Geshkenbein crowned PKR Heads-Up Grand Slam champion - 12/10/2009
Russian poker pro Vladimir Geshkenbein beat Juha Helppi to win the inaugural PKR Heads-Up Grand Slam tournament in London. 
Glory for McElhinney in his home country
Geshkenbein - known as "Beyne" on PKR - was aggressive throughout the tournament and kept up his relentless attacking style against his Finnish final opponent and Premier League Poker winner, who got the last of his chips in with A6 and Geshkenbein called with Q9 of diamonds, hitting runner-runner diamonds for the flush on the river and picking up the $120,000 prize in the first ever running of the tournament at 3 Mills Studios.
Beyne saw off young online pro Alex Keating in the first round, online qualifier Brahim Hajji in the second round, Aussie Millions High-Rollers winner David Steicke in the quarter-finals before seeing off PKR pro James Sudworth in the semi-finals to meet Helppi.
"I always go into a heads-up match feeling like the favourite and that's how I felt in the final," said Geshkenbein, who beat the legendary Johnny Chan to win the APPT High Rollers event earlier in the year.
Helppi's path to the final saw him clash with online qualifier Jonas Westerlund in the first round, before beating two Premier League Poker rivals in 2006 EPT London winner Vicky Coren (second round) and Ian Frazer (quarter-final) then setting up his clash with Beyne with victory over Alec Torelli.
"I'm happy with the way I played all the way to the final, I just didn't get any cards today," said Helppi, who takes home $70,000 for his efforts.
The two defeated semi-finalists faced off in the third and fourth place play-off, with Torelli taking third spot ahead of Sudworth.
Some of the biggest names in poker stumped up the $10,000 buy-in to battle for the trophy, with Annette Obrestad, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Luke "Full Flush" Schwartz, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, Phil Laak, Peter Eastgate, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Nam Le, JC Tran, Ivan Demidov and Tony G all taking part in the event.
RESULTS (with payouts):
The Final:
Vladimir Geshkenbein ($120,000) beat Juha Helppi ($70,000)
Third/Fourth place play-off:
Alec Torelli ($45,000) beat James Sudworth ($35,000)
Semi-finals:
Vladimir Geshkenbein beat James Sudworth
Juha Helppi beat Alec Torelli
Quarter-Finals:
Alec Torelli beat Tony G ($20,000)
Juha Helppi beat Ian Frazer ($20,000)
James Sudworth beat Lex Veldhuis ($20,000)
Vladimir Geshkenbein beat David Steicke ($20,000)
Second Round:
Juha Helppi beat Vicky Coren
Ian Frazer beat Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott
Alec Torelli beat Antonio Esfandiari
Tony G beat Sandra Naujoks
Alec Torelli beat Antonio Esfandiari
Tony G beat Sandra Naujoks
Lex Veldhuis beat Luke Schwartz
David Steicke beat John Duthie
James Sudworth beat Massimo Mele
Vladimir Geshkenbein beat Brahim Hajji
First Round:
Ian Frazer beat Annette Obrestad
Sandra Naujoks beat Sammy George
Luke Schwartz beat Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Juha Helppi beat Jonas Westerlund
Lex Veldhuis beat Nam Le
Vicky Coren beat Peter Eastgate
Alec Torelli beat Ilari Sahamies
John Duthie beat Tom Dwan
Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott beat John Tabatabai
James udworth beat Phil Laak
Vladmir Geshkenbein beat Alex Keating
Brahim Hajji beat Neil Channing
David Steicke beat JC Tran
Tony G beat Jennifer Tilly
Massimo Mele beat Ivan Demidov
Antonio Esfandiari beat Andreas Johansson
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