The two publications' differing criteria for scoring introduces differences in their POY standings, although a quick look at the top of both leaderboards reveals a lot of overlap between the two lists, as well as a host of recognizable names who have unmistakably proven themselves as top poker talent over the last twelve months.

It is no surprise to see the American Ben Lamb's name atop the Card Player list and near the top of Bluff's rankings after his stellar performance at this year's World Series of Poker.

Lamb had already won one WSOP bracelet this summer, made two other final tables, and had another 12th-place finish when he added a third-place finish in the WSOP Main Event last month, worth just over $4 million. That showing was good enough to earn Lamb Player of the Year honors at the WSOP, which as it happens this year followed criteria similar to that employed by Bluff to determine its POY.

The U.K.'s Chris Moorman, just behind Lamb in the Card Player list, also had a terrific WSOP with two final tables (finishing second and third), a couple more near misses (11th and 18th), and another runner-up finish at the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event in October, helping him push over $2.3 million in total earnings this year.

The Ukrainian Oleksil Kovalchuk, currently third in the CP rankings, has enjoyed a breakout year in 2011, earning a WSOP bracelet, a couple more firsts (one in Kiev, another in Nova Gorica), and a third-place finish at this year's Partouche Poker Tour Main Event.

Completing Card Player's top ten currently are Marvin Rettenmaier, Sam Stein, 2011 WSOPE Main Event winner Elio Fox, Galen Hall, Eugene Katchalov, Jason Mercier, and Sam Trickett. Sitting just outside that group are Matthew Waxman, Erik Seidel, Pius Heinz, Maxim Lykov, and Alessio Isaia.

It is perhaps surprising to see Seidel outside of Card Player's top ten given the incredible year he has had, racking up a jaw-dropping $6.5 million in tourney earnings in 2011 alone.

However, Seidel's POY points for some of his biggest wins this year -- e.g., the Aussie Millions $250,000 Super High Roller (which will return next month), the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, the $100K High Roller a the Five-Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in May -- were limited by the relatively small field sizes for those events, per Card Player's scoring criteria.

Seidel has been similarly affected in the Bluff POY rankings where he presently sits in 11th place. In fact, some of Seidel's biggest scores in 2011 are not counted at all by Bluff.

According to Bluff's criteria, a tournament must have at least 27 entrants to be included, so the Aussie Millions Super High Roller in which only 20 participated doesn't count for Seidel. Nor does Seidel's NBC Heads-Up title, since Bluff only recognizes open (i.e., not invite-only) events. Also worth noting is the fact that Bluff only considers a player's ten best finishes for the year for its list, a wrinkle that does have some bearing on how the rankings sort out.

As mentioned, the Kiev native Katchalov tops the Bluff list in part because his win in the $100K Super High Roller event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure back in January came in an event that drew 38 participants. Katchalov followed that win with a number of other scores throughout the year -- including a WSOP bracelet -- helping him collect over $2.5 million in total earnings in 2011.

Katchalov's lead over second-place Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier in the Bluff rankings is only by a few points. However, the fact that both players are spending this week participating in the Epic Poker League's third tournament series (which does not count in Bluff's rankings) may mean the race between the two has already been decided.

Grospellier's 2011 includes a lengthy list of firsts and final tables -- including a WSOP bracelet -- netting the Frenchman nearly $2.3 million in earnings for the year. That was good enough to push him past Lamb who sits in third in the Bluff list, followed by Waxman, Trickett, Rettenmaier, Moorman, Fox, Heinz, and Stephen O'Dwyer in tenth. Meanwhile, just outside the Bluff top ten are Seidel, Stein, Lykov, Mercier, and Philipp Gruissem.

While Card Player's Player of the Year award -- like the magazine itself -- has a longer history than does Bluff's, both have become recognized by many as meaningful indicators of top performances. And many of the players seem to care about the POY race as well.

For example, when a $100,000 High Roller event was arranged amid the festivities at last week's World Poker Tour Five Diamond Classic, some players inquired whether the event would draw the needed 27 players to qualify for the Bluff POY rankings. (A total of 29 ended up participating, with Jason Mercier winning.)

While no POY ranking system is ever going to be perfect, they do invite some interesting debate while further encouraging comparisons between poker and other individual sports like golf or tennis in which similar rankings play a role. The Epic Poker League's Global Poker Index -- an ongoing ranking system (not an annual one) -- provides yet another perspective for comparing players over a larger sample size than just one tournament.

We'll see if any changes to the lists happen during these last couple of weeks of 2011. And then, when the calendar turns to January, everyone's totals will be reset to zero, giving all a fresh start to compete for next year's POY titles.

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Fox joined fellow Americans Steve Billirakis, Tristan Wade, and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi as bracelet winners at this year's WSOPE.

Since the WSOPE first began in 2007, there had never been more than one U.S. winner at the Series in a given year. None won in 2007, John Juanda won the Main Event in 2008, Barry Shulman also won the ME in 2009, and Phil Laak was the only American to win last year, earning his victory in the £2,650 short-handed NLHE event.

