Having qualified on PokerStars.fr for €250, José Malpelli is a recreational player who only recently returned to the live poker scene after several years away from the game. “I used to play a lot in the past, but I stopped for several years before coming back at the end of 2025 with a trip to Sanremo and then Cannes for the PokerStars Open Cannes,” the Corsican player says. “I even managed to cash there.”
Another Corsican player, Paul-François Tedeschi, went on to win that Cannes stop. “I don’t know him personally — he’s much younger than me — but I do know Anthony Apicella and his father, another Corsican player who has enjoyed plenty of success in PokerStars events.”
Malpelli lives in Bastia, in the department of Haute-Corse, and has worked in real estate for many years. He enjoyed a perfect end to the second level of Day 5, eliminating American pro Jason Wheeler with pocket kings against pocket nines.
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $9,505 EPT Main Event cashes: 0 Best result: n/a
Tournament progression Day 1: 263,000 (2/111, 1A) Day 2: 425,000 (14/151) Day 3: 732,000 (16/48) Day 4: 920,000 (16/20) Day 5: 2,300,000 (8/8)
Key hands
Malpelli moved all in with top pair on the river against Thomas Eychenne late on Day 4 to double up and cross a million in chips.
On Day 5, Malpelli eliminated seasoned pro Jason Wheeler with pocket kings, and later spiked a three-outer on the river while all-in and at risk at the final table to survive to the final day.
Not even a year ago, leading Austrian pro Mario Mosbock tipped his countryman Bernhard Binder as one of the hottest prospects in the game, just waiting for a breakout performance.
In recent months, Mosbock has been proven spectacularly correct.
In December, Binder won $10 million and his first World Series bracelet, and he added another massive seven-figure score in South Korea in March. Binder is now at a maiden EPT final table, which he'll start as a hot favorite.
And he's relishing the prospect of winning one of the most prestigious titles in his home continent. “It does mean something special, because it's the only big title I don't have,” the 27-year-old says. “I have won a Triton event, a big WSOP, and basically everything online.”
Originally from Oberpullendorf, close to Austria's border with Hungary, Binder learned the game playing home games with friends, and is now best friends and room-mates in the capital with fellow pro Samuel Mullur. He also cites Mullur and the Vienna-based crew as his main inspirations.
Though poker consumes most of his life, Binder says he's also a fan of most sports and games.
With Binder having already beaten his best EPT performance to date, Austria has never had a better chance of claiming a first EPT title.
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $13,151,514 EPT Main Event cashes: 2 Best result: 107th, 2024 EPT Cyprus ($12,020)
Tournament progression
Day 1: 125,000 (54/177, 1B) Day 2: 411,000 (15/151) Day 3: 740,000 (15/48) Day 4: 4,540,000 (1/20) Day 5: 7,520,000 (1/8)
Key hands
Binder faced a tough spot in the final Level of Day 4 as he was put all-in on the river by Mehdi Chaoui in a four-bet pot. Binder called with top pair, catching Chaoui bluffing to obtain the tournament chip lead for the first time.
Roman Stoica has been building steadily over the past year to this EPT final table appearance. He was 16th in Malta last year and 27th at EPT Prague in December. He is now sitting at the first EPT final of his career.
Originally from Saint Petersburg, the Russian player began his tournament poker career in Sochi, playing low buy-in events before becoming a regular on the EPT circuit starting with the 2024 stop in Cyprus. Stoica also holds a Moldovan passport and chooses to represent the country at the EPT, giving him the chance to become the nation’s first champion.
Stoica is mostly a live player and now boasts more than $1.6 million in live tournament earnings. The largest chunk of more than €360,000 came with his victory in the €3,250 Mystery Bounty event at EPT Barcelona in 2025
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $1,682,267 EPT Main Event cashes: 3 Best result: 16th, 2025 EPT Malta (€33,850)
Tournament progression
Day 1: 116,000 (41/111, 1A) Day 2: 350,000 (25/151) Day 3: 801,000 (13/48) Day 4: 2,480,000 (3/20) Day 5: 3,200,000 (5/8)
Key hands
Stoica was all-in and at risk against Jose Malpelli on the final level of Day 4, with his higher kicker holding for a double-up.
