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€5,300 Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2025 PokerStars EPT Monte-Carlo
€5,300 Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
2025 PokerStars EPT Monte-Carlo
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 3
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€5,795,750
Total Entries
1,195
Level
36
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Entries
149
Players Left
52
Players Left 1 / 1,195
Filter
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
What started as nothing but a dream is closer to becoming reality for the 52 players who survived Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo Main Event.
UK pro Matthew Davenport waited until the last level to put himself atop the leaderboard, winning a five-bet pot off Rafael Navas, then picking up aces on the final hand of the day to bust Dimitri Joubert and take the chip lead with 1,939,000. The reigning UK Player of the Year already has more than $2.2 million in live earnings and has nearly matched his previous best EPT result, which came here in Monte Carlo in 2016 when he finished 48th.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Davenport | United Kingdom | 1,939,000 | 162 |
| 2 | Khossein Kokhestani | Ukraine | 1,800,000 | 150 |
| 3 | Sebastian Malec | Poland | 1,684,000 | 140 |
| 4 | Valeriano Toledano | Spain | 1,582,000 | 132 |
| 5 | Julien Mariani | France | 1,400,000 | 117 |
| 6 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | 1,386,000 | 116 |
| 7 | Jerome Sgorrano | Belgium | 1,115,000 | 93 |
| 8 | Georgios Karakousis | Greece | 1,110,000 | 93 |
| 9 | Malcolm Franchi | France | 1,012,000 | 84 |
| 10 | Sebastian Gaehl | Germany | 1,004,000 | 84 |
In second place is Khossein Kokhestani, who was on the fortunate end of the biggest pot of the tournament so far. Kokhestani was faced with an all-in shove for his last 592,000 on the river against [Removed:533]. After several minutes in the tank, he eventually called with two pair, while La [Removed:534] could only show king-high. Kokhestani dragged the massive pot to push his stack up to 1,800,000 to end the day. The Ukrainian is no stranger to lifting the Golden Shard trophy, as he won the PokerStars Eureka Hamburg Main Event last July for €110,070.
Nearly a decade ago, Sebastian Malec was a 21-year-old poker fanatic who managed to turn a €27 satellite ticket into the €1,122,800 first prize at EPT Barcelona. Malec has become a regular on the EPT circuit in the years since and is making a run at joining the exclusive list of multiple-time EPT champions this week inside Sporting Monte-Carlo.
Malec scored two big eliminations over the course of the day, getting Andras Nemeth to call off his last chips with ace-high as Malec showed queens for a rivered full house. He then won a race with ace-king against Jozef Cibicek’s queens to send last year’s finalist to the rail. Malec ended up in third place with 1,684,000.
Valeriano Toledano (1,582,000) and Julien Mariani (1,400,000) round out the top five. Bulgarian high roller Fahredin Mustafov put a cooler on former chip leader Mariusz Golinski, turning a straight against Golinski’s two pair to double up on his way to bagging 1,386,000. Other top stacks include Malcolm Franchi (1,012,000), Jamil Wakil (912,000), last year’s runner-up Boris Angelov (686,000), and Ari Engel (655,000).
Further down the leaderboard are Mateusz Moolhuizen (586,000), Juan Pardo (580,000), Nacho Barbero (559,000), start-of-day chip leader Andreas Goeller (344,000), and Alexandros Kolonias (303,000). La [Removed:534], who held the chip lead for a significant portion of the day, was left with just 412,000 to bag after losing that pot to Kokhestani.
Day 3 began with 149 players remaining out of a starting field of 1,195. Patrik Antonius ran his pocket queens into Wakil’s full house to become an early casualty in 127th place, while Kenny Hallaert (145th), 2014 champion Antonio Buonanno (143th), Martin Zamani (121st), Conor Beresford (118th), 2019 champion Manig Loeser (102nd), and Niclas Thumm (90th) were also sent to the payout desk.
The remaining 52 players return tomorrow at noon local time to play the final 45 minutes of Level 20 with blinds of 6,000/12,000 and a 12,000 big blind ante. They are guaranteed €17,150, with a spot at the final table worth €118,150, and the eventual champion taking home €1,000,000.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow following all the action as the field plays on toward the final table.
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
The remaining 52 players have bagged and tagged for the end of Day 3 and will return at 12 p.m. local time Thursday. Standby for the recap on PokerNews.
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
On the last hand of the night, Matthew Davenport raised to 24,000 in the cutoff, Dimitri Joubert moved all in for 248,000 in the small blind, and Davenport called.
Dimitri Joubert: Q♦10♦ 
Matthew Davenport: A♠A♣
"Big mistake it seems. At least a sweat," Joubert said upon finding out he had run into Davenport's aces. The Q♣J♦8♥ flop gave him his wish as he hit top pair, while the 5♦ turn also gave him a flush draw.
"I'll take a ten," he added, but Joubert missed the 2♥ river and Davenport scored the last knockout of the night to take the chip lead at the end of Day 3.
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Vid Zagar was already all in on the big blind when Stoyan Obreshkov open-raised from early position. A couple of players folded before Lucas Pochat announced that he somehow had four cards. One player said that it was a misdeal but the floor was called and dictated that too much action had occured and that Pochat must have had his cards from the previous hand. The action continued and Pierre Chevalier called on the button.
The flop came Q♠K♣7♠ and Obreshkov checked. Chevalier bet and Obreshkov called. On the 3♦ turn, Obreshkov checked again and Chevalier made it 31,000, which Obreshkov called.
The river was the 7♥ and Obreshkov checked for a third time. Chevalier moved all in and Obreshkov folded.
Chevalier turned over 2♣2♠ for pocket deuces that he'd turned into a bluff. Obreshkov, however, said that Chevalier was ahead and that he'd only folded ace-high. Chevalier took the lion's share, but Zagar flipped over Q♦10♦ to win the main pot and triple his short stack.
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Tournament officials announced that players will see three more hands tonight before bagging up for Day 4.
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Matthew Davenport raised to 24,000 in early position and Juan Pardo called in the hijack, as did Apoorva Goel on the button. Rafael Navas then three-bet to 150,000 in the big blind.
Davenport came back with a four-bet to 300,000 and Pardo and Goel both folded, but Navas announced a raise but didn't put in enough chips. The floor was called over and he was forced to make it 450,000 as Davenport called.
Both players checked the 10♣8♥2♥ flop. Navas also checked the 10♠ turn and folded to a bet of 100,000 from Davenport.
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Valeriano Toledano raised to 25,000 in middle position, Mengshi Tian moved all in for 138,000 in the small blind, and Toledano called.
Mengshi Tian: A♣6♣
Valeriano Toledano: A♥10♥
Tian found himself dominated as the flop came 7♦3♥4♠, giving him some hope with a straight draw. The 5♣ turn gave him his straight, while the 9♠ completed the board and Toledano paid off the double up.
Level 20
: Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Vid Zagar raised to 24,000 in middle position and Stoyan Obreshkov three-bet to 55,000 in the hijack. Zagar then moved all in and Obreshkov snap-called.
Stoyan Obreshkov: K♥K♠
Vid Zagar: A♥2♥
Zagar was looking for an ace to crack Obreshkov's kings, but he found no help on the 5♦J♦9♦6♠3♠ board. Zagar got up to make his exit before the stacks were counted. It was determined that Obreshkov had 208,000 while Zagar had him covered by just 20,000 as he returned to the table to nurse his extreme short stack.
