Aleksandr Shevliakov Tops Second-Largest EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Ever

The poker world once again descended on the luxurious French Riviera destination for another massive European Poker Tour Monte Carlo series in the late spring. More than $48.6 million in prize money was awarded between April 30 and May 10 at Sporting Monte-Carlo, with over 40 events ranging from €330 buy-ins all the way up to the €100,000 super high roller. In total, there were 11 events that each paid out at least $1 million in prize money during the series.

This stop has been a fixture since the EPT first hit the scene amid the 2000s poker boom and has played host to many of the tour’s highlights. This year’s running was another worthy addition, which was headlined again by the €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event.

Online poker player Aleksandr Shevliakov earned a seven-figure payday after qualifying for this event via a €530 buy-in online event at PokerStars. The 37-year-old Russian took home €1,000,000 ($1,130,000) as the last player standing.

“I won,” Shevliakov realized after dragging the final pot. “It’s a dream come true. This is it.”

The 1,195-entry turnout for this event was the second-largest in two decades of EPT action in Monaco, trailing only the record of 1,208 set in 2024. The prize pool for this year swelled to $6,751,750, with the top 175 finishers earning a share.

Among the many notables that ran deep in this event were four-time bracelet winner Ari Engel (34th), Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero (31st), Spanish high roller Juan Pardo (19th), and 2019 World Series of Poker Europe main event champion Alexandros Kolonias (15th).

The final day began with six players remaining and Boris Angelov out in front. The 28-year-old Bulgarian had finished as the runner-up in this event just a year earlier after heading into the last day as the top stack, and was hoping to close out his incredible back-to-back final table run with a win.

The first knockout of the day saw Canada’s Jamil Wakil get all-in with Q-J suited trailing the A-K suited of Shevliakov. Wakil opened to 270,000 with blinds of 60,000-120,000 and a 120,000 big blind ante. Shevliakov three-bet for less than a complete raise, putting out 360,000. He then claimed he didn’t see Wakil’s raise in front of him.

Tournament staff ruled that Shevliakov had to raise to the minimum of 420,000, which gave Wakil the chance to call, fold, or raise. He opted to move all in, and was quickly called. Wakil found no help on a king-high runout and was eliminated in sixth place for $225,718, a sting made worse by what he took to be an angle shot by Shevliakov.

This was the fourth-largest career cash for Wakil, who now has nearly $2.9 million in recorded scores to his name after this latest deep run.

Shevliakov also scored the next elimination holding the same two cards with A♥K♥. The chips went in preflop with Poland’s Mariusz Golinski’s A♠9♠ dominated. The flop came down Q♥J♦10♥ to give Shevliakov the nut straight with a royal flush redraw. The 5♥ turn improved Shevliakov to a flush to leave Golinski drawing dead.

The 2024 WSOP Europe main event fourth-place finisher added $293,687 to his lifetime haul with this latest deep run, surpassing $1 million in earnings in the process.

Enrico Coppola’s event came to an end when he shoved his last 14 big blinds from under the gun with J♦3♦. Shevliakov made the call from the small blind with pocket sixes and held through a diamond-free, nine-high runout to narrow the field to three. The Italian earned a career-best score of $381,827 for his efforts.

Angelov’s incredible attempt at improving on his second-place finish in 2024 fell just short. The 2024 WSOP main event fifth-place finisher called off the last of his stack with A♣8♥ on a 9♣7♣2♦10♠ board. His open-ended straight draw and overcard were trailing the 10♦6♣ of Khossein Kokhestani. The 3♠ failed to connect with Angelov and he was eliminated in third place, pocketing a consolation prize of $496,296.

Angelov has now cashed for more than $1.1 million in this event over the past two years, having banked $670,140 for making it down to heads-up in 2024. He currently boasts nearly $5.2 million in lifetime tournament scores, the vast majority of which has been earned in the last two years.

Heads-up play began with Kokhestani holding a slight lead over Shevliakov. It would be several more hours before a champion was decided, however. There were numerous lead changes along the way, but Shevliakov was eventually able to move ahead and then pull away before the final hand of the tournament.

