Dejan Kaladjurdjevic Among Biggest Early Winners At EPT Monte Carlo

In less than a week of European Poker Tour action in Monte Carlo, the money has predictably been flying. Alex Kulev won the biggest buy-in high roller in EPT history for $3.2 million, Albert Daher cashed in for $2.4 million, and Joris Ruijs beat out a sizable field to win the PokerStars Open main event in Monte Carlo.

But that’s just a small sample of the tournament winners thus far at EPT Monte Carlo. From high rollers in the traditional sense to the high roller counterpart to the smaller buy-in PokerStars Open, the action at Sporting Monte-Carlo has been fast and furious, with plenty more in store. For now, these three winners who hoisted PokerStars spade trophies stand out among the early side event victors in Monaco.

€50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller

Before this week, Dejan Kaladjurdjevic had one massive result on his tournament poker resume. His runner-up finish in a Triton $125,000 buy-in event in his home country of Montenegro earned Kaladjurdjevic $3,196,000. With a handful of deep runs in other Triton and Onyx high roller events, Kaladjurdjevic pushed his career earnings over $5 million, but despite his successes over the last few years, he lacked a signature win.

That’s no longer the case.

Kaladjurdjevic won a €50,000 buy-in high roller event at EPT Monte Carlo, claiming a first-place prize of $850,725, along with his first career live tournament win of note. He did so with a flourish, defeating one of the most successful high roller tournament players in the world, five-time Triton champion Mikita Badziakouski, heads-up to seal his victory.

Kaladjurdjevic outlasted a field of 43 entries, claiming his share of a $2,465,442 prize pool. For his win, Kaladjurdjevic earned 510 Card Player Player of the Year points. It’s his second qualifying result of 2026, joining a final table appearance at WSOP Europe in April. He now sits just inside the top 500 players on the yearlong leaderboard presented by CoinPoker.

Five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and EPT main event champion Adrian Mateos (3rd), four-time bracelet winner Joao Vieira (5th), and six-time Triton champion Matthias Eibinger (6th) also made this €50,000 final table.

Final Table Results

€2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller Monte Carlo

Even when the buy-ins are 10% or less of some of the big high-roller events, and the fields grow, the biggest names in tournament poker consistently make runs in the side events on the EPT.

Boris Angelov, who made the final table of back-to-back EPT Monte Carlo main events over the last two years, as well as the final table of the 2024 WSOP main event, navigated another big field in the €2,700 PokerStars Open high roller in Monte Carlo, before ultimately finishing third. Just behind him, in fourth, was Davidi Kitai, winner of three WSOP bracelets, the 2012 EPT Berlin main event, and the 2011 WPT Celebrity Invitational.

But when it got down to a heads-up battle for this PokerStars Open high roller title in Monte Carlo, Tibor Nagygyorgy of Hungary and Argentina’s Luis Sequeira were the last two standing. Nagygyorgy got the better of the match, taking home the title, the $411,840 first-place prize, and 1,368 POY points. His career-best victory, and second-ever six-figure live result, pushed Nagygyorgy to a hair shy of $1 million in career live earnings.

In total, 821 entrants put up the €2,700 buy-in, creating a prize pool of $2,328,785. Adam Geyer (119th), Govert Metaal (102nd), Alexandre Reard (96th), Shiina Okamoto (69th), and Nacho Barbero (55th) were among the 124 players who finished in the money.

Final Table Results

€30,000 PLO 6-Max High Roller

The high roller action has been a focal point in the early days of EPT Monte Carlo in 2026, and it hasn’t been confined to no-limit hold’em.

A €30,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event took place in parallel to the €50,000 no-limit hold’em high roller, and 28 total players got into the mix. After winning a pair of WSOP bracelets in PLO, at WSOP Europe in 2024 and in Las Vegas in 2025 (for a staggering $2,292,155), Germany’s Dennis Weiss once again showed off his four-card prowess at this stop.

Weiss claimed his first-ever PokerStars spade trophy and a $411,419 first-place prize, along with 252 POY points. The top four players reached the money, with runner-up Erik Nordstrand of Norway recording his first six-figure live tournament score. Richard Gryko, a WSOP bracelet winner and Triton PLO champion in his own right, finished fourth.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: Danny Maxwell / Manuel Kovsca, Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.