The PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona festival hosted 47 events from Aug. 18-31 at Casino Barcelona, with more than $67 million in total prize money awarded along the way. The series truly had something for everyone, with a vast assortment of games, tournament formats, and buy-ins to choose from, with events ranging from €550 to €100,000.
Here is an in-depth look at all of the biggest storylines to emerge after another exciting series in the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region.
Thomas Eychenne Secures $1.4 Million Payday In Main Event
The €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event drew 2,045 entries, the third-largest turnout for any championship in EPT history. The massive field created a prize pool worth more than $11.5 million. After two starting flights and six more days of combined-field action, that expansive sea of contenders was narrowed down to a single player in Thomas Eychenne.
The 35-year-old French player emerged victorious with his first live tournament title and $1,424,095 in prize money. This was also his first seven-figure score, topping his previous best payout of $801,000 that came with a seventh-place finish in the 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC). Eychenne now boasts nearly $4.2 million in career cashes after this latest windfall.
“It feels just amazing,” said Eychenne. “It’s my first tournament win. I obviously didn’t expect to win when entering a 2,000-player field. It’s tough to put words on such emotions. It’s incredible.”
The money bubble burst on day 3, with the top 304 finishers earning a share of the eight-figure prize pool. Among the many big names to make deep runs inside the money were 2025 World Series of Poker main event sixth-place finisher Adam Hendrix (84th), bracelet winner Julien Sitbon (62nd), Brock Wilson (61st), WSOP main event fifth-place finisher Luka Bojovic (46th), Ramon Colillas (32nd), and Leo Worthington-Leese (20th).
Eychenne entered heads-up play nearly even with Sebastian Ionita, and the final two paused the clock to hash out a deal and redistribute the remaining prize money. They ultimately agreed to lock up $1,307,095 each, leaving $117,000 and the trophy to play for.
After losing the first few pots, Eychenne went on a tear that saw him first level the playing field then seize the lead. Before long, he had created a 2:1 chip lead for himself. He then won a hefty preflop clash, four-bet jamming to extend his advantage to more than 3:1.
In the tournament’s final hand, Ionita limped in from the small blind with A♥6♣. Eychenne raised out of the big blind holding A♣K♣. Ionita mulled it over before opting to limp-jam for 24 big blinds. Eychenne quickly called, and the board gave him top pair, top kicker for the win. Ionita headed to the payout desk to collect the seven-figure payday he’d negotiated. Before this score, his top payday had been the $177,000 he earned for a third-place finish in a $2,200 event at Merit Poker’s Mediterranean Poker Party.
Alexis Nicolai Outlasts 5,036 In PokerStars Open Barcelona
The main event was hardly the only highlight at this massive festival. An early gem was the PokerStars Open Barcelona, which drew a staggering 5,036 entries (at €1,650 a piece) across eight starting flights to create a final prize pool of $8.5 million.
France’s Alexis Nicolai emerged victorious with the title,1,320 POY points, and the top prize of $903,240. This was his first recorded six-figure score. It helped propel his lifetime earnings past the $1 million mark.
Nicolai is now the third consecutive French winner of the kickoff event at the EPT Barcelona festival, with Sylvain Berthelot and Lucien Cohen having won the Estrellas Poker Tour events in 2024 and 2023, respectively. One change to the event saw the buy-in shift from €1,100 to €1,650. The increase led to the largest prize pool ever for the event, even with a 29.5 percent decrease in turnout year-over-year.
The top 753 finishers earned a share of the massive prize pool. Nicolai defeated Mengshi Tian heads-up to conclude the event. The final hand was a rollercoaster for both players. Tian’s 7♠7♦ trailed the 9♠9♥ of Nicolai preflop, but the first three cards off the deck were 10♣7♣4♦, giving Tian a set and the lead. The 8♦ turn added some outs for Nicolai in the form of an open-ended straight draw. The J♠ river completed his straight, earning him the title in dramatic fashion. Tian settled for $564,279.
Leon Sturm And Kayhan Mokri Win Headlining High Roller Titles
Leon Sturm first broke out on the live high-stakes poker tournament circuit in 2023, taking down a $50,000 buy-in at the WSOP for a bracelet and his first seven-figure score. The 24-year-old German professional player most recently bested 47 entries in the €100,000 super high roller at this festival, earning $1,696,950 for a new career-high payday.
Sturm’s lifetime earnings are now more than $11.3 million, despite only recording just a handful of live cashes before the pandemic-induced shutdown of 2020.
The prize pool grew to over $5.3 million, with that hefty sum split amongst the top six finishers. The final table included several high-stakes stars, like Punnat Punsri (6th – $373,464), Aleksejs Ponakovs (5th – $480,168), 2022 WSOP main event champion Espen Jorstad (4th – $613,548), and current POY race leader Jesse Lonis (3rd – $826,956), who was fresh off of his win in the Onyx Invitational.
