Raul Mestre found A♣J♠ under the gun on the first hand of the day and raised to 250,000. The other players were not interested in the pot, and they all mucked in quick succession.
On the next deal, Samuel Ju made it 250,000 to go in the hijack with K♦J♥, while Mestre defended 6♦5♣ in the big blind. The Q♥9♠4♥ board saw Ju place a continuation-bet of 200,000, to which Mestre swiftly check-folded.
PokerStars has rolled out a major update to its Power Path qualification system, introducing a brand-new $530 Bronze Power Pass as part of a restructure designed to smooth out progression between buy-in levels.
The changes, which came into effect on April 27, leave the upper echelons of Power Path unchanged with the $10,300 Gold Pass and $2,500 Silver Pass both remaining in place, while the main adjustments come further down the ladder, where PokerStars has reshaped its Bronze tier and added a new entry point for lower-stakes players.
The poker community is buzzing with anticipation at the upcoming $50 million guaranteed Anniversary Series online at PokerStars. Massive guarantees are up for grabs, including an impressive $1.5 million in the $109 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Main Event on May 24.
Thanks to the special relationship that PokerNews and PokerStars enjoy, PokerNews readers have the opportunity to turn a $5.50 investment into a shot at the $1.5 million guaranteed Anniversary Series Main Event.
The eight remaining players have taken their seats at the final table, and the cards have been sent into the air as play gets underway for the final day of the 2026 EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event.
The live updates will start at 3 p.m. local time, matching the delay on the live stream.
Level: 30
Blinds: 50,000/125,000
Ante: 125,000
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.
| 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.
| 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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