In other words, this year's total of four bracelets exceeded the total number of bracelets won by Americans during the previous four years combined (three) at the WSOPE.

Attention on the Americans

For a couple of reasons, extra attention was paid to the Americans' performance at this year's WSOPE.

First there was that pronouncement made by last year's WSOPE Main Event champion, James Bord, regarding the prospects for an American to win the ME this time around. The sports betting site Matchbook took prop bets on the WSOPE ME winner, and Bord said he was so confident no U.S. player would win he would refund losing bets up to $500 should an American manage to do so.

"I don't think an American can win the bracelet," said Bord to Card Player Europe. "Europeans are now far superior. We used to look up to the U.S. players back in the day, but those days are now long gone."

No word as yet regarding how much Bord will be laying out to back up his boast now that Fox has won.

The Caesars Cup and surrounding trash-talk also helped renew rivalries between the U.S. and Europe. That's the event in which two teams of players -- "Team Americas" and "Team Europe" -- compete against one another in a variety of formats. It should be noted that "Team Americas" doesn't necessarily include only American players (e.g., the Canadian Daniel Negreanu participated for them this year).

This year's Caesars Cup saw Team Americas, captained by Phil Hellmuth, prevail over the European squad led by Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. In the best-of-five format, Team America won 3-1, gaining a revenge of sorts after losing the first and only Caesars Cup to Team Europe back in 2009.

Given its super-fast structure and the novelty of its format, not a lot of stock is placed in the Caesars Cup as an indicator how U.S. poker players' skills compare to those of other countries' players. Nor, really, is the U.S. picking up four WSOPE bracelets this time around necessarily proof that other countries' players should "look up" to the U.S. as Bord says used to be the case.

That said, a closer inspection of the results at this year's WSOPE does show the Americans made a decent showing overall.

A Look at the Numbers

Expectations prior to the start of this year's WSOPE, moved this year from London to Cannes to be played at the Hotel Majestic Barrière, was that host country France would likely continue its impressive showing from this year's WSOP in Las Vegas.

Four Frenchmen took home bracelets at the WSOP this summer, and it was thought that since many more French would be participating in Cannes at least some of the gold would be remaining in France once the Series had concluded. However, the highest finish for France at the seven WSOPE events was by Bernard Guignon who took fourth in Event #2 (€1,090 NLHE).

So Americans won the most bracelets at this year's WSOPE, but how did their performance compare to that of other countries overall?

In terms of total cashes, the Americans won that battle, too, with 82 cashes (out of 281 possible), or 29.1%. France was next in line with 61 cashes, followed by the U.K. with 30, Canada 15, Italy 14, Sweden 10, Russia 8, and Germany 5.

Of course, looking at total cashes doesn't mean quite as much without knowing how many players from each country actually entered the events. How do these total cashes compare to the number of entrants each country had representing them in the field?

Looking at those top eight countries only, here's a quick rundown of how the total cashes in the seven WSOPE events compared to the number of entrants for each:

The WSOP provided totals through the first six events, meaning I had to use all of my fingers and toes to add up the numbers from the Main Event to include them as well.

(In other words, we should probably allow a margin of error of a couple of fingers or toes here.)

Looking at the cashes-to-entrants ratio, then, it appears the U.K. and U.S. fared best overall, with Sweden, Canada, and Germany making strong showings, too. And while host country France might be disappointed about not having added to their 2011 WSOP bracelet total in Cannes, they shouldn't worry too greatly about that relatively low cashing percentage.

I say that because that figure is most certainly due to the fact that as the host country more French amateurs were able to take their shots and participate than would have otherwise been the case. Indeed, early reports from the pros indicated that some of the fields -- especially for the lower buy-in events -- were highly populated with inexperienced players, many of whom were from the hosting country.

All of which is to say, it was certainly a good couple of weeks of poker for the U.S players who made the trip to the south of France.

But as we all know, becoming overly prideful about one's successes at the poker table is a dangerous thing -- not to mention a sure way to invite variance to come smack you back down tout de suite!

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Play began Thursday with those final eight players the last standing of the 593 who had entered. Fox started the day with just under 4 million of the almost 17.8 million chips in play, giving him a decent-sized head start with Jake Cody, Dermot Blain, and Moorman his nearest challengers, all situated in the 2.2-2.7 million-chip range.

Meanwhile Max Silver began the day on the short stack, and on the 10th hand of play got his remaining chips in with As-Kh versus Moorman's Jc-Jh. The board failed to pair Silver, ending his day early in eighth.

It would take a while for the next to fall, with Fox maintaining his lead, Cody chipping up, and Blain slipping to the back of the pack. Then came a monster hand between Fox and Cody -- in many ways the most crucial of the final table.

