Seat 2: Paawan Bansal, 35, Gurugram, India (2,625,000)
Paawan Bansal used to specialize in cash games. But apart from being a poker player, he is also an avid world traveller, so naturally decided to combine both passions by playing live tournaments.
“The EPT is so well run and takes place in some of the nicest cities in the world,” Bansal says. “I love Prague.” He adds that he visited the city on a non-poker trip in 2016, as well as last year to play. But this is by far his most successful trip.
Bansal comes from the most populous country in the world, but he has now become the first Indian ever to make it this far in an EPT Main Event. “Oh wow, I didn’t know that,” Bansal says after learning of his accomplishment. “As if the pay jumps weren’t enough, now it adds to the pressure,” he laughs.
But he also adds that he’s planning to focus on enjoying himself and “having the best experience possible.” He continues: “You have ups and downs, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Bansal used to be a runner, mainly a sprinter, with a 100m PB of 11.4 seconds. He also lists scuba diving among a clutch of active hobbies.
Final table bios courtesy of Jan Kores/PokerStars
Career statistics
Career earnings: $914,891
EPT cashes: 3
Best result: 36th, 2025 EPT Malta
Tournament progression
Day 1: 89,000 (116/255, 1B)
Day 2: 850,000 (1/163)
Day 3: 1,315,000 (7/45)
Day 4: 1,835,000 (12/16)
Day 5: 2,625,000 (5/7)
Event highlights
After losing most of his chips in a failed bluff attempt against Bora Kurtulus on Day 5, Bansal fell down to just two big blinds near the final table. He then hit a queen on the turn to beat Matan Krakow’s ace-high and double up, flopped a set of sevens to win a pot off Krakow, before finally waking up with two kings to double up off Kurtulus back up over 3,000,000.