The 2025 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event drew 2,045 entries to Casino Barcelona, resulting in the third-largest turnout for any championship in EPT history. The massive field created a prize pool worth more than $11.5 million when reckoned in US dollars. After two starting flights and six more days of combined-field action, that expansive sea of contenders was narrowed down to a single player: 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 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. 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,” Eychenne told PokerNews live reporters after closing out the win.
This victory also came with 2,160 Card Player Player of the Year points for Eychenne. This was his third POY-qualified score of the year, and far-and-away his largest. With 2,258 total points, he now sits within striking distance of the top 100 in the 2025 overall standings presented by CoinPoker.
Thinning The (Sizable) Field
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), 2019 PSPC champion Ramon Colillas (32nd), and Leo Worthington-Leese (20th).
By the conclusion of day 6, just a half dozen contenders remained, with Sebastian Ionita leading and Eychenne sitting on the next-largest stack. Eychenne picked off an early bluff attempt from Julian Pineda Lozano to overtake the top spot during six-handed action. He then extended his lead when he rivered trip fives to best the queens and fives with an ace kicker of Anton Suarez (6th – $341,406).
Lozano (5th – $443,840) was the next to fall. He three-bet shoved over Ionita’s button min-raise for 13 big blinds with K♦4♦ from the big blind. Ionita called with 8♠8♥ and held through a 5♦5♣2♠Q♠9♦ runout to narrow the field to four.
Soon after that, Tomasz Brzezinski open-shoved for 15 big blinds from under the gun with A♣9♠. Umberto Zaffagnini called with 10♥10♣ from the big blind and the flop came down J♥10♠8♦ to give Zaffagnini middle set. Brzezinski had picked up an open-ended straight draw, but that was soon rendered meaningless when the J♦ turn improved Zaffagnini to a full house. The 6♥ on the end made Brzezinski’s exit in fourth place official. He earned a career-best score of $577,103 for his efforts.
A Deal Before A Surge Across The Finish Line
Eychenne entered three-handed play as the short stack, but he managed to maneuver ahead of Zaffagnini in time for the next crucial showdown. A classic preflop race pitted the two shorter stacks against each other. It was 5♠5♥ for Zaffagnini and A♥J♣ for Eychenne. The board came down K♥10♣8♥7♠Q♦ and Eychenne rivered broadway to pull nearly even with Ionita. Zaffagnini cashed for $750,204 as the third-place finisher. This was by far the biggest payday yet on the live circuit for the Italian player.
With that, the final two paused the clock and hashed out a deal to 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 final hand of the tournament, Ionita limped in from the small blind with A♥6♣ for 600,000 total. Eychenne raised to 2,400,000 out of the big blind holding A♣K♣. Ionita mulled it over before opting to limp-jam for 14,450,000 total (24 big blinds). Eychenne quickly called and the 9♦5♥3♦Q♥K♦ board gave him top pair, top kicker for the win. Ionita headed to the payout desk to collect the seven-figure payday that he’d negotiated for. Prior to 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.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Thomas Eychenne | $1,424,095 | 2160 |
| 2 | Stefan-Sebastian Ionita | $1,307,095 | 1800 |
| 3 | Umberto Zaffagnini | $750,204 | 1440 |
| 4 | Tomasz Brzezinski | $577,103 | 1080 |
| 5 | Julian Pineda Lozano | $443,840 | 900 |
| 6 | Anton Suarez | $341,406 | 720 |
| 7 | Marc Foggin | $262,607 | 540 |
| 8 | Cesar Garcia | $202,059 | 360 |
| 9 | Youssef Zereg | $155,376 | 180 |
Photo credits: Danny Maxwell / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
