Boris Angelov Strikes Early In EPT Paris Action

The earliest days of the 2026 European Poker Tour Paris festival offered a deluge of tournament action. The high rollers were out in force during the first weekend, battling across a variety of buy-ins and formats. There were also big-field events in tandem with the big buy-ins, as the PokerStars Open Paris drew 2,992 entrants and the PokerStars Open Cup attracted 1,649 players.

Boris Angelov, who enjoyed a breakout 2024 and continued that success on the EPT in 2025, struck again in Paris with an early victory. His heads-up win over Dimitar Danchev was the first of a pair of close calls for Danchev at this stop, who quickly logged another runner-up finish.

Spain has been well represented in the results to this point with a number of podium finishes. Beyond the no-limit hold’em streets, bigger pot-limit Omaha results have started to roll in as well.

A little less than a week into the festival, here are some of the early highlights from EPT Paris 2026, which is running Feb. 18 – Mar. 1 at Palais des Congres de Paris.

Another Big Score For Angelov

Boris Angelov enjoyed a dream of a year for any tournament poker player in 2024. It started in May at EPT Monte Carlo, where the Bulgarian finished second in the main event for a career-best $670,140. Two months later, his career earnings exploded with a fifth-place finish in that summer’s World Series of Poker main event for $2.5 million.

Angelov returned to the EPT spotlight the following May. He made it back-to-back EPT Monte Carlo main event final tables and took third place the second time around. The only thing lacking from this wave of major results was trophies.

Angelov solved that part of the equation at this year’s EPT Paris. In the opening high roller event, the 28-year-old outlasted a field of 75 entrants in a €10,200 no-limit hold’em mystery bounty event to claim the trophy. His total payout reached $256,178, with more than half of that sum, $141,600, coming from bounties alone. This win joins Angelov’s victory at EPT Barcelona in 2024 as his second career PokerStars Spade trophy.

This was Angelov’s first live tournament result since August 2025. His heads-up victory over a fellow Bulgarian, EPT champion and WSOP bracelet winner Dimitar Danchev, earned him 420 Card Player Player of the Year points, in a race presented by CoinPoker.

Final Table Results

Dvoress Denies Danchev

Danchev got heads-up again in another event just a few days later. In a €25,000 no-limit hold’em high roller, Danchev stared across the table at Canadian Daniel Dvoress with the title on the line. For the second time in as many tournaments, he fell one spot short.

The 37-year-old professional added another PokerStars spade trophy to his multitude of career accomplishments, which include two bracelets and numerous high roller titles. This $337,527 pushed Dvoress’ career earnings north of $51.5 million in total, placing him second on Canada’s all-time money list behind only Daniel Negreanu ($57.1 million). This victory also earned Dvoress 336 Card Player POY points.

All five in-the-money finishers in this tournament were bracelet winners, including Michael Watson (5th – $84,370), who finally completed poker’s triple crown in 2024 after being a WSOP win away for years.

Final Table Results

Pardo Pips Mateos In Battle Of Spaniards

Dvoress, Watson, and Klemens Roiter each doubled up on final tables during the first week of EPT Paris, but neither factored into the eventual heads-up battle for a €20,000 no-limit hold’em high roller title.

That came down to two players from Spain, and two of the top three players on that nation’s all-time money list. Juan Pardo ultimately bested Adrian Mateos, earning $261,601 and 288 POY points for outlasting a field of 31. This is the eighth career PokerStars Spade trophy for Pardo, whose career earnings swelled to over $15.5 million.

Mateos, the all-time leading earner for Spain by a wide margin with over $57 million, settled for $168,622 as the runner-up in this event.

Final Table Results

Santiago Plante Bests Punnat Punsri

Santiago Plante has been close to major titles on three different tours, narrowly missing out on WSOP, EPT, and WPT victories. After so many close calls, Plante finally enjoyed the most significant live victory of his career during the early high rollers in Paris.

Plante defeated 2025 Card Player POY runner-up Punnat Punsri heads-up to win the €12,300 no-limit hold’em quattro bounty tournament. Among a field of 27 high rollers, Plante banked $115,215 for the win, along with $56,640 in bounties.

Third-place finisher Youness Barakat scored his fifth qualifying POY result of 2026, and following this final table run, Barakat now sits in 11th place in the overall standings.

Final Table Results

Theo Rebour Scores Major Spin-Up

Amidst the high rollers battling it out, there was a significant turnout at the opposite end of the spectrum. The PokerStars Open Cup, a €825 no-limit hold’em tournament, drew 1,649 entrants and created a prize pool of over $1.4 million.

Theo Rebour of France represented his hometown of Paris well, turning his sub-$1,000 buy-in into a $218,524 payday. It’s nearly ten times the amount Rebour earned in his previous best career live result, a 25th-place finish in the 2025 WSOP Colossus event. Along with his first career PokerStars Spade trophy, Rebour earned 540 POY points.

Runner-up Manuel De Sousa, from Portugal, also multiplied his career-best result several times over, with a second-place prize of $136,325.

Final Table Results

Fahredin Mustafov Proves PLO Prowess

In the first of several major PLO events on the EPT Paris schedule, Fahredin Mustafov came away with the hardware. Mustafov won a €5,200 PLO event with 123 entrants, claiming the $182,487 first-place prize and 528 POY points.

Mustafov added another title to the Bulgarian tally in Paris. He’s enjoyed considerable success around the world, with a career-defining win in the 2025 Onyx Club Super High Roller Series $5 million guaranteed event worth $1.3 million. This PLO win earned Mustafov his third career PokerStars Spade trophy.

Fourth-place finisher Alexandre Reard and seventh-place finisher Youness Barakat both added PLO final-table showings to earlier no-limit hold’em successes at the festival. PLO tournament standout Lautaro Guerra went out in eighth place, extending his lead atop the game’s all-time money list. He’s now cashed for more than $10.2 million in the format.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Eloy Cabacas, Danny Maxwell, and Jules Pochy.