IT worker and online poker player Aleksandr Shevliakov has won the 2025 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo €5,300 no- limit hold’em main event, earning a seven-figure payday after qualifying for this event via a €530 buy-in online event at PokerStars.
The 37-year-old Russian took home €1,000,000 ($1,130,000) as the last player standing, more than doubling his largest previous tournament score of $541,206 that he earned for a runner-up showing in a €10,000 buy-in at the 2023 EPT Paris festival.
“I won. It’s a dream come true. This is it,” said Shevliakov after securing the win.
This win came with 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points. It was his first POY-qualified score of 2025, but it alone was enough to catapult him inside the top 50 in the overall standings.
The 1,195-entry turnout to Sporting Monte-Carlo for this event was the second-largest in two decades of EPT action in Monaco, trailing only the record of 1,208 set in 2024. The prize pool for this year swelled to $6,751,750, with the top 175 finishers earning a share.
Among the many notables that ran deep in this event were four-time bracelet winner Ari Engel (34th), Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero (31st), Spanish high roller Juan Pardo (19th), and 2019 World Series of Poker Europe main event champion Alexandros Kolonias (15th).
Boris Angelov
The final day began with six players remaining and Boris Angelov out in front. The 28-year-old Bulgarian had finished as the runner-up in this event just last year after heading into the last day as the top stack, and was hoping to close out his incredible back-to-back final table run with a win.
The first knockout of the day saw Canada’s Jamil Wakil get all-in with Q-J suited trailing the A-K suited of Shevliakov. Wakil opened to 270,000 with blinds of 60,000-120,000 and a 120,00 big blind ante. Shevliakov three-bet for less than a complete raise, putting out 360,000. Tournament staff ruled that Shevliakov must raise to the minimum of 420,000, which gave Wakil the chance to call, fold, or raise. He opted to move all and was quickly called. Wakil found no help on a king-high runout and was eliminated in sixth place ($225,718). Wakil seemed frustrated with how the hand had played out. Before exiting the main stage, he discussed with Angelov and his opponent the possibility that Shevliakov had been involved in similar situations before. Check out the video replay of the hand below.
A strange hand...
It's good game to Jamil Wakil. He's out in sixth place, good for €199,750.
https://t.co/SB357usSaR or https://t.co/ZarB0RN21O#EPTMonteCarlo pic.twitter.com/Z4XYmpZkJu
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) May 10, 2025
This was the fourth-largest career cash for Wakil, who now has nearly $2.9 million in recorded scores to his name after this latest deep run.
Shevliakov also scored the next elimination holding the exact same two cards: A
K. The chips went in preflop with Poland’s Mariusz Golinski’s A
9 dominated. The flop came down QJ
10 to give Shevliakov the nut straight with a royal flush redraw. The 5 turn improved Shevliakov to a flush to leave Golinski drawing dead. The 2024 WSOP Europe main event fourth-place finisher added $293,687 to his lifetime haul with this latest deep run, surpassing $1 million in earnings in the process.
Enrico Coppola’s run in this event came to an end when he shoved his last 14 or so big blinds from under the gun with J3. Shevliakov made the call from the small blind with pocket sixes and held through a diamond-free nine-high runout to narrow the field to three. The Italian earned a career-best score of $381,827 for his efforts.
Angelov’s incredible attempt at improving on his second-place finish in 2024 fell just short. The 2024 WSOP main event fifth-place finisher called off the last of his stack with A
8 on a 97210 board. His open-ended straight draw and overcard were trailing the 106 of Khossein Kokhestani. The 3 failed to connect with Angelov and he was eliminated in third place ($496,296).
Angelov has now cashed for more than $1.1 million in this event over the past two years, having secured $670,140 for making it down to heads-up last May. He currently boasts nearly $5.2 million in lifetime tournament scores.
It's heads-up in the #EPTMonteCarlo Main Event.
Boris Angelov's magnificent back-to-back run ends in third place, good for €439,200.
One of Amir Kokhestani or Aleksandr Shevliakov will take the title and €1,000,000.
https://t.co/SB357usSaR or https://t.co/ZarB0RN21O pic.twitter.com/SLaSKzoppv
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) May 10, 2025
Heads-up play began with Kokhestani holding a slight lead over Shevliakov. It would be several more hours before a champion was decided, with an hour-long dinner break factoring in as well.
There were several lead changes along the way, but Shevliakov was eventually able to move ahead and the pull away ahead of the final hand of the tournament. Shortly after losing a big pot with fives full against the sixes full of Shevliakov on a double-paired board, Kokhestani limped in from the button with A6 and Shevliakov moved all-in with K2. Kokhestani called and the board ran out 972Q8 to give Shevliakov a winning pair of deuces.
Kokhestani earned $694,950 as the runner-up. The 2024 Eureka Poker Tour Hamburg champion from Ukraine now has more than $816,000 in lifetime cashes to his name.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Aleksandr Shevliakov | $1,130,000 | 1920 |
| 2 | Khossein Kokhestani | $694,950 | 1600 |
| 3 | Boris Angelov | $496,296 | 1280 |
| 4 | Enrico Coppola | $381,827 | 960 |
| 5 | Mariusz Golinski | $293,687 | 800 |
| 6 | Jamil Wakil | $225,718 | 640 |
Photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Manuel Kovsca.
