This is One of the Sickest Tournament Poker Hands So Far in 2026

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Mar 01, 2026 4 min read

Some players play exceptional poker and have the deck smack them in the face at a final table, an unbeatable combination. Just ask Jorge Abreu who conquered the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris Main Event in dominant fashion, thanks in part to one of the most epic hands you'll probably see in a major poker tournament this year.

Abreu, hyperbolically, had all the chips when Day 6 began in the €5,300 no-limit hold'em event. Only seven of the 1,474 entrants remained, all still after that €1,148,600 first-place prize. But there were only 295 big blinds in play, and Abreu had 150 of them.

If you were expecting a piece on one of the other six players making an epic comeback, or Abreu punting off his stack to bust first at the final table, sorry, that isn't what you're getting — spoiler alert, he won. Instead, we'll show you a hand that you'll likely remember for quite some time.

Sometimes it's Just Your Day

Abreu, a Portugese poker player with just $100,000 in prior The Hendon Mob cashes, defeated Germany's Felix Schneiders heads-up for the title. A payout of €717,350 went to the runner-up.

Before that heads-up match began, with seven players left, a crucial hand took place. This hand appeared to be the pot that was going to turn the final table around and make Abreu, at the very least, face some competition. But that isn't exactly how it played out.

Nazar Buhaiov, with the blinds at 100,000/150,000, raised from under the gun to 300,000 with J♦10♦. Casimir Seire, not knowing he was about to make a brilliant play that would win him a ton of extra money, three-bet to 750,000 with Q♥Q♣. Abreu, who still had about half the chips in play, four-bet to 1,400,000 from the cutoff with A♠8♠, a play that led PokerStars commentator James Hartigan to say, "he's doing chip leader things."

The raise, to give you an idea of how massive his stack was, only accounted for around 5% of Abreu's stack. Thierry Gogniat, on the button with A♦J♥, decided to put his last four big blinds in the pot. That decision, and he didn't know this before going all in, would end up costing him a sizable pay jump (more on this in a bit).

Tomas Jozonis woke up with K♠K♥ in the big blind and moved all in for 2,600,000. Buhaiov was in no position to call with such a hand, so he folded. But Seire was in a tough spot with queens and a stack-size of 4,950,000 chips. If he were to call, he risked Abreu coming back over the top and putting him at-risk for his tournament life.

Seire, a Finnish poker player, made a disciplined fold that would inevitably pay off for him, and not only because he was up against pocket kings. The flop came out 8♦J♠9♠, giving Abreu the nut flush draw, which he hit when the 3♠ appeared on the turn. Nobody cared about the river card — it was the 9♥ if you must know — because the eventual champion had already locked up the hand.

Gogniat, since he had the smallest stack in the hand, took seventh place for €179,350. But had he decided to fold ace-jack, he would have moved up to at least a €233,200 payout, which Jozonis received for sixth place after taking a bad beat with pocket kings.

Had Seire called, he would have ended up all in with his queens on the flop against Abreu, who likely would have shoved with the flush draw. Folding preflop, however, was a profitable play. He would have been eliminated in fifth place for €303,150 — that ended up going to Buhaiov. But he bumped up to fourth place for €394,150, good for an extra €91,000 all because of a disciplined fold.

Abreu still would have held a massive chip lead had he lost the three-way — and almost four-way — pot. But the hand, had it gone another way, could have given some of the other players some hope. Instead, he ran all over the competition and was never really challenged, thanks to some brilliant play and a bit of luck.

After Enrico Coppola busted in third place (€512,400), Abreu had nearly a 10:1 chip lead over Schneiders, who never made any sort of comeback and was eliminated with queens on a bad beat.

It was that kind of day for Abreu, the newest European Poker Tour champion.

EPT Paris Final Table Results

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