Not much later, Stoica was the final nail in Thomas Eychenne’s coffin, rivering a flush against Eychenne’s set to double up again and leave the former chipleader with crumbs
Entrepreneur and startup investor, Samuel Ju, only became passionate about poker a few years ago, after discovering the game’s strategic and competitive aspects. Since mid-2022, he has accumulated more than $3.8 million in live tournament earnings, competing in some of the toughest events worldwide.
Co-founder of an app that combines bankroll management, live event scheduling, and social networking, now with thousands of users, Ju has established himself among poker industry professionals and has also become one of Germany’s elite players.
He is still doing both: traveling for poker while working on various other projects, including the development of an artificial intelligence-related application. “I’m tired but super happy and focused,” he says.
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $3,881,851 EPT Main Event cashes: 3 Best result: 93rd, 2023 EPT Monte-Carlo (€13,050)
Tournament progression
Day 1: 240,000 (4/177, 1B) Day 2: 313,000 (31/151) Day 3: 287,000 (40/48) Day 4: 1,640,000 (7/20) Day 5: 4,000,000 (3/8)
Key hands
Ju started Day 4 as one of the shorter stacks, but won aces against ace-king early on to climb above the average stack.
On Day 5, Ju won two sizable pots against Mirsolav Rizov, with the last one eliminating the Bulgarian player in 11th place
Originally from China, Longmao Fan moved to London for undergrad studies eight years ago and has lived in the UK ever since. He has now completed a PhD in electrical engineering and runs his own business, shipping fashion and other items back to his homeland.
Fan has previously come close to reaching an EPT Main Event final table, in Malta last year, but says he was a little intimidated by the tough lineup at the last two tables and fell short. “I was playing against Juan Pardo and those guys and I was very nervous,” he admits. “And I punted it off.” Several unsuccessful bluffs led to his downfall in 13th place.
But that experience has helped him. “Definitely, now I am much calmer and I’m doing much better,” he says. Still, he doesn’t look too far into the future. “In tournaments, anything can happen at any time, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself and think about the title.”
Fan traveled to Monaco with friends from China. They rented an apartment, and now he has support from the rail, having reached the final stages of the flagship event.
This year has already treated him well. Last month, he had a few decent results at the Irish Open, where he finished fifth in a €1,000 mystery bounty event, pushing his winnings to €34,680. On Sunday, he will be walking away from the Salle des Etoiles with his career-best payout.
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $623,001 EPT Main Event cashes: 1 Best result: 13th, 2025 EPT Malta (€49,750)
Tournament progression
Day 1: 110,000 (68/177, 1B) Day 2: 231,000 (50/151) Day 3: 935,000 (9/48) Day 4: 1,540,000 (8/20) Day 5: 2,475,000 (7/8)
Key hands
Early on Day 2, Fan was involved in a three-way all-in. He won a flip with queens against ace-king for the large side pot, helping him get into the money.
One day later, Fan was all in with queens again. He doubled up against jacks to end the day in the top ten for the first time.
Parisian David Djian is living a dream. “I wasn’t even supposed to play this tournament,” the 31-year-old says, explaining that he came to join a friend in Monte Carlo, but decided to give the PokerStars Open and then the EPT Main Event a try. He didn’t cash the PSO, but has now made the final table in the even more prestigious event.
“I’m a huge poker enthusiast, and I had promised myself that I would play a major live tournament before turning 30,” he says. “I achieved that goal last year in Barcelona when I qualified for the EPT Main Event.”
Dijan was delighted to cash that event in Catalonia, but has landed an even bigger prize this time
around.
“I watch every PokerStars France broadcast with Benny and Yu,” he says. “In fact, I told my wife that one day they’d be making jokes about me at the table!”
It’s another wish fulfilled for the Frenchman, who will be able to count on the support of his wife on the rail after she joined him in Monte Carlo with their baby daughter, who is only a few months old.
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $73,221 EPT Main Event cashes: 1 Best result: 198th, 2025 EPT Barcelona (€11,300)
Tournament progression
Day 1: 190,000 (15/177, 1B) Day 2: 148,000 (82/151) Day 3: 329,000 (37/48) Day 4: 1,035,000 (15/20) Day 5: 3,625,000 (4/8)
Key hands
Djian ran in poker’s ultimate cooler early on Day 4. His pocket kings were at risk against Longmao Fan’s pocket aces, but Djian hit a king on the flop to double up and stay in contention. No harm, no foul, as both Djian and Fan eventually found their way to the final table on the next day.