Shortly after losing a big pot with fives full against the sixes full of Shevliakov on a double-paired board, Kokhestani limped in from the button with A♠6♣. Shevliakov moved all-in with K♣2♥, and Kokhestani called. The board ran out 9♦7♠2♣Q♥8♣ to give Shevliakov a winning pair of deuces.

Kokhestani picked up $694,950 as the runner-up. The 2024 Eureka Poker Tour Hamburg champion from Ukraine now has more than $800,000 in lifetime cashes to his name.

Chris Nguyen and Mikita Badziakouski Crush Super High Rollers

Monte Carlo is known as a hot spot for high rollers, so it’s only fitting that this festival featured plenty of expensive events for the poker world’s elite. 13 events cost five figures or more to enter, with eight over the €25,000 threshold.

The highest buy-in of the whole series was the €100,000 super high roller. The six-figure buy-in drew a record field of 74 entries, creating a final prize pool of more than $8.1 million that was split amongst the top 11 finishers.

American pro Seth Davies picked up $1,053,047 for third place to bring his career earnings to $34,555,315, while Anonymous added $1,474,085 for second place. Anonymous cashed seven times during the series, all in events with buy-ins of at least €10,000. He made six final tables, with three runner-up finishes and a third-place showing.

Germany’s Chris Nguyen walked away with the largest payday, earning nearly $2.3 million for a new career-high score. This beat out the $2.1 million that the 25-year-old Austrian earned for a fifth-place showing in the 2024 WSOP Paradise $25,000 super main event.

Nguyen backed that victory up with a third-place showing in the €50,000 high roller, the second-highest buy-in of the series. The score added $397,760 to his career haul.

The former online cash game grinder is quickly making quite a name for himself on the live high-stakes tournament scene. He already has more than $5.1 million in career cashes under his belt despite logging his first recorded score less than three years ago.

Mikita Badziakouski was the last player standing in the €50,000 high roller, earning $891,005 for his latest high-stakes triumph. This was on top of the $495,279 for his sixth-place finish in the €100,000 high roller.

At just 33 years of age, the Belarusian tournament crusher has already accumulated the third-highest tournament earnings total in poker history with $65,736,054. Only Bryn Kenney ($76,792,663) and Justin Bonomo ($69,415,857) have cashed for more on the circuit. Badziakouski now sits roughly a quarter of a million dollars ahead of fourth-ranked Stephen Chidwick on poker’s all-time money list.

This was Badziakouski’s first title and fourth final-table finish of 2025. He now sits in 10th place in the POY standings, having cashed for more than $3.3 million already this year.

Lonis, Padilha, Tollerene, And Peters Headline Other Winners

The €30,000 super high roller ‘warm-up’ tournament drew 61 entries, with rising high-stakes star Jesse Lonis coming away with the trophy. Lonis struck a deal with fellow two-time bracelet winner Chris Brewer. The pair of American pros each earned over $508,000 for their efforts.

Lonis later finished second in a €10,000 event during the final days of the festival, adding another $162,268. With three titles won and 10 final tables made so far this year, Lonis has climbed to sixth place on the POY leaderboard.

There were five €25,000 buy-in events held throughout the series, the biggest of which was a three-day affair that attracted 226 entries to build a $6,131,674 prize pool. Brazil’s Pedro Padilha was the last player standing, earning a career-high payday of $1,294,980 as the champion, while Thomas Santerne cashed for $809,532 as the runner up.

Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero finished seventh for $222,723. The Argentinian was at his sixth final table of the year, and is now sitting in 20th place in the POY rankings thanks to this latest deep run.

Ben Tollerene took down the second-largest €25,000 event of the festival, outlasting 72 entries for $485,742. He chopped with the UK’s Ben Heath, who earned $419,524.

Tollerene was at his sixth final table of 2025, with this being his first outright victory of the year. The score catapulted him into 17th place in the overall POY standings.

Yet another high roller from the USA came out on top in the next €25,000 no-limit event. David Peters, a four-time bracelet winner, made his way through a field of 67 entries to earn $462,636 after a deal with Anonymous. The victory pushed his career earnings past the $52 million mark, placing him 10th on the money list for the time being.

