Thang Duc Nguyen, a 42 year-old chef from Hamburg, Germany, won €487,397 today at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour in Baden, Austria.

At the end of the four-day tournament, Nguyen triumphed heads-up against New Yorker Ben Johnson to take the top prize in the €5,000 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold’em event. Chess player Johnson, 29, from Brooklyn won € 251,560 for second place.

The tournament attracted 331 players to the famous Austrian spa resort, nearly double last year’s field, creating a prize pool of €1,572,250.

Nguyen - originally from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam - has had some impressive wins in recent months, including two final tables in September’s PokerStars.com World Cup of Online Poker picking up a total of €35,000. Prior to today’s win, Nguyen said he wasn’t ready to give up his day job as a chef, but admitted he is now considering “taking a nice family holiday”.

The fearless Italian Dario Minieri, 22, who is set to become a huge name on the European poker circuit, finished third with €125,780. Belgian PokerStars qualifier Daniel Dodet finished 4th for €110,000.

Other stars in Baden this week included Team PokerStars members Luca Pagano, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Katja Thater, as well as 61 players who won their seats on PokerStars. Also in Baden were EPT3 London winner Vicky Coren, Noah Boeken (Copenhagen EPT1 winner), Martin Wendt and Edgar Skjervold. The largest attendance was from Sweden with 47 players, closely followed by the UK with 43 players.

The next EPT event takes place in Dublin, Ireland (October 26-29. 2006) at the Regency Hotel. Following that will be Copenhagen in January, Deauville in February and the EPT Grand Final which is again taking place at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in Monaco, starting on March 28, 2007.

Final standings:

1. Thang Duc Nguyen, Germany, €487,397
2. Ben Johnson, USA, €251,560
3. Dario Minieri, Italy, €125,780
4. Daniel Dodet, Belgium, €110,057
5. Sasa Biorac, Germany, €94,335
6. Rodion Cherednichenko, Russia, €78,612
7. Jonas Molander, Sweden, €62,890
8. Peter Eichhardt, Sweden, €47,167
9. Andrea Balla, Italy, €31,445