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Seat 5: Longmao Fan, 32, from Xi’An, China, lives in London – 2,475,000
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.