With the blinds 25,000/50,000, Fox opened to 110,000 from the hijack, then Cody made it 260,000 to go from the button. The blinds stepped aside, and Fox thought a while before four-betting to 600,000. Cody then pushed all in for more than 3 million total, and Fox called in a flash.

Cody had Jh-Jd and Fox but 10h-10c, and it looked for a moment that Cody -- who had been 16th of 16 just yesterday -- was on the verge of grabbing the chip lead in a big way. But the flop came 8d-7c-6h and the turn 9h, giving Fox a leading straight. The river brought the 9h, and Cody was suddenly out in seventh.

The remaining six played on to the dinner break and beyond, with Blain chipping up some and Shawn Buchanan starting to slide. Soon Buchanan found himself all in with 10h-10c against Blain's Ad-4c. The flop came Qd-3d-2d, giving Blain a huge draw. The turn was the 7c and Buchanan was still ahead, but the Ac landed on the river to pair Blain and send Buchanan out in sixth.

Blain's good fortune would be short-lived, however, as he'd soon be the one all in and at risk versus Brian Roberts. The Irishman held Ks-Qh and was hoping to catch versus Roberts' Ah-Jd. An ace and a queen flopped, but the turn and river brought no further help to Blain, ending his run in fifth.

About a dozen hands later Roberts was the one heading railward, his Jc-8h failing him versus Moorman's Qh-4h.

The German Kranich was the shortest of the remaining three players, and eventually was ground down to about 1.6 million -- about 20 big blinds -- when he reraise-shoved with 5h-4h and was called by Fox who held 9d-9c. The pocket pair held, and they were down to two.

Fox had just over 11 million to start heads-up play, giving him a sizable advantage over Moorman's 6.72 million. And after a little more than 30 hands Fox had an even bigger lead, having whittled Moorman down to about 2.1 million.

That's when Fox opened with a minimum-raise to 200,000 from the button, to which Moorman responded with a reraise to 430,000. Fox pushed all in, and Moorman called, tabling Ah-7s to Fox's Ad-10s. The community cards came 4s-3h-6s-6d-8h, giving Fox all of the chips and the bracelet.

Here's how they finished and how the prize money was divided among the final eight:

2011 WSOPE Main Event final table payouts:
1st: Elio Fox (United States) -- €1,400,000
2nd: Chris Moorman (United Kingdom) -- €800,000
3rd: Moritz Kranich (Germany) -- €550,000
4th: Brian Roberts (United States) -- €400,000
5th: Dermot Blain (Ireland) -- €275,000
6th: Shawn Buchanan (Canada) -- €200,000
7th: Jake Cody (United Kingdom) -- €150,000
8th: Max Silver (United Kingdom) -- €115,000

There are two additional subplots from Cannes, France to report as well.

With Moorman second-place finish, November Niner Ben Lamb finally secured the 2011 World Series of Poker Player of the Year.

Also, Fox's victory means James Bord will have to cover all of those losing bets on the ME winner over at the Matchbook wagering site since an American won the bracelet (see here for details).

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There were 25 left when play began on Wednesday. The short stacks were the unsurprising early casualties, among them Tony G (24th), James Schafer (22nd), and Erik Seidel (21st). It was the Ukrainian Alexander Dovzehnko who took out Seidel, using Ah-Qh to overcome the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner's Kd-Jd.

John Eames was next out in 20th, earning 37,000 as well. After getting most of his stack claimed by Patrik Antonius, Eames doubled up once before finding himself all in with Kd-10c against Silver's Qh-Qd. The board came 10h-Js-5s-7c-9s meaning Silver's queens had held and Eames's day was done.

Not long after another Englander, John Duthie, was out in 18th, having fallen victim with Qc-9c to Amir Lehavot's As-Qs. Duthie was followed by the Italian Dario Sammartino in 17th, knocked out by chip leader Silver. Each of these first eliminations of Day 4 took home €37,000 for their efforts in Cannes this week.

At that point the remaining 16 players took their dinner break before moving to a different room in the Hotel Majestic Barrière. Silver had the most chips to move with nearly 3.5 million, followed by Moorman (2.1 million), Levahot (1.85 million), and Brian Roberts (1.42 million). Meanwhile Arnaud Mattern, Thibaud Geunegou. and Cody were on the shortest of stacks, with Cody 16th of 16.

But the shorties weren't ready to quit just yet. Cody would soon score a big triple up (through Silver and Antonius) to put himself right back in the hunt. Then Geunegou would also triple up, and Mattern followed by doubling through Lehavot to climb out of the danger zone as well.

Meanwhile came more eliminations. First the American Michael Drummond went out in 16th. Then Lehavot, after being crippled by Moritz Kranich who rivered a king with his Ad-Kh to crack Lehavot's pocket queens, was wiped out in 15th by Andy Moseley.

Both Drummond and Lehavot earned €43,000. They were followed to the rail by Steven Moreau (14th) and Moseley (13th), both taking away €53,000. The last four eliminations of the night then occurred in rapid fashion.

