On the final day of August in 2025, Thomas Eychenne emerged victorious from a field of 2,045 in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event. The French player earned over $1.4 million as the champion, the largest payday of his career. Just one week shy of a year later, at the very same stop, the 36-year-old captured his second major title inside Casino Barcelona.
Eychenne topped 1,551 entries in the 2026 PokerStars Open Barcelona €2,700 high roller on Aug. 23, earning $683,698 for the win. This is the third-largest score on Eychenne’s résumé, which now boasts more than $6.4 million in total cashes.
This triumph came with 1,620 Card Player Player of the Year points for Eychenne. This was his first title and sixth final-table finish of 2026. With 3,027 total points, he’s climbed within striking distance of the top 50 in the POY standings presented by CoinPoker.
After closing out the win, Eychenne hopped into this year’s main event hoping to defend his title. He ended day 1B with just ten big blinds.
A Dominant Performance
Eychenne scored five of the eight knockouts at the final table, starting with pocket nines outracing the A♣10♣ of bracelet winner Zdenek Zizka. The Czech poker pro and backgammon prodigy earned $62,826 as the ninth-place finisher.
The final table began with Eychenne out in front, and he remained at or near the top of the counts as the field was narrowed to just five. He then ripped off the final four eliminations to run away with the title. After busting Lars Tungel (3rd – $307,910), he took a 6.5:1 chip advantage into heads-up play with fellow Frenchman Virgile Turchi.
The last hand of the event saw Turchi run 10♦9♥ into the pocket queens of Eychenne. The overpair held, and Turchi settled for $430,360 as the runner-up. This was a new career best score for Turchi, who also finished second in the France Poker Series main event in Monte Carlo back in 2024 and fifth in this same event at the EPT Paris earlier in 2026. He now has nearly $2 million in lifetime cashes under his belt.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Thomas Eychenne | $683,698 | 1620 |
| 2 | Virgile Turchi | $430,360 | 1,350 |
| 3 | Lars Tungel | $307,910 | 1,080 |
| 4 | Marwan Salamoun | $236,779 | 810 |
| 5 | Christian Kaufmann | $181,772 | 675 |
| 6 | Gilles Simon | $139,246 | 540 |
| 7 | Hak-Hyun Lee | $107,346 | 405 |
| 8 | David Djian | $81,664 | 270 |
| 9 | Zdenek Zizka | $62,826 | 135 |
Photo credit: Danny Maxwell / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
