

Jeff Wallace just pushed for 106k from the small blind over the top of Paul's button 22k raise.  He passed (flashing what looked like a pair of threes or some such) and was shown Jeff's Jd Jh in return.  Around 110k left for Mr. Gourlay.
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Ram Vaswani and Jeff Lisandro have been clashing repeatedly, with the lilac-shirted American getting the best of our UK player... first with Ram on the button and Jeff on the small blind, Ram found himself check-raised on a 7d 9c 9h flop.  He called (around 80k).  The Aspades came on the turn, and Lisandro just announced, "All in," a serious bet which put his opponent's tournament at stake.  Pass.  The very next hand, Jeff called Ram's 25k preflop raise (on the button himself now) and bet the 2d Qh 5c flop when it was checked to him, picking up another one...

Double up for Tor Gammelgard - all-in on a 9h Jh Th board with the vulnerable but winning Jd Jc against Ram Vaswani's Qd Td (I bet he was pleased not to see a heart draw too)... The turn and river brought the 7s Aspades and Ram doesn't look best pleased, clunking in the nearly 200k he has to pay off in plaques.

Just before the current break it's been the Ram Vaswani show - he's been in every hand - nicking some blinds, losing a small pot to David Redlin, winning a small pot re-raising Will Ma off preflop and playing this one against Jeff Lisandro (small blind vs. big blind).  Limp check preflop, flop 2s 2c 6h - Ram bet 10k; call.
Turn:  3c  Check-check
River:  Td  Ram check-calls Jeff Lisandro's bet of 25k, winning the pot with 6d 4d.
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Current chip counts:

(Seat 2) Jeff Wallace -- 140,000
(Seat 3) Will Ma -- 640,000
(Seat 4) Yuri Kerzhapkin -- 140,000
(Seat 5) Tor Gammelgard -- 365,000
(Seat 6) Runar Runarsson -- 308,000
(Seat 7) Ram Vaswani -- 395,000
(Seat 8) Jeff Lisandro -- 590,000
(Seat 9) David Redlin -- 211,000

Will Ma makes it 34k on the button, and small blind Yuri Kerzhapkin moved all in.  A further 90k to Will, with the pot already that size, and a brief dwell later he's called with Ad 3s, finding Yuri holding Kh Qh. 
Flop:  2c 8d 3d
Turn:  Aspades
River:  4h  so...

Yuri Kerzhapkin finishes in 8th place, winning €39,615

"He was short stacked the whole entire tournament," comments David Redlin, quite correctly.

Sorry, forgot to copy and paste the 9th place exit over to this thread...

Paul 'Rocket Man' Gourlay is OUT and becomes the 9th place finisher winning €26,410

Paul Gourlay has pushed all-in!

"Call!" says Will Ma.

Ma = Kd Qc

Gourlay = Ad Th

Flop = Qs Kc 7d

Turn = 8h

River = Qh

Jeff Wallace and Ram Vaswani inevitably get all the spondoolies in pre-flop for a classic coin-flip.

Jeff Wallace = Ad Qs

Ram Vaswani = Jd Jc

Flop = Kh 7c 9h

Turn = 7h

River = Ac

A rare show of emotion from Ram who was clearly frustrated by the River.

Blind vs. Blind  (Will Ma vs. Tor Gammelgard)... Will raised it to 36k when it passed round, and Tor called. 
Flop:  Th Ahrt Tc  double-check
Turn:  6c  Will bet out 48k, called by his opponent.
River:  7h  Now Will goes into full Deliberation Mode, picking up four, then two, then three 25k plaques and settling somehow on a bet of 85k after a minute or so.  Tor goes into the tank for a good while, before passing, leaving himself around 200k.

Tor Gammelgard is OUT in 7th place, winning €52,820...

The big hand was that prior to the one where he was forced all in on the big blind with Qc 4d and knocked out by Ks Js... he'd raised under the gun and found button David Redlin pushing all in for 178k.  This was almost all of his stack, and he called with a speed which alarmed David (who held 8c 8h).  He was actually racing Tor's Ad Ks, and was clearly pretty tense about it...when the 2s 8d 6c flop came down he had a bit of a Clap-Yes! moment and the rainbow rags meant that his totally quiet, impassive opponent was drawing dead, and out the next hand.

Chip Counts:

Jeff Wallace     160,000  ("You're going to tell everyone I have no chips.." No - some is infinitely more than none...)
Will Ma            877,000
Runar Runarsson  396,000
Ram Vaswani     385,000
Jeff Lisandro      530,000  (Overheard telling Rolf, "Im in it for the win - will do what I have to do...")
David Redlin       417,000  (Front runner in break-demanding, as the blinds rise to 8k/16k ante 2k - and the clock goes down to one hour...)

