Here are some facts and figures about the just-completed 2008 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event, as provided by WSOPE statisticians:

The winner, John Juanda, has now made the final table of a WSOP or WSOPE event 23 times…

Juanda has now finished in the money in a WSOP or WSOPE event 45 times…

Juanda now has a total of four championship gold bracelets earned either in WSOP or WSOPE play. Three came in WSOP competition, with the last coming in 2003…

Juanda, a naturalized American citizen who was born in Indonesia, is the first American to win a WSOPE event. Previous WSOPE events were won by an Italian, a German, a Norwegian, an Afghan and two Danes…

The WSOPE Main Event was played at the Empire Casino in London, England, and the highest-finishing local in the tournament was Robin Keston of London, who finished seventh…

The final table of the 2008 WSOPE Main Event, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament, took 19 hours and 10 minutes to play, making it the longest final table ever in WSOP or WSOPE play, timewise. The previous time record for any final table in a WSOP or WSOPE event was a razz tournament at the 2005 WSOP in Las Vegas, which took 16 hours to play…

The final table also lasted for 484 hands of play, also a record for WSOP/WSOPE competition. The previous record for any WSOP or WSOPE final table was 354 hands of play, in a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at the 2006 WSOP…

The previous record for the longest final table timewise in a WSOP or WSOPE Texas hold ‘em event was at the 2005 WSOP Main Event. That final table lasted 14 hours and 30 minutes… =A0 The 2008 WSOPE Main Event was the first time ever in a WSOP or WSOPE tournament that Russians finished in two of the top three positions. Stanislav Alekhin, from Moscow, Russia, finished in second place and Ivan Demidov, also of Moscow, finished in third place. In fact, it was the first time in the history of the WSOP or WSOPE that two Russians made the final table of any event…

Demidov is also a member of the so-called “November Nine,” the nine final table members who are to play for the 2008 WSOP Main Event title next month in Las Vegas (the WSOP Main Event has a four-month break between setting its final table and playing it off). It’s the first time in history someone has made both the final table of the WSOP Main Event and the final table of the WSOPE Main Event in the same year…

Three of the nine final table members at the 2008 WSOPE Main Event had previously won championship gold bracelets for winning WSOP events. In addition to Juanda’s three, Scott Fischman had two and Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu had four. Last year’s WSOPE Main Event had no WSOP champs at the final table…

Even though the 2008 WSOPE Main Event and the 2007 WSOPE Main Event each drew 362 participants paying 10,000 British pounds a head to enter, and paid out the Top 36 finishers, this year’s winner, Juanda, earned less for winning the event than did last year’s winner, Annette Obrestad. That’s because the payout structure was altered this year to provide larger amounts to lower in-the-money finishers and smaller amounts to higher in-the-money finishers, in an effort to spread the winnings out more. Obrestad earned a million pounds (about $2 million) for her win while Juanda earned just 868,000 pounds (about $1.7 million)… =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 (E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)