First Guenegou, having slipped back to short-stacked status, was knocked out in 12th (€67,500) by Fox when his Qh-8d failed to catch versus Fox's pocket eights.

Then came a huge double-knockout of Dovzhenko (11th, €67,500) and Mattern (10th, €90,000), the pair vanquished simultaneously by Fox. It was a three-way all in before the flop, with Mattern holding Ad-As, Dovzhenko Ah-Ks, and Fox 10c-10s. The flop came 9c-10d-6d, giving Fox a set. Then the Kd turn provided flush hopes for Mattern. But the river was the 7s, and they were down to nine.

Antonius had the short stack then, and soon was all in before the flop against both Shawn Buchanan and Moorman. Those two battled for a side pot as the board came Qh-7h-4s-Jc, with Moorman eventually getting Buchanan to fold. Antoinus turned over Ah-10s and was still drawing live versus Moorman's As-Ac. The river then came the 9c, sending the Finn out in ninth for €90,000.

That big double-KO helped propel Fox to the top of the counts by day's end. Meanwhile, one-time short-stack Cody managed to chip all of the way up into second. Here's how they stack up overnight:

1. Elio Fox (United States) -- 3,990,000
2. Jake Cody (United Kingdom) -- 2,685,000
3. Dermot Blain (Ireland) -- 2,405,000
4. Chris Moorman (United Kingdom) -- 2,230,000
5. Brian Roberts (United States) -- 2,000,000
6. Max Silver (United Kingdom) -- 1,825,000
7. Moritz Kranich (Germany) -- 1,660,000
8. Shawn Buchanan (Canada) -- 1.015,000

While the U.K. enjoys a decent shot at scoring a second-straight WSOPE ME bracelet with three left among the final eight, last year's winer James Bord will be hoping to fade the two Americans still in the running thanks to his offer to refund losing prop bets on the ME winner should a U.S. player take the bracelet. (Read about Bord's predicament here.)

The final table gets started at 13:45 CET on Thursday with €1,400,000 and the bracelet awaiting the winner.

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The day began with 116 of the original starting field of still with chips, with Constant Rijkenberg leading the pack followed closely by Hoyt Corkins. Jake Cody, Erik Seidel, and Shawn Buchanan also returned on Tuesday to top 10 stacks.

It took several hours -- right up until just before the dinner break -- before the cash bubble burst and the field had been cut down to the final 64. As it happened, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Greenstein was the unfortunate player to finish in 65th.

In his final hand, Greenstein shoved his short stack from the cutoff with Ac-Jc and got a call from Brian Roberts in the big blind with Kh-Jh. The board ended up bringing three hearts, giving Roberts a flush and sending Greenstein out down his €10,400 buy-in and another copy of Ace on the River (given to Roberts by the author).

Once back from dinner, the trips to the cashier began in earnest. Among those first heading railward were Pierre Neuville (64th), J.C. Alvarado (60th), Victor Ramdin (59th), and Salman Behbehani (57th), all of whom scored a near double-up of their buy-in with a €20,000 payday.

Included in the next group earning a tad more (€21,475) were Stephen Chidwick (52nd), Barny Boatman (51st), and start-of-day leader Rijkenberg in 49th. Corkins also tumbled down the leaderboard during the course of the day to land in 42nd place (€24,000), with Freddy Deeb (39th, €27,500), Liv Boeree (36th, €27,500), and Melanie Weisner (33rd, €27,500) soon following.

That left just Maria Ho -- highest female finisher at the 2007 WSOP in Vegas (where she finished 38th) -- as the last woman standing at the Hotel Majestic Barrière, still clinging to a short stack as the number of players remaining fell to just 30.

As night drew to a close Max Silver and Chris Moorman made their move toward the top of the counts. It was then one of the more dramatic hands of the night occurred, a hand primarily involving Matt Waxman and Buchanan.

After Waxman had raised and gotten three callers, the flop came 3s-Js-9c. Waxman pushed out a c-bet, and only Buchanan stuck around. The turn then brought the 3d and another half-pot sized bet from Waxman. Buchanan called once more. The river was the 5d and Waxman led once more with another half-pot sized bet. This time Buchanan reraised all in, leaving Waxman with a tough decision.

Waxman had 276,000 left, and to call and win would earn him another three-quarter million chips or so to push him up over 1 million. After much agonizing and an eventual calling of the clock by another player, Waxman at last made the call only to see Buchanan show 3h-3c for quads. Waxman mucked his hand, having ended the tourney in 30th place (€32,000). Meanwhile Buchanan stacked up close to 1.3 million total following that hand, ensuring he'd be among the leaders to end the day.

Soon after Ho would push her last chips in with 5c-5s and hoped to outlast Alexander Dovzhenko's Ad-9c. She was fine through the turn, but an ace binked on the river to send her out in 27th (€32,000).

