The latest event on the European Poker Tour, the Polish Open, has gone to German Michael Schulze.

At the end of an 11-hour final table in Warsaw featuring nine players from seven different countries, the 40-year-old share trader took the 609,782 winners cheque.

He won an epic 150 minute head-to-head battle with Ricardo Sousa - the Portuguese who has only been playing poker for six months and who was trying to become the first player from that country to win a major tournament.

Schulze held the chip lead at the start of the third and final day with 1,162,000 and he was followed by Sousa (756,000), Juan Maceiras (Spain) 437,000, Mehdi Ouakhir (France) 360,000, Mathias Viberg (Sweden) 229,000 and Trond Erik Eidsvig (Norway) 220,000.

Two more Swedes - Niclas Svensson and Christian Öman were also at the final table alongside the only non-European, Daniel Woolson of the United States, but the trio were up against it with less than 200 thousand chips.

And within ten minutes of the start of the final table it was an all European affair as Woolson went All-In post-flop with pocket rockets only for the flop to hand Ouakhir a flush draw to send the American home.

Eidsvig, had the best pedigree on the final table as he was making third final table of the European Poker Tour season, and although he replicated his cash finish he landed in Copenhagen, he had to settle for eighth.

The Scandinavian Rookie of the Year saw his hopes end when a nine on the river handed Maceiras a pair, too good for Eidsvig's Ace, ten.

Svensson was seventh, paying the price for going All-In pre-flop with pocket fours. He held the lead on the flop but a eight on the river meant a second pair on the board and handed Ouakhir the cash via his Queen kicker.

Maceiras was beginning to make a move after tripling his stack after going All-In on four consecutive hands. But his bid to go Nap on a pair of pocket twos was one bold move too far. An Ace on the turn gave caller Visberg a pair and left the Spaniard in sixth.

At the interval it was Schulze ahead with 1,526,000 and he was now followed by Ouakhir (747,000) - who had made good ground - with Viberg (581,000) also overtaking Sousa (510,000) thanks to the gains from Maceiras with Öman (228,000) bringing up the rear.

Öman was the next to depart after six hours in the hotseat at the final table as chip heavy Schulze went All-In pre-river and the Swede called for his last quarter of a million only to see a nine on the river hand the German trips with Öman left holding a pair of Kings.

Ouakhir followed Öman out of the exit door in fourth place after a topsy-turvy final table. He was down to a small stack after losing a large pot to Sousa and when he got no help from the community cards with his Queen, three Schulze cleaned him out with a pair of tens.

The final three began with Schulze holding 51% of the chips in play thanks to that latest success.

But that advantage didn't last long as Sousa nailed a flush draw on the river to virtually end Viberg's hopes and although the Dane managed to regain some of the ground, his hopes ended with a third place finish.

The heads-up match lasted until the early hours of the morning, 30-year-old Sousa had the intial chip lead but the man from Oporto dropped behind once again and saw his bid for glory come an end when he went All-In and was called by Schulze who turned over Ace, six compared to the Portuguese's pair of sevens

The flop came down and Sousa was still ahead but Schulze got what he was looking for when an Ace came down on the turn and the absence of a seven the river signalled the end of proceedings.

Schulze's tight style also saw him gain a seat at the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo in April and he will look for back-to-back successes as he's already a confirmed entrant at the next event in San Remo, Italy which comes to an end on April 5.

Angus MacKenzie / Eurosport