The final heat of the PartyPoker.com European Open III started in dramatic fashion.  The final 6 players were all battling it out for the last seat in the semi-finals, and it was Lascelle Barrow who went through.
 
The sixth hand of the game saw the first player to be knocked out.  Barrow with pocket sevens, Dave Courtney with  Ad, Qs and Darren Bloom with Kh, Jd all saw a flop.  It showed 6c, 8d, Qd, the turn came down a 7, giving Barrow trips.  Courtney went all in, Bloom folded and Barrow called.  Courtney needed an queen on the river but it came down 10h, and Barrow had a massive chip lead with $270,000.
 
The fifteenth hand saw last years forth place finisher Dave Clayton go out.  The board showed 7s, 8s, Kc, 9c, Jh.  Clayton pushed with As, 3s and was caught with his hands in the cookie jar by Gavin Alexander who held Ah, Ks. 
 
Four hands later Darren Bloom was knocked out by his good friend Alexander.  Bloom went all in with pocket sixes, and Alexander called with pocket queens.  The flop came down 2, 10, 3 rainbow so Bloom needed a six.  The turn showed a 10s and the river came down an 8d.  It  was hard luck for Bloom, but for Alexander it put him way in the lead with $352,000 chips. 
 
John Charalambous who had qualified via a satellite at the Gutshot card room was still in but Barrow and Alexander had a big advantage over him.  After the madness of the first 19 hands the three remaining players started to play very cautiously.  John Charalambous started to dig away at Barrow’s and Alexander’s stacks, and after 52 hands he had taken the chip lead.  Four hands later he lost it to Alexander. 
 
After 71 hands he was out.  He held Js, 9s and Barrow held Qs, 9d.  the board showed Ad, 6c, 7h, 9C and 2s.  It was virtually neck a neck going into the heads up battle between Barrow and Alexander.  The lead kept changing between both players and after 123 hands it was done.  Barrow held Jc, Kh and Alexander held Qh, 7h.  The flop came down 9s, 9h, As, the turn 4d and the river 6c.
 
After such an explosive start, Barrow was the last man standing and has the final seat for semi-finals 
 
The semi-final line ups are as follows.
 
Semi – Final 1, Dave Gregory, Nick Persaud, Scott Fenton, John Magill, Clive Layton and Gez Bailey
 
Semi – Final 2, Pippa Flanders, Darren Hickman, Don Fagan, Liam Flood, Ian Cox and Lascelle Barrow