Pavel Ivan followed Ho to the rail in 26th (€32,000), leaving just 25 players to return on Wednesday. Here's how the top 10 will look when play resumes:

1. Max Silver (United Kingdom) -- 1,780,000
2. Chris Moorman (United Kingdom) -- 1,769,000
3. Amir Lehavot (United States) -- 1,398,000
4. Shawn Buchanan (Canada) -- 1,267,000
5. Dermot Blain (Ireland) -- 1,200,000
6. Jeremy Kottler (United States) -- 943,000
7. Brian Roberts (United States) -- 901,000
8. Elio Fox (United States) -- 889,000
9. Andy Moseley (United Kingdom) -- 863,000
10. Giuseppe Sammartino (Italy) -- 838,000

Other notables still alive include Patrik Antonius (12th), Dovzhenko (13th), Cody (16th), John Duthie (19th), and Seidel (20th). Tony G is still there, too, in 22nd place, having made good on his bet on himself to cash.

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Event #5: €10,400 "Split Format" NLHE

Like the earlier shootout Event #4, this "split format" event also featured a novel structure which forced players to play different variations of traditional tournament NLHE as the event progressed.

Day 1 saw the field of 125 play a regular nine-handed "MTT" (multi-table tournament) until play ended with 72 remaining and the Swedish player Dennis Bejadal on top. That group then returned on Day 2 to play six-handed NLHE until just 16 were left, at which point Brian Powell of the United States led the way.

The end of the second day meant the cash bubble had burst, as only the top 16 made the money. From Day 3 onward the event was played as a heads-up tournament, albeit with the twist that players began their matches with whatever chips they'd accrued during the first two days (i.e., uneven stacks to start).

Those losing their first matches on Friday included Kent Lundmark, Bryn Kenney, Joel Nordkvist, Alexander Roumeliotis, Dmitry Motorov, Matt Waxman, Erik Seidel, and Jason Mercier, all of whom earned €26,618. Round of 8 losers then included Brian Hastings, Anatolii Ozhenilok, Brian Powell, and Dan Fleyshman, all of whom claimed €54,810 for getting as far as they did.

That created a final four of Roger Hairabedian and Michael Mizrachi in one bracket, and Shawn Buchanan and Noah Schwartz in the other. Interestingly, the former two each came into Saturday with stacks in the 1.1-1.2 million range, while the latter pair both had just under 700,000 to begin. That meant the semifinal matches would begin with both pairs of opponents roughly even to start their matches, but the Hairabedian-Mizrachi winner would have a big head start over the Buchanan-Schwartz winner in the final.

Buchanan jumped out to a quick lead over Schwartz in their match, and eventually Schwartz committed a short stack with Ah-5s only to run into Buchanan's Kh-Kd. The kings held, and Buchanan moved on to the final with 1.359 million chips.

The match between "The Grinder" and "Big Roger" took longer, remaining fairly close for much of it. Then came a hand in which both saw a flop come Jh-5s-8s and Mizrachi called a leading bet by Hairabedian. The turn was the 4d, and when Hairabedian bet again Mizrachi made a big raise. After a bit of delay, Hairabedian shoved all in and Mizrachi quickly called.

Hairabedian had 5c-5h for a set of fives, but Mizrachi had turned a straight with his 7c-6h. The river was the 3s, and Hairabedian was out.

Mizrachi thus took 2.397 million to the final, and quickly used his bigger stack to pressure Buchanan, ultimately forcing him down to less than 500,000.

Finally the end came when Mizrachi reraised all in before the flop with Ah-10d and Buchanan called with Ac-Jd. The flop came 10c-6s-3d, pairing the Grinder, and after the turn and river both brought red deuces, Mizrachi had claimed his second WSOP bracelet.

Event #5 final day payouts:

1st: Michael Mizrachi (United States) -- €336,008

2nd: Shawn Buchanan (Canada) -- €207,624

3rd (tie): Roger Hairabedian (France) -- €112,092

3rd (tie): Noah Schwartz (United States) -- €112,092

Event #6: €1,620 PLO (6-max.)

Event #6 actually finished prior to Event #5 on Saturday thanks to a super-fast final table that took less than four hours to complete.

Among those cashing but failing to make Saturday's final table were Event #3 winner Steve Billirakis (35th, €2,616), Richard Ashby (33rd, €2,616), Roberto Romanello (31st, €2,616), Carlos Mortensen (26th, €3,339), Ludovic Lacay (20th, €4,360), Alexander Kostritsyn (17th, €5,731), Antony Lellouche (12th, €7,629), Victor Ramdin (10th, €10,261), and Bryan Devonshire (8th, €13,948).

With six left the Chilean Nicolas Fierro held the chip advantage, although the stacks were all fairly close to start play on Saturday with only Jack Elwood much shorter than the others. And after an initial stretch of cautious play Elwood would be the first to go, getting his stack in against Boucher and failing to outdraw him to hit the rail in sixth.

More eliminations then came quickly thereafter, with Boucher next wiping out Jarred Solomon of South Africa in fifth, then likewise eliminating the Ukrainian Alexander Dovzhenko in fourth -- both hands also featuring all-in preflops that went Boucher's way.