So much action now, and so little flop... Will Ma standard raised preflop, and found big blind Jeff Lisandro re-raising to 160k.  Back to Will...who announces all-in.  That's a big stack, and a big bet.  As soon as the towers of 5k chips start to cross the line, Lisandro makes his decision and passes, but is clearly not in the best of moods now - immediately telling off the press for standing behind him even though there are only four of us and no one was less than five feet away.
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With the blinds now 8k/16k with less than 100k (to start with) Jeff Wallace has taken the short stack brakes off, moving in on three consecutive hands.  No one wanted to call the 78k, 112k or 146k in the big blind...

As you might expect, shortstacked Jeff Wallace moves in from the small blind with Ahrt 5h after the other players folded around to him, and Will Ma called in the big with Ad Jc.

Flop = 9s 6s 4s

Turn = 8s

"Space," pleads Jeff (why he didn't demand a 5 or 7, I'm not sure)

River = 2s

WE HAVE ACTION!

David Redling made it 42k to go on the cutoff, and found small blind Will Ma re-raising to 120k.  He decides after a brief ponder to flat call.
Flop:  4c 7d Qh  Will bets out 140k, which looks like it might be just under half of what David has left.  He gets a prompt call. 
Turn:  5s  Will puts his opponent all in, and gets instacalled...

Will Ma shows:  Kc Ks
David Redling shows:  Qs Qd

River:  Jc

And David Redling doubles through to become chip leader (saying, "You almost got me there, I didn't think you had Aces or Kings...AK perhaps..." while Will Ma is under 500k for the first time in a couple of days...

And our new young giant stack just sent Jeffrey Lisandro to the rail in 6th place (for €66,020)...

In brief:  small blind (Lisandro) with Ad Kd vs. big blind (Redling) with Ahrt Qd - all in preflop (although I can't imagine it wouldn't have been on the flop, somehow):
Flop: Aspades 5h 6h
Turn: Qs
River: 7c

And Queens remain David Redling's lucky cards today, having just won him a hand which could very well have taken him out, they remove another player from the table, bringing them down to Five...

Chip Counts at the break:

Jeff Wallace             172,000
Will Ma                     594,000
Runar Runarsson       320,000
Ram Vaswani            650,000
David Redlin             1,100,000

That final leading stack has been honoured with the appearance of the Red Plaque (pictured).  Many thanks to Sabine for bringing it out of its cupboard...we like a license plate-sized 200k chip on the table for absolutely no reason...one of the highlights of this tourney every year :)

And we've lost our short stack - valiant attempt at the double-up given, Jeff Wallace pushed once again (with Js 7s, on the button) and found a caller in Will Ma, with Aspades Jh on the small blind.  Finding himself a little dominated (again, by the same player) he fails to improve, with the board coming a final 8c 8h Td Qh 5c.  "Good game"s all round, as he takes his leave - and a spot on the rail...

...so Jeff Wallace is our 5th place finisher, for €79,230

We have a big pot and it involves the Hendon Mob's Ram Vaswani, who raised it up pre-flop to 75,000.

The lively Will Ma made it 200,000, only for Ram to nonchalantly announce all-in, slightly waving his hand forward in that cool calm, "Aaaah, it's only money" manner that only Ram knows.

After a few minutes in the think tank, head bowed down deep in thought as seems to be the norm with the Canadian, Will Ma lifts up his head and says, "I know this is going to look like a crazy move, but I think there's a wide range of hands you could be making that bet with" and makes the call.

Ram Vaswani = Ac Qh

Will Ma = Aspades 9d

A rather shocked group of onlookers raise their eyebrows in befuddlement, but the Canadian is keen to defend himself, pretty much echoing his previous statement.

Flop = 9c 7d 5h

Ram, as seems to have been the case this final, lets his emotions uncharacteristically slip (although still only marginally), and the look of combined disgust and disappointment is evident for all to see. His shoulders slump somewhat, and he can only look on with disdain as the dealer lets the final two cards hit the felt...

Turn = Tc

River = 5d

No help, and a shocked Ram, seemingly motionless as he looms over the table, can only look on as Ma apologises for what is a huge beat in a huge pot.

The dealer requests 617,000 from Ram, after the wounded Hendon Mobber sighs, "How much is it?", and casually shuffles through his €25,000 plaques as if they were raffle tickets.

Down to 120k, but not out, Ram looks like a shot deer, and I'd be very surprised if he gets himself back into this year's Grand Prix de Paris final after such a major setback.

Now autoallin on the big blind with Qh 7d, Ram is up against the Aspades Jh of Runar Runarsson...
Flop:  6s 3h 3s
Turn:  Qd 
River:  Ahrt  Runar quietly marvels to himself, in the manner of all poker players ever:  "I actually won on the river card!"

Meanwhile a very dignified-in-defeat Ram shakes hands all round, hearing the contrite Will Ma saying (about the previous hand):  "I overestimated how crazy you were - I thought you were completely crazy..."
"No probs mate.  I've done it myself."  In two years of updating, that is probably the kind of thing you hear the most rarely.  Honestly.

