Vahe Martirosyan got his stack of 114,000 in from early position and was at risk against Nicolas Lecoeuvre on the button.
Vahe Martirosyan: A♦K♥
Nicolas Lecoeuvre: 9♥9♣
Martirosyan flopped some extra outs on 3♥4♦5♣, and he turned top pair on the A♥ turn for a big lead. Lecoeuvre did not improve on the J♦ river, deciding the flip in Martirosyan's favor.
The pot was shipped to Martirosyan as Lecoeuvre was left with just over six big blinds to try and spin up.
Nicolas Julien was in the big blind and three-bet to 40,000, and Kevin Naegelen then moved all in for 174,000 from early position. Julien quickly called.
Nicolas Julien: A♣A♦
Kevin Naegelen: 10♥10♦
Naegelen had run into Julien's aces as the two players had nearly identical stacks. The flop, though, brought 10♠J♦6♥ to give Naegelen the lead with a set. The 9♣ turn was no help to Julien, while the Q♣ completed the board on the river.
The stacks were counted down, and Julien was covered by just 4,000 and sent to the rail.
Tomas Jozonis opened to 11,000 on the button. Hugo De La Fouchardiere put in over half his stack with a three-bet to 42,000 from the small blind, and called off for 78,000 in total when Jozonis put him all-in.
Hugo De La Fouchardiere: 5♦5♣
Tomas Jozonis: A♦8♥
Jozonis did not pair on the J♠4♠3♥9♠7♥ board, seeing De La Fouchardiere double with his pocket pair.
At an adjacent table, Wuai-Cheng Tsang had open-raised under the gun and called when Ioannis Georgopoulos made it 40,000 to go in the cutoff.
Tsang checked the 8♦4♦Q♣ flop over to Georgopoulos, who put his opponent all-in for 50,000. Tsang quickly called for his tournament life.
Wuai-Cheng Tsang: A♦10♦
Ioannis Georgopoulos: A♠A♥
Tsang needed to hit his flush to survive, but the 7♥K♠ runout did not bring any more diamonds, setting his elimination in stone.
On the first deal of the day, Mahersh Selvakumaran opened to 11,000 in the cutoff. Adrian State flat-called on the button, and bet 10,000 when Selvakumaran checked the 6♦8♥9♥ flop.
Selvakumaran called to the A♦ turn, which both players checked. Selvakumaran kept checking when the 7♠ hit the river. State announced a bet of 40,000, which Selvakumaran raised to 140,000.
State stared at his opponent for a bit before he flicked in a calling chip. Selvakumaran could only show queen-high with his Q♣J♣, leaving State to take the pot with K♠10♦ for the rivered straight.
Rikiya Jinbo moved all in for his last 60,000 from the cutoff and Ricardo Alves called on the button.
Rikiya Jinbo: A♣A♥
Ricardo Alves: J♥J♦
Jinbo had found two aces and was a big favorite to earn the early double up, but Alves spiked top set on the J♣8♠2♥ flop to take the lead. The rest of the board ran out 9♥4♠ and Jinbo was sent to the rail.
What would be a dream trip for some seems to be just another week in the office for Kayhan Mokri. The high-stakes regular, who captured the top spot on Norway's all-time money list for the first time at the end of 2025, has already booked two six-figure scores at the 2026 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris, including a victory in the €25,000 PLO High Roller, and is now entering Day 3 of the €5,300 EPT Main Event as a top stack.
Mokri is one of 179 players from the 1,474-strong field who will return to Le Palais des Congrès at noon local time for the third day of the Main Event. With the bubble popping late on Day 2, they have all secured themselves a piece of the €7,075,200 prize pool. Mokri will be sitting down as fourth in chips with a stack of 750,000, which he spun up from just 500 on Day 2, good for exactly 150 big blinds. Mokri hunts a second Main Event final table to add to his impressive EPT resume, which includes two Super High Roller victories.
Meanwhile, the only seven-figure stack so far in the chase for the seven-figure first-place prize of €1,148,600 belongs to hometown player Bruno Fuentes. Fuentes will be unbagging 1,043,000 at the start of today, a small chip lead over Mahersh Selvakumaran, who sits in second with 995,000. Both Fuentes and Selvakumaran are cashing in an EPT Main Event for the first time, but the same can not be said for Cesar Garcia, who made his first EPT Main Event final table in 2012 and added a second one last year in Barcelona. The longtime EPT regular rounds out the podium with a stack of 870,000.
Cesar Garcia
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Bruno Fuentes
France
1,043,000
209
2
Mahersh Selvakumaran
Netherlands
995,000
199
3
Cesar Garcia
Spain
870,000
174
4
Kayhan Mokri
Norway
750,000
150
5
Tsugunari Toma
Japan
739,000
148
6
Lyudmil Ivanov
Bulgaria
695,000
139
7
Mathieu His
France
654,000
131
8
Mario Colavita
Italy
648,000
130
9
Zdenek Zizka
Czechia
607,000
121
10
Salman Ramzi
Lebanon
570,000
114
No previous EPT champions remain, but plenty of notables are eyeing their first title. Alex Keating (470,000), Rui Ferreira (450,000), Adrian State (421,000), Duco ten Haven (318,000), Joris Ruijs (312,000), and Felix Schneiders (311,000) all return with above-average stacks.
Mehdi Chaoui is among the shorter stacks with 127,000 as he looks to improve upon his eighth-place finish at EPT Paris 2023, and is joined near the bottom by Jessica Teusl (126,000), €2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller champion Mathew Frankland (124,000), 2025 PokerStars Live League winner Gerard Rubiralta (115,000), and NAPT champion Sami Bechahed (107,000).
Mehdi Chaoui
The 179 returning players have all secured a cash of €9,850 after the first pay jump was reached during the last hands of Day 2. A five-figure sum will be awarded to the top 143, while the real eye-watering prizes start from the unofficial final table of nine players.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€1,148,600
10-11
€81,650
32-39
€22,850
2
€717,350
12-13
€68,050
40-55
€19,800
3
€512,400
14-15
€56,750
56-71
€17,200
4
€394,150
16-17
€47,250
72-95
€15,000
5
€303,150
18-20
€39,950
96-119
€13,000
6
€233,200
21-23
€34,750
120-143
€11,300
7
€179,350
24-27
€30,200
144-179
€9,850
8
€137,950
28-31
€26,250
9
€106,150
Day 3 of the EPT Paris Main Event will continue with Level 16: 2,000/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante. All levels will remain 90 minutes long, with a short break after every level. The provisional plan for Day 3 is to play five full levels and half of Level 21, which would see the night end around 10:30 p.m. local time. The shot clock will come into play today, and a 70-minute dinner break is currently planned after Level 19, at 7 p.m.
PokerNews will be live reporting another day of exciting poker action straight from the tournament floor in Paris, so stay tuned to not miss any of the thrilling action.
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