DUBLIN, December 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Russian Vladimir Mefodichev has won the first leg of the European Mastersof Poker season II at the Grand Casino, Ljubljana, Slovenia, topping thefield of 253 opponents to take down the EUR58,190 top prize.

The three-day, EUR1,000+EUR100 buy-in event attracted players from allover Europe and the final table consisted of players from France, Germany,Sweden, Greece, Denmark (x2), Romania, Israel, Russia.

Heads up took 20 hands and Mefodichev and his opponent Mihai SorinNedelcu from Romania saw just four flops. The final hand saw Nedelcu raise to240,000, Mefodichev push all-in, and the Nedelcu call. The Romanian had 8-8and the Russian had K-J suited. The board fell K-5-3-Q-Q and Mefodichev wascrowned champion.

        The final table payouts were:    1: Vladimir Mefodichev      EUR58,190    2: Mihai Sorin Nedelcu      EUR34,914    3: Jeremias Fjellgren       EUR22,770    4: Anders Kjaerulff         EUR14,168    5: Steffen Uhldahl          EUR11,132    6: Andreas Chalkiadakis     EUR8,602    7: Sylvain Lanternier       EUR7,590    8: Christopher Brammer      EUR6,578    9: Avi Cohen                EUR5,566

The tour now gears up for its second stop - Casino Las Palmas, GranCanaria, Spain - from Jan. 28 to 31, 2010.

Qualification for the EUR1,000+EUR100 buy-in main event in Gran Canariais now underway on all poker sites on the Entraction network for as little asEUR2 or 200 VIP points. There are 32 daily satellites feeding into the mainweekly qualifiers which take place each:

        Tuesday 20:40 (CET)  -  EUR100 buy in with five EUR2,000 packages                                                             guaranteed    Thursday 20:40 (CET) -  EUR100 buy in with five EUR2,000 packages                                                             guaranteed    Sunday 20:40 (CET)   -  EUR200 buy in with eight EUR2,000 packages                                                              guaranteed

Players should also look out for monthly special promotions from EMOPpremium partner sites 24hPoker.com, C4A.com, NoIQPoker.com, Pokerihuone.com,Pokerdassi.com, and Potraiser.com

In season I over 1,000 players took part in EMOP events across Europeandestinations, battling for prize pools which totaled more than EUR1.6million. In excess of 1,400 players are expected to attend main events duringseason II.

For more details visit http://www.europeanmastersofpoker.com.

About European Masters of Poker

EMOP is a live poker tournament series running in Europe. EMOP gives therecreational player opportunity to play big international poker tournamentswith affordable buy-in. EMOP chooses to cooperate with the best casinos inEurope to give the participants an unforgettable experience. Partners in theEntraction poker network will send at least 200 qualifiers to each event .The European Masters of Poker gives the gaming operator a unique possibilityto create ambassadors for and loyalty to their brand. EMOP is a wholly ownedsubsidiary of the Entraction Group. Please visithttp://www.europeanmastersofpoker.com for more information.

Contact: brendan.murray@pokermediaconsulting.com, +353-863057469 for more details.