By then Boucher had claimed the advantage with more than 700,000, Michel Dattani had pushed into second with a little over 500,000, and Fierro had slipped to third with about 250,000.

Fierro then found himself in a hand against Boucher in which he'd three-bet the Canadian preflop and the pair saw the first three community cards come 2s-8h-10d. That's when Fierro committed the last of his stack with Kd-Ks-10s-8c and Boucher was there, too, with Jh-10c-Qs-5s.

Fierro had the advantage for the moment with two pair, but the turn was the Qc and river the 3h, meaning Boucher ended the hand with a better two pair and Fierro was out.

Heads-up play began with Boucher enjoying about a 2-to-1 chip lead over Dattani, and it only took a little over a half-hour for Dattani to be all in preflop with Ac-Ad-Jc-7s against Boucher's As-Qc-10d-9c.

The board ran out 6c-6d-8c-Js-Qh, giving Boucher a straight and a clean sweep of the final table.

Event #6 final table payouts:

1st: Philippe Boucher (Canada) -- €124,584

2nd: Michael Dattani (Portugal) -- €76,982

3rd: Nicolas Fierro (Chile) -- €53,426

4th: Alexander Dovzhenko (Ukraine) -- €37,529
5th: Jarred Solomon (South Africa) -- €26,676
6th: Jack Ellwood (United Kingdom) -- €19,181

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Calling it such meant the WSOPE wasn't necessarily bound to any one European country, should organizers decide a future move was in order. And so, after four years at the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square in London, England, the Series made a move over to Cannes, France for 2011.

The story of how the WSOPE came to be goes back to Harrah's purchase of the WSOP from Binion's Horseshoe in 2004. In late 2006 the gaming corporation acquired London Clubs International and its casinos, Harrah's first venture outside of the U.S. It was this acquisition that helped make it possible for Harrah's to expand the WSOP to a non-Vegas setting.

Under the stewardship of then-Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, it was announced in February 2007 that the first WSOPE would take place. At first the word was that events would take place at various LCI locations in the U.K., although ultimately all would take place at The Empire.

In interviews at the time, Pollack suggested the intention to make London a permanent home for the WSOPE. There were also intimations made then that we would soon see a World Series of Poker Asia or some other variation on the theme in the coming months, although that development has yet to occur.

Over the next four years the WSOPE successfully staged numerous bracelet events at the Empire, with increased participation and tournaments added from year-to-year. Here's a look at the numbers during those first four years (winners noted in parentheses):

2007
Event No. 1: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. -- 105 entrants (Thomas Bihl)
Event No. 2: £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha -- 165 (Dario Alioto)
Event No. 3: £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em (ME) -- 362 (Annette Obrestad)
total 2007 buy-ins: 632

2008
Event No. 1: £1,500 No-Limit Hold'em -- 410 (Jesper Hougaard)
Event No. 2: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. -- 110 (Sherkhan Farnood)
Event No. 3: £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha -- 165 (Theo Jorgensen)
Event No. 4: £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em (ME) -- 362 (John Juanda)
total 2008 buy-ins: 1,047

2009
Event No. 1: £1,000 No-Limit Hold'em -- 608 (J.P. Kelly)
Event No. 2: £2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha -- 158 (Erik Cajelais)
Event No. 3: £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha -- 154 (Jani Vilmunen)
Event No. 4: £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em (ME) -- 334 (Barry Shulman)
total 2009 buy-ins: 1,254

2010
Event No. 1: £2,650 No-Limit Hold'em (6-max.) -- 244 (Phil Laak)
Event No. 2: £5,250 Pot-Limit Omaha -- 120 (Jeff Lisandro)
Event No. 3: £1,075 No-Limit Hold'em -- 582 (Scott Shelley)
Event No. 4: £10,350 No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up -- 103 (Gus Hansen)
Event No. 5: £10,350 No-Limit Hold'em (ME) -- 356 (James Bord)
total 2010 buy-ins: 1,405

As you can see, numbers were increasing, and The Empire began to experience some of the same problems Binion's did during the WSOP "boom" of 2003-2004 when limited space for staging events made it difficult to handle the growing fields.

In November 2010, Harrah's was rebranded to Caesars Entertainment (which it had acquired back in 2005). The move was thought by many to reflect a more international approach given the wider, global recognition of the Caesars name. At that point the company represented the world's biggest casino operator with more than 50 casinos in six different countries.

Soon after the rebranding came the news that Caesars had made a deal with the Lucien Barrière Hôtels & Casinos to move the WSOPE over to the Casino Barrière de Cannes Croisette. In a statement regarding the decision, Caesars spoke of the company having been seeking "a strategic opportunity to enter the French market," spurred in part by the increased participation of French players at the WSOP in Vegas.

Along with that announcement came word that the WSOPE would be expanded to seven bracelet events (with a non-bracelet ladies event subsequently being added) and moved forward a bit on the calendar to October.