With more than $1.1 million in tournament winnings, Oshri Lahmani is a seasoned veteran on the live circuit. The 31-year-old from Jerusalem plays poker professionally and mixes live and online environments. “I play a lot of PLO,” he says.
Lahmani first came close to reaching an EPT Main Event final table three years ago in Barcelona, but that run was halted in 13th place. Now he has another chance to battle for the trophy which has been previously hoisted by two Israeli champs: Uri Gilboa and Matan Krakow.
“Some friends told me this is the second-best thing to win after a bracelet,” Lahmani says. “But I told them no. The EPT trophy is much bigger for me.”
But he isn’t letting the pressure affect him. “I’m relaxed,” he says. “Taking it easy.”
Lahmani says that there is an Israeli Poker Championship taking place right now in Bulgaria, so a lot of friends and compatriots are railing him from there, watching the stream. He’s also been receiving a ton of support through messages.
When he’s not at live tournaments, he spends his time mostly with his wife and kids, a three-year-old daughter and a one-and-a-half-year-old boy.
“But I will for sure be in Prague,” he says. “Maybe in Barcelona, too, I will see about that
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $1,142,535 EPT Main Event cashes: 4 Best result: 13th, 2023 EPT Barcelona (€88,200)
Tournament progression
Day 1: 105,000 (71/177, 1B) Day 2: 562,000 (4/151) Day 3: 495,000 (26/48) Day 4: 1,225,000 (9/20) Day 5: 2,950,000 (6/8)
Key hands
Midway through Day 5, Lahmani rivered two pair in a pot against Samuel Ju on a board that had three hearts. Lahmani was put at risk for his final eight big blinds, but he opted to fold and was eventually able to spin his short stack back up to make it among the final eight.
Raul Mestre is widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in Spanish poker having founded one of the first coaching sites in Europe and mentoring countless players to successful professional careers. EducaPoker is still going strong 17 years after it began, and Mestre is similarly proving to be a force still at the tables.
Mestre burst onto the scene during the earliest days of the EPT and made his first final table in Prague in 2008. Three years later, he finished fourth in Barcelona for what remains his biggest career tournament score. He moved away from the live tournament scene for the best part of a decade, focusing on both his growing family and business, as well as playing cash games online. But his recent return, now wearing the patch of Team PokerStars, has shown he's still got what it takes.
“Back then I was so focused on the results,” he says. “I was grinding full time and it was harder to enjoy the process. Now, I honestly don’t care that much about the results. I try to play my best, I try to focus on what I think is the right play in each situation. And that’s the reward in itself.”
For all that, he's still exceptionally keen to take down an EPT event. “It would be absolutely amazing to win the title,” he says. “My friends and I joke that this is like my second job, because it has been so long since I was here.”
He adds that he's had to make a few adjustments after returning to the felt. “The biggest difference for me is the shot clock,” he says. “Back then, we didn't have it. But it makes a much better experience for the players.”
Player bios courtesy of Jan Kores/Florenze Mazet/Howard Swains/PokerStars
Career statistics
The Hendon Mob Earnings: $1,070,583 EPT Main Event cashes: 3 Best result: 4th, 2011 EPT Barcelona (€244,000)
Tournament progression
Day 1: 121,000 (55/177, 1B) Day 2: 868,000 (2/151) Day 3: 1,627,000 (4/48) Day 4: 2,910,000 (2/20) Day 5: 4,525,000 (2/8)
Key hands
Mestre was put to the test on Day 3 when Yurii Zabrodotskyi shoved all in for three times the pot on the river. With three spades on the board, Mestre called off with a straight. Zabrodotskyi was caught bluffing with the nut flush blocker, and Mestre won 1,800,000 in what was the biggest pot of the tournament at that point.
Eleven years ago, Raul Mestre recorded his last result on his Hendon Mob page. After earning over $1,000,000 and making it to two EPT final tables, the Spanish poker legend then took a prolonged break from live poker. However, he felt an urge to return earlier this year when he was offered a spot on PokerStars Team Pro. He came back to the scene with a bang, shipping the Spin & Go Championship at EPT Paris in February on his first endeavor as an ambassador.
