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Raul Mestre Aims to Continue Monte-Carlo Masterclass as Eight Return for Final Day of EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event
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 |
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.
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.