Thus far the move appears to have been embraced by many players, with numerous favorable comments about the staff's management of registration and the events, Cannes' relatively lower cost when compared to London (although still expensive), and the chance to experience the inviting climate and views afforded by the south of France.

The WSOPE Main Event begins tomorrow, and most observers are curious to see how many turn out to play in the €10,400 buy-in event. But if the six preliminary events are an indication, we may likely see a larger field at the 2011 WSOPE ME than in years past:

2011
Event No. 1: €2,680 No-Limit Hold'em (6-max.) -- 360 (Guillaume Humbert)
Event No. 2: €1,090 No-Limit Hold'em -- 771 (Andrew Hinrichsen)
Event No. 3: €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha -- 180 (Steve Billirakis)
Event No. 4: €3,200 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout -- 258 (Tristan Wade)
Event No. 5: €10,400 No-Limit Hold'em Split Format -- 125
Event No. 6: €1,620 Pot-Limit Omaha (6-max.) -- 339
total 2011 buy-ins (thus far): 2,033

Safe to say, all appears ça va bien thus far.

Check back in here at Betfair Poker for continuing reports on the WSOPE from myself and our friend YorkyPud (a.k.a., Matthew Pitt) who is there in Cannes with the PokerNews team.

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The event's unique format meant that 10 players from the starting field of 258 had survived to Thursday's final day of play. Day 1 had seen that starting group play eight- and nine-handed tables, with the 30 players winning their tables all making the money and Day 2.

Among those winning their way to Wednesday but no further were Tobias Reinkemeier, David Peters, Terrence Chan, James Mitchell, Chad Brown, Vanessa Selbst, Freddy Deeb, and 2011 November Niner Anton Makiievskyi, each of whom earned a payday of €6,913.

Then on Wednesday the remaining 30 broke down into 10 three-handed tables, with the 10 winners moving on to regroup around a final table on Thursday. Since players carried chips forward from day to day, starting stacks for the final 10 were not exactly uniform, although everyone began in roughly the same range with between 230,000 and 246,000 chips.

It was near the second hour of poker that John Armbrust became the day's first elimination. After losing much of his stack on a failed bluff attempt versus Max Silver, Armbrust shoved with 6s-6h and was against Taylor Paur's Ad-7c.

The flop came Qc-8c-2c and Armbrust was still ahead, but the 7s turn paired Paur. The river then brought the 6c -- a set for Armbrust, but a flush for Paur, sending the American out in 10th.

The next one-hour level saw another elimination in James Dempsey after the Brit ran 8d-8h into Bertrand Grospellier's and failed to improve.

Then Level 4 saw three more fall in rapid fashion. Paur went out in eighth when his Kc-Jc fell to Silver's pocket rockets. Emil Patel next ran Ad-Qh into Richard Toth's As-Kc to go out in seventh. Then the red-hot Steve O'Dwyer was eliminated by Wade in sixth when his Kc-Jd couldn't catch versus Wade's As-Js.

With five left, Wade had pulled out in front with close to 800,000, with Toth next with just over 550,000.

Meanwhile Grospellier had become the table's short stack with less than 230,000, and not long after the dinner break ElkY got it all in with Kd-Qd versus Michael Watson's 6s-6d. The flop brought a six, improving Watson to a set, and two cards later Grospellier was gone in fifth.

Silver followed the Frenchman to the rail shortly thereafter when his 4c-4s succumbed to leader Wade's Ks-Kc. Then Watson took care of Toth in third, using Ac-Kd against the Hungarian's Qc-10h to set up heads-up.

That hand pushed Watson ahead of Wade to start heads-up play with 1.378 million to Wade's 985,000. The pair proceeded cautiously at the outset, with Wade chipping up slightly, then pulling even.

Wade kept up the pressure, eventually pushed out to a 2-to-1 chip advantage over his fellow American. Watson fell further, then doubled up with Ks-10s versus Wade's pocket jacks, flopping a king to do so.

But soon Watson was all in and at risk again, this time with Ah-5h while Wade had again drawn Js-Jh. The board ran out Qs-Qd-4h-10c-2h, and Wade had won.

Event #4 final table payouts:

1st: Tristan Wade (United States) -- €182,048

2nd: Michael Watson (United States) -- €112,526


3rd: Richard Toth (Hungary) -- €84,016
4th: Max Silver (Great Britain) -- €63,151
5th: Bertrand Grospellier (France) -- €47,763
6th: Steve O'Dwyer (United States) -- €36,357
7th: Emil Patel (United States) -- €27,842
8th: Taylor Paur (United States) -- €21,459
9th: James Dempsey (United Kingdom) -- €16,637
10th: John Armbrust (United States) -- €12,981

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Event #1: €2,680 Six-Handed NLHE

As Event #1 wound down over the weekend, Freddy Deeb went out in 15th (€9,936) and David Benyamine in 12th (€13,228). And as Matthew Pitt reported earlier, Phil Hellmuth fell just shy of Sunday's six-handed final table when Marton Czuczor knocked him out in seventh (€24,183).