Mere months later, Mestre finds himself on the verge of an even greater accomplishment as he is second in chips with only eight players remaining in the 2026 PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo €5,300 Main Event.
So far, Mestre has put on one of the most dominating displays in recent EPT history. In a field of 1,011 entries, Mestre was in the top four at the end of every day but the starting flight. Mestre appears to be more motivated than ever as he chases the €825,000 top prize and coveted EPT trophy, stating, “It would be absolutely amazing to win the title.” Mestre and his sevent opponents will return to Sporting Monte-Carlo at 12:30 p.m. local time to divide the lion's share of the €4,903,350 prize pool.
While Mestre's stack of 4,525,000 nets him a comfortable stack of 36 big blinds when play resumes, he is still some ways behind chip leader Bernhard Binder, who will unbag 7,250,000 onto the final table. Binder has taken the high-stakes tournament scene by storm, earning over $12,000,000 in the past six months alone. Still, it is not all about the money for Binder, who is aiming to become Austria's first-ever EPT champion. “It does mean something special, because it's the only big title I don't have,” he explained after bagging back-to-back chipleads at the end of the penultimate day.
Final Table Seating
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Jose Malpelli
France
2,300,000
18
2
Bernhard Binder
Austria
7,250,000
58
3
Roman Stoica
Moldova, Republic of
3,200,000
26
4
Samuel Ju
Germany
4,000,000
32
5
Longmao Fan
China
2,475,000
20
6
David Djian
France
3,625,000
29
7
Oshri Lahmani
Israel
2,950,000
24
8
Raul Mestre
Spain
4,525,000
36
Bernhard Binder
Poker entrepreneur and Binder's fellow high-stakes regular Samuel Ju enters the day in third on his first-ever EPT final table. Roman Stoica and Longmao Fan are in the middle of the pack, having made the final table after both coming tantalizingly close at EPT Malta last year, where they finished 16th and 13th, respectively. Similarly, EPT regular Oshri Lahmani has improved on his best-ever performance, a 13th place at the 2023 EPT Barcelona, by making it to the final table in Monte-Carlo.
David Djian and Jose Malpelli, the two Frenchmen remaining, are living the recreational poker player's dream by making it to the final table of an EPT Main Event. Djian is an avid watcher of EPT live streams, now finding himself in the spotlight on the European poker circuit's biggest stage. Meanwhile, Malpelli qualified for the EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event on PokerStars for just €250. With €99,450 or more guaranteed to hit his bank account after the final table, he has locked up an immense return on his investment.
David Djian
With the first pay jump already worth €30,000, every move at the final table could be worth a massive amount of money. The top seven players will officially earn six-figure sums, while the top four will each take home at least a quarter million euros. Meanwhile, the heads-up duo is guaranteed to walk away with at least half a million each.
Final Table Payouts
Place
Prize
1
€825,000
2
€515,000
3
€368,750
4
€283,550
5
€218,300
6
€167,850
7
€129,050
8
€99,450
The eight finalists will come back to blinds of 50,000/125,000 with a 125,000 big blind ante. Levels will last for 30 hands each, but will be halved to 15 hands when three players remain. The PokerStars live stream on their YouTube and Twitch will follow the action cards-up, starting at 3 p.m. on a dynamic delay so viewers can enjoy the action without any breaks. PokerNews will maintain the same delay as the stream to prevent spoilers.
Eight remain, but only one can take home the EPT trophy and etch their name in the history books of the prestigious tour. Stay tuned to PokerNews as we will report every vital hand from the start of the final table to the crowning of a new EPT champion.
David Djian raised to 250,000 in the cutoff. Oshri Lahmani was next to act on the button, and three-bet all in for 2,650,000. Djian requested a count, calling shortly after confirming the amount.
Oshri Lahmani: J♠J♥
David Djian: 8♠8♦
Lahmani had a double-up in sight after the 3♠3♣5♣ flop and K♠ turn brought no help for Djian.
Djian erupted in celebration as the river fell the 8♣, however. His full house won him the pot, moving him up to second place on the leaderboard and eliminating Lahmani in the process.
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