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Less than a year after his iconic victory in the 2025 EPT Barcelona Main Event, Thomas Eychenne is gearing up for another deep run at a history-rich PokerStars European Poker Tour stop, as he leads the field on the hunt for the prestigious EPT trophy and the €825,000 top prize after Day 3 of the 2026 EPT Monte-Carlo €5,300 Main Event.
Eychenne was one of the 48 players still standing from the field of 1,011 entries at Sporting Monte-Carlo at the end of the night and shoveled the massive amount of 1,846,000 into his bag, good for over 150 big blinds when play resumes. Moroccan all-time money leader Mehdi Chaoui also had a stellar day and sits in second with 1,686,000, closely followed by 2015 EPT Deauville champion Ognyan Dimov (1,634,000) and Team PokerStars' Raul Mestre, the latter of which made a splendid hero-call on his way to a stack of 1,627,000.
The 2023 EPT Monte-Carlo runner-up Leonard Maue and 2024 winner Derk van Luijk both ended Day 3 with abover-average stacks as well, looking for repeat success at this legendary venue as they eye one of the bigger shares of the €4,903,350 prize pool.
End of Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Eychenne | France | 1,846,000 | 185 |
| 2 | Mehdi Chaoui | Morocco | 1,686,000 | 169 |
| 3 | Ognyan Dimov | Bulgaria | 1,634,000 | 163 |
| 4 | Raul Mestre | Spain | 1,627,000 | 163 |
| 5 | Leonard Maue | Germany | 1,236,000 | 124 |
| 6 | Stanislav Anufriiev | Ukraine | 1,103,000 | 110 |
| 7 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | 1,058,000 | 106 |
| 8 | Miroslav Rizov | Bulgaria | 1,044,000 | 104 |
| 9 | Longmao Fan | China | 935,000 | 94 |
| 10 | Diego Zeiter | Switzerland | 904,000 | 90 |
The rest of the field is no less stacked than the top ten. Dimitar Danchev and Jason Wheeler recorded their 21st and 20th cashes in an EPT Main Event, respectively. They both made Day 4, with Danchev sitting on 340,000 chips and Wheeler having bagged 508,000. High-stakes prodigy Bernhard Binder finished the night with 740,000, while start-of-day chipleader Rodrigo Selouan ended up with 547,000 after a rough day. Meanwhile, Benny Glaser and Joao Vieira are among the shorter stacks, bringing stacks of 278,000 and 105,000 into Day 4.
On the other side of the coin, 2009 EPT Warsaw winner Christophe Benzimra (151st - €9,200) was the first casualty of Day 3, with fellow champion Hossein Ensan and PokerStars ambassador Maria Konnikova receiving the same amount not much later. David Lappin played his first EPT Main Event under the Red Spade flag, but fell in 74th for €12,150, while Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi was among the final eliminations of the night after a fatal encounter with Eychenne, cashing €16,100 for his 55th-place finish.
The remaining 48 players have secured the same amount, with a pay jump to €18,500 happening when 39 remain. Six-figure prizes are waiting for the top seven finishers, while making the final table will guarantee a payout of €99,450.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €825,000 | 10-11 | €61,700 | |
| 2 | €515,000 | 12-13 | €51,400 | |
| 3 | €368,750 | 14-15 | €42,800 | |
| 4 | €283,550 | 16-17 | €37,200 | |
| 5 | €218,300 | 18-20 | €32,350 | |
| 6 | €167,850 | 21-23 | €28,150 | |
| 7 | €129,050 | 24-27 | €24,450 | |
| 8 | €99,450 | 28-31 | €21,300 | |
| 9 | €76,500 | 32-39 | €18,500 | |
| 40-48 | €16,100 |
Day 4 will begin tomorrow, Friday, May 8, at noon local time. The blinds will be at Level 20: 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 big blind ante, and another five levels of 90 minutes are scheduled. A short break will take place after every level, with the day ending around 9 p.m. local time.
PokerNews will be back on the floor at the start of Day 4, so check back in then as the EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event will get into the business end of things.