There were five pot-limit Omaha events during the series, with the largest being the €25,000 buy-in. The prize pool hit seven figures thanks to a turnout of 46 entries, with another American hoisting the trophy when all was said and done. Sean Rafael was awarded a career-best payday of $430,530 as the champion. Online high-stakes pro Laszlo ‘omaha4rollz’ Bujtas took second for $280,805.

The final, and smallest, €25,000 tournament of the series was a single-day affair that wrapped up on the final evening of action. Two-time bracelet winner Aleksejs Ponakovs overcame a field of 22 entries to earn $256,646 and the hardware.

Brazil’s Alisson Piekazewicz took down the €12,000 no-limit hold’em cuatro knockout event during an impressive run at this stop that included four high-stakes final table showings. His win in this event totaled $288,851. He also added a career-best $342,119 for fifth in the big €25,000 high roller and another $195,038 for fourth-place in a later €25,000 high roller, plus a seventh-place showing in the €10,000 cuatro bounty for $54,466.

Bracelet winner Cesar Garcia of Spain dragged the final pot in the €10,000 PLO event, banking $187,430 for the second-highest payout of his career. Just a couple days prior he had taken third place in the €5,000 PLO for $64,636.

Norwegian high-stakes online cash pro Kayhan Mokri walked away with the spade trophy in the €10,000 mystery bounty event, taking home $129,885 for his first-place payout and an additional $36,725 in bounty prizes after topping 91 entries.

This was the latest in a long run of successes for Mokri on the tour, following back-to-back €100,000 no-limit hold’em super high roller wins at EPT Barcelona in 2023 and 2024. He now boasts over $8 million in total career live earnings.

France’s Eric Sfez beat out 86 entries in a €10,000 no-limit hold’em affair, overcoming a stacked final table that featured the likes of Jesse Lonis, Erik Seidel, Adrian Mateos, and Steve O’Dwyer to secure the title and $250,702.

Virgile Turchi was another winner crowned in a €10,000 event. The Frenchman bested a field of 40 entries in the bounty event for $73,337. He also took seventh in the event won by Sfez for another $45,652.

Kyte, Frankland, And Madanzhiev Take Down Big Side Events

There were plenty of other massive events throughout the festival. Perhaps most noteworthy was the record-setting €1,100 buy-in kickoff event. What had long been known as the France Poker Series main event was one of many smaller regional tour tentpoles to be unified under the PokerStars Open banner this year.

The name change was seemingly well received, as this year’s running drew a record turnout of 2,387 entries to beat the previous record of 2,138 set in 2023. The sea of players created a prize pool worth nearly $2.6 million.

The largest payout was the $384,200 taken home by eventual champion Jon Kyte. This was the second-biggest score of the Norwegian player’s tournament career, trailing only the $694,440 he earned as the runner-up in the 2023 EPT Prague main event. Kyte now has more than $3 million in recorded cashes to his name, including 10 titles.

Stoyan Madanzhiev of Bulgaria wrote his name in the poker history books when he took down the 2020 WSOP Online main event. Madanzhiev has accrued plenty of big live results since then, but had yet to record a signature victory on the circuit. That was the case until he won the €3,000 mystery bounty event at this stop, overcoming 739 entries for $261,993. He also added $40,680 in bounty payouts along the way.

One of the largest payouts of the festival outside of the high-stakes events went to the UK’s Mathew Frankland. He bested 1,300 entries in the €2,200 event to bank a new personal best on the circuit of $462,283. That just narrowly beat out the $444,768 he earned for fourth-place later in the series in the €25,000 high roller.

Other notable side event winners included Remy Murcia, Aku Joentausta, Laurent Polito, Mustapha Kanit, Sirzat Hissou, and Maria Konnikova.

The EPT will next touch down in Spain for a series from Aug. 18-31 at Casino Barcelona. EPT Malta is slated for early October, while EPT Prague closes out the year in December.

• Photos by PokerStars – European Poker Tour