Lonis was already the clear leader in the 2025 POY race standings, with seven qualified titles and 21 final-table finishes to his name. In addition to this deep run, he also placed third in a €10,200 six-max event at this stop. The 600 total points he earned in Barcelona took his total to 8,449, giving him a 1,934-point lead over second-ranked Artur Martirosian (6,515 points).
David Coleman finished second for $1,344,043 after a heads-up deal redistributing the remaining prize money. This was a new top score for Coleman, who finished as the runner-up in four high roller events in the span of a single week at this series. The second-place streak saw him collect nearly $2.3 million along with 1,560 POY points to move him inside the top 75. His career earnings now sit at nearly $12.1 million after his performance in Spain.
Kayhan Mokri, fresh off a high-profile €2 million heads-up win in North Cyprus, added another $609,453 to his haul thanks to a win in the €50,000 high roller. It’s the third consecutive year in which the Norwegian pro has won a high roller trophy at this stop. In each of the previous two runnings, Mokri took down the €100,000 high roller during the festival.
A total of 35 entrants put up the sizable buy-in, generating a prize pool worth just shy of $2 million. Hungary’s Andras Nemeth finished second, taking home $522,815 after a heads-up deal. Niklas Astedt, the Swedish online poker superstar who made a big splash in the 2024 WSOP main event, notched his second final table appearance of the festival, finishing fourth.
PokerStars ambassador Jason Koon finished sixth for $138,996. It was one of three final-table showings for the American star who won his second bracelet this summer. He also finished second in a €25,000 pot-limit Omaha event for $314,028 and ninth in a €25,000 no-limit hold’em tournament for $53,820. The 528 total POY points he accrued with the trio of scores pushed Koon into 24th place in the overall standings.
More Notable EPT Barca Champions
The aforementioned Punnat Punsri topped a field of 77 entries in the €10,200 mystery bounty, earning $111,150 in bounties and an additional $99,126 from the main prize pool. Brock Wilson took down the €12,300 no-limit hold’em cuatro bounty, taking home the $109,301 first-place prize and $42,120 in bounties as the champion.
Jeremy Ausmus earned his third trophy of 2025, coming out on top in the €20,000 no-limit hold’em event for $372,869. He outlasted a field of 63, which generated a prize pool of over $1.4 million. This was his second POY-qualified title and 12th such final table, which puts him in ninth place in the rankings heading into the fall.
The stakes kept rising from there. Austria’s Samuel Mullur bested 52 entries in the first of several €25,000 buy-ins at the series, earning $382,941 for the win. Next up was a €30,000 buy-in, which ended with 57 entries. Klemens Roiter walked away with $594,108 as the champion. The reigning WSOP Monster Stack champion surged into eighth place in the POY race with this, his second title of 2025.
Stepping away from the nosebleeds for a moment, two lower buy-in events with gigantic fields saw players earn hefty six-figure top prizes during this festival. Alexander Ivarsson overcame 1,894 entries in a €825 buy-in to earn $247,666, while Eero Abbey scored $588,098 after striking a short-handed deal in the €2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller.
Matthew Wantman placed fourth in that event for $256,230. This was the bracelet winner and WPT champion’s 16th final table of the year. He moved to sixth place on the POY leaderboard with this performance.
Henrique Lessa triumphed in another €2,700 buy-in, navigating a field of 930 entries to win $471,510. The €3,250 knockout event attracted 1,004 entries, with Roman Stoica securing $431,367 as the champion. Another knockout, priced at €1,650 to enter, wound up with 793 entries. Ioannis Poullos cashed for $210,425 as the champion.
The high-stakes action resumed with pot-limit Omaha. Espen Myrmo defeated 52 entries in the €25,000 buy-in PLO to earn $474,926. A €10,200 buy-in version of the same game drew 145 entries, with Anonymous dragging the last pot to lock up the trophy and the top prize of $409,266.
The game switched back to no-limit hold’em for the next €25,000 buy-in. Belgian bracelet winner Pieter Aerts outlasted 66 entries to earn $556,171. Bernardo Neves triumphed over a field of 500 entries in a €10,300 buy-in event, capturing the title and $988,884.
Two-time bracelet winner Alexandre Reard took down another €10,300 event, albeit with a smaller turnout of 82 entries. Reard’s reward was $261,963. Alexander Ivarsson then scored his second win of the series, topping 172 in a €3,150 buy-in six max event to add another $136,796.
Reigning back-to-back WSOP ladies event champion Shiina Okamoto overcame a field of 126 entries in the €550 ladies event to earn $18,147. The score helped push her career earnings to more than $905,000. This was her second ladies’ event win and third overall title of the year, having also come out on top a high roller at the Taiwan Millions series in late July.
- Photos by PokerStars – Danny Maxwell, Jules Pochy, Eloy Cabacas, Manuel Kovsca