The PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte Carlo festival hosted a special invitational event in 2026, pitting nine of the best players in the game against each other in a €100,000 buy-in, winner-take-all no-limit hold’em showdown. The made-for-broadcast event had €100,000 kicked in by organizers, making it a cool €1,000,000 to the eventual champion.
The invite list was a real who’s who of the tournament world, with every competitor boasting over multiple tens of millions in prior career earnings. In fact, the combined total across these nine superstars exceeds $448.9 million, with the breakdown by player as follows:
- Stephen Chidwick: $79,517,944
- Jason Koon: $72,676,513
- Mikita Badziakouski: $71,665,501
- Daniel Dvoress: $54,587,004
- Aleksejs Ponakovs: $39,982,594
- Artur Martirosian $38,555,215
- Ben Tollerene: $36,770,869
- Patrik Antonius: $32,356,515
- Kayhan Mokri: $22,814,111
Koon Takes All
In the end, it was Jason Koon who emerged victorious from the stacked lineup, adding a 17th seven-figure score to his lengthy resume of poker successes. The 12-time Triton Poker champion and two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner took to social media the day before the event to share his thoughts on his competition.
PokerStars has assembled one of the toughest lineups imaginable and tomorrow we are going to play a winner-take-all sng for €1,000,000. Tune in. @PokerStars
— Jason Koon (@JasonKoon) May 5, 2026
Koon earned $1,174,900 USD as the champion, pushing his career haul over $73.8 million in the process. He remains in third place on poker’s all-time money list, trailing only Chidwick and Bryn Kenney ($85,767,294). Kenney had added to his lead with a runner-up finish in the €250,000 buy-in event at this festival just a day earlier.
Thinning The Elite Field
The event took roughly 7.5 hours to complete. It took over two hours for the first elimination to arrive, with Badziakouski’s (9th) pocket kings running into a flopped set of tens for Ponakovs. The three-time bracelet winner from Latvia also scored the next knockout a few hours later, with pocket aces holding against the pocket nines of Dvoress (8th).
Ponakovs was also involved in the next big showdown, with his pocket tens falling to the pocket aces of Antonius. The Finnish legend made a wheel to double, leaving Ponakovs on fumes. He won his first all-in after that, though, giving him enough breathing room to outlast Ben Tollerene (7th). The American pro’s final stand pitted Q♦J♦ against the K♦K♣ of Chidwick. Tollerene flopped a pair but failed to improve any further.
From Six To Two
The comeback continued for Ponakovs, who found another double after flopping trips sevens against the aces up of Koon. He improved to sevens full on the turn and held from there. A while later, though, that momentum was halted when Ponakovs’ (6th) pocket deuces lost all-in against the A-Q suited of Chidwick.
Patrik Antonius
Antonius was the next to fall, with Q-J facing off against A-5 for Martirosian. The Hall of Famer never improved and was sent to the rail in fifth place. Martirosian (4th) soon followed, running top pair of aces into the flopped sevens and sixes of Koon. He found himself all-in on the turn and failed to improve, leaving Koon in the lead with three remaining.
Chidwick’s run came to an end in third. He was left on fumes after his A♥9♥ failed to come from behind against the A♦K♦ of Mokri. Neither player connected with a jack-high runout and Chidwick was left with just a handful of big blinds. He got all-in with pocket tens a few minutes later, but lost a flip against the Q-J of Mokri.
Million Euro Heads-Up Match
The final heads-up match began with 6,050,000 for Koon and 2,950,000 for Mokri. It didn’t take long for Koon to convert that roughly 2:1 lead into the seven-figure payout.
On the first hand, Mokri ripped from the button with K♦4♦ and Koon called with K♠2♠ from the big blind. The A♠K♥8♥ gave both player’s second pair and made a chop the most likely outcome. The Q♠ turn gave Koon a fully-fledged flush draw, though, and the 8♠ on the end completed it. With that, he locked up the win, sending Mokri to the rail empty-handed.
Check out the full broadcast from PokerStars’ YouTube account below.