Despite scoring that knockout, Czuczor was the short stack to start the final table while Matan Krakow and Roy Finlay were nearly tied for the chip lead. Czuczor would soon get it all in with Qc-10d against Azusa Maeda's As-Kc and fail to catch up to go out in sixth.

Adrien Allain would soon follow Czuczor to the rail in fifth after running Ks-10d into Maeda's Qc-Qs. Then it was Humbert wiping out Krakow's stack when his Ah-Qh held versus the latter's Jd-10c to knock out Krakow in fourth.

Maeda enjoyed a big chip lead for most of three-handed play, though Humbert was gradually edging closer. Maeda would then eliminate Finlay in third, using Ac-7c to best Finlay's Kc-10s, which left Maeda with about a 3-to-2 chip lead to start heads-up with Humbert.

But Humbert immediately began to apply pressure versus Maeda, soon surpassing him then swiftly pushing him down to short-stacked status.

Then came a hand in which the pair saw a flop come 9c-6d-7c at which point the rest of Maeda's chips went in the middle. Maeda held 4d-3d, but Humbert already had the straight with 8h-5c. A four on the turn meant Meada was drawing dead, giving Humbert the bracelet.

Event #1 final table payouts:
1st: Guillaume Humbert (Switzerland) -- €215,999

2nd: Azusa Maeda (Japan) -- €133,471

3rd: Roy Finlay (England) -- €92,629

4th: Matan Krakow (Israel) -- €65,068

5th: Adrian Allain (France) -- €46,250

6th: Marton Czuczor (Hungary) -- €33,255

Event #2: €1,090 NLHE

Over in Event #2 there were a few big names still with chips as that whopping field of 771 had shrunk to less than 50, though most would be gone before Tuesday's final table, including Joseph Cheong (48th, €2,398), Nicolas Chouity (43rd, €2,665), Dan Kelly (39th, €2,665), Kevin MacPhee (33rd, €3,390), Vanessa Selbst (32nd, €3,390), James Mitchell (27th, €4,508), and Erik Cajelais (20th, €6,269).

When the final table began, Gianluca Speranza enjoyed the chip lead by a wide margin with 757,000 while his nearest challengers all hovered around a third of that total. Speranza would continue to add to his stack during the early going, knocking out short stack Gregory Lejolivet in ninth along the way.

Others would handle the next couple of eliminations, with Eric Baudry sending Nabil Nedjai out in eighth and Tarcisio Bruno eliminating John Eames in seventh. Then Speranza jumped back in to take out Eric Baudry in sixth. All in with pocket fives against Speranza's Ac-Kd, Baudry saw a king flop and soon was done.

At that point Speranza was up over 1.2 million, meaning he had more than half the chips in play with five remaining. Meanwhile Roberto Romanello saw his stack start to shrink, then got the last of it in with As-2d against Bernard Guigon's Ah-Kc. No deuce came to save Romanello, who came up just short of claiming the first-ever Europe-only Triple Crown.

Speranza soon took out Guigon in fourth, his As-2s remaining best versus Guigon's Qd-10s. Then after the dinner break Speranza likewise took care of Bruno in third. In his elimination hand, Bruno looked in okay shape with 10s-10d versus Speranza's Ah-10h through the turn as the board had come Kh-5s-2c-Qc. But the Ad spiked on the river, sending Bruno railward.

Heads-up began with Speranza way out in front with 1.794 million to Hinrichsen's 541,000. But Hinrichsen doubled up with 10h-8h versus the leader's pocket fives, flopping a ten to close the gap between the two. He then quickly grabbed the chip lead, setting up the tourney's final hand.

In that one Speranza opened with a raise from the button, Hinrichsen three-bet, and Speranza called. The flop came Kh-7c-3d. Hinrichsen continued with a bet and Speranza called. The turn brought the 6c and a similar bet-and-call sequence.

The river was the 3s. This time Hinrichsen pushed all in and Speranza called immediately, showing Kc-9s for kings and treys. But Hinrichsen had As-Ks for the same hand with a better kicker, and the Aussie had claimed the bracelet.

Event #2 final table payouts:
1st: Andrew Hinrichsen (Australia) -- €148,030

2nd: Gianluca Speranza (Italy) -- €91,262

3rd: Tracisio Bruno (Italy) -- €67,281

4th: Bernard Guigon (France) -- €50,146

5th: Roberto Romanello (United Kingdom) -- €37,874

6th: Eric Baudry (United States) -- €28,977
7th: John Eames (United Kingdom) -- €22,449
8th: Nabil Nedjai (France) -- €17,608
9th: Gregory Lejolivet (France) -- €13,982

Tomorrow will see a third WSOPE bracelet awarded in the €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha event, then Thursday Event #4, the €3,200 NLHE Shootout, will be decided.

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