So Ram Vaswani becomes the 4th place finisher, winning €105,640

3-handed:

Will Ma (Canada) -- 1,250,000
Runar Runarsson (Iceland) -- 883,000
David Redlin (America) -- 733,000

The last fifteen minutes have seen no flops - two walks and two preflop raise-and-takes.  Once Runar Runarsson did the "arm-wave-tapis" where you just brush the air over your chips and announce all in, over the top of Will Ma's preflop raise; Will laid it down.
Then David Redlin called Runar's raise (from, oddly, it being threehanded the cutoff and under the gun).  85k each, and the flop came:  6d 3h 9h.  Check-check.
Turn:  3s Check-check
River:  Ac  Runar checked and David's 100k bet won him that pot.

Snoopy's turn to stand like a lemon by the table trying to stay out of the way of the photographer... ;)

Runar Runarsson makes it 85k to go on the button...small blind David Redlin re-raises, a further 240k.  This includes the Red Giant Chip.
"You want to give me the plate?" asks Runar, before descending into a very long dwell.  This culminates in the usual questions he asks before making his big decisions:  "You want me to call?"  "Why so much?"  "You have a pair?" 
David Redlin calls the clock.
Runar passes Ahrt Qs, leaving himself a stack of 485k.

"Tapis! Tapis" exclaims the Icelander, his 85k being re-raised to 165k by Will Ma, who, after a brief dwell, decides to gamble for 345k more with Qd Td.

Runarsson, who stacked his chips up like the Lost cast heading out to sea on a raft, flips over a leading, but not dominating Ad Ks.

Board = 7d 7c 5c Jd 7h

The whole of Iceland (pretty much the three fans in the crowd) go mad and Runarrson leaps in the air like a salmon shouting "Yes, yes!" at the top of his voice.

"Your bet with the other media guys looks good now, huh?" he says to me cheerfully.

Er... I do only have €1 at stake, but yes, it don't look half bad now.  ;yippee;

Chippy update:

Runar Runarsson (Iceland) -- 1,425,000
Will Ma (Canada) -- 857,000
David Redlin (America) -- 503,000

David Redlin is OUT and becomes the 3rd place finisher winning €158,460

Raise from the button (Redlin), all-in Big Blind (Runarsson), tapis, tapis, tapis, etc

Redlin = Ad 5d

Runarsson = Ahrt Qs

Board = 4s Tc Jh 7c 6h

Runar bets 140k, Will announces all-in (circa 1 mil more) and, although asking for a count and whatnot, Runar folds, leaving him with around 1.4 million in chips.

Both players see a cheap Ac-Ts-Kc Flop. Runar bets 50k, Will calls. Turn = 4c, Runar checks, Will bets 140k, Runar folds.

Runar makes it 140k pre-flop, Will calls. Flop = Ks-3s-Ac, Runar bets 175k, Will folds.

Board = Td 6h 6s Jh Qc

Runar bet 50k on the Turn and 100k on the River, both called by Will Ma who was swiftly shown 9c 8h for the straight.

As a result of that hand, among many others, Will Ma has been ground down to 550k.

Due to the blinds being as high as 25,000 and 50,000 with a running ante of 5,000, it hasn't taken Will Ma to get right back into this, stealing (or maybe not) his way back up to a commendable 750-800k.

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Soon after...

Runar makes it 75k pre-flop, Will calls.

Flop = 3h 2d 9c

Runar bets 125k, Will pushes all-in, Runar folds.

As a result, Will now has 1,175,00.

WE HAVE ACTION!

It was only a matter of time.

Flop = 5c Qd Th

All-in on the Flop with Will making the final call.

Will = Ac Ad

Runar = Kc Qs

Turn = 9h

River = 7d

Will has taken the chip lead, leaving his dejected opponent with 600k.

Runar Runarsson moves all-in and Will Ma calls.

Ac Jd versus. Ad 5d (Ma)

Flop = Qd Qc Jh

Turn = 8d

River = Td

Approximate chip counts:

Will Ma = 1.9 million
Runar Runarsson = 800,000

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Then...

Runar down to 400k again after losing a couple of blinds and then being beaten by Ma's Q-T on a K-T-x-x-x board. Didn't catch the action, but I saw a bet and a call on the River. Runar mucked.

Runar Runarsson is OUT and becomes the 2nd place finisher winning €224,480

Will Ma pushes all-in and Runar Runarsson calls.

Will Ma = Jd 4h

Runar Runarsson = Jd 4h

Board = Ts Ac Jc Ahrt 5d

WILL MA FINISHES IN 1ST PLACE AND BECOMES THE 2007 GRAND PRIX DE PARIS CHAMPION WINNING €422,560