Axel Bayout Bags Big Prize, Sits Among Final 24 in €1,000 Mystery Bounty

Another day has wrapped at the 2026 King's Million European Poker Championship, where the final 24 players have bagged up for the second time this week to remain in contention for the €1,000 Mystery Bounty title.

The final two flights closed less than an hour before the start of Day 2 at King's Resort, with the event attracting 1,863 entries to pass the guarantee and create a total prize pool of €1,583,550.

Leading the way is the player known as Xerxes I, who finished with 10,550,000 after scoring the final knockout to end the penultimate day. He will return as the only player above 100 big blinds, holding a healthy lead over Somar Al-Darwich (8,040,000) in second position.

Among the top ten names on the leaderboard is Axel Bayout (4,985,000), who is set up for a deep run with more than second place money already locked up. Bayout scored a big double knockout to earn two mystery bounty tickets, and used one of them to pull the top bounty prize of €150,000 during the dinner break.

End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Xerxes I	Germany	10,550,000	106
2	Somar Al-Darwich	Germany	8,040,000	80
3	David Kozma	Hungary	7,660,000	77
4	Nik	Romania	5,915,000	59
5	Martin Rapp	Germany	5,630,000	56
6	Royalsash	Serbia	5,340,000	53
7	Luca Beretta	Italy	5,305,000	53
8	Axel Bayout	France	4,985,000	50
9	Andrea Marchi	Italy	4,500,000	45
10	PREJSU	Poland	4,170,000	42

Day 2 Action

The day began with 233 players returning in the money, having already locked up €1,100 after bagging one of the eight opening flights. By the time the first break arrived, just over 100 were left in contention. That's when Bayout took the top bounty prize off the board, and Leonidas Georgopoulos (54th place - €1,970) grabbed the second-best prize on the following break by securing the €75,000 mystery bounty.

One of the big stacks at that point was David Kozma (7,660,000), who claimed a massive pot to vault up the leaderboard and finish in third position. Next in the counts is Nik (5,915,000), who is fresh off a 13th-place finish in €1,500 PLO Championship.

Another notable name still in contention is Sergiu Covrig (1,530,000), who led the field to begin Day 2 and scored a big double in the later stages before settling near the bottom of the pack to end the night.

Covrig and Bayout are the two WSOP bracelet winners returning for Day 3, while a number of other champions bowed out earlier in the day. That list includes Ermanno Di Nicola (57th - €1,970), Michal Schuh (65th - €1,970), Sokratis Linaras (86th - €1,555) and Bjorn Verbakel (106th - €1,555).

Mystery Bounty Prizes

Mystery Prize	Remaining Bounties
€150,000	0/1
€75,000	0/1
€30,000	1/2
€9,000	0/9
€3,000	4/31
€900	13/72
€300	20/117

The top bounty left is €30,000, with just one still available among the 38 mystery prizes still to be claimed. Action will resume for the final 24 players at 2:00 p.m. local time, where Level 26 has 39:03 left to be played at blinds of 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 big blind ante.

All of the contenders have earned at least €4,475, sitting four eliminations away from the next pay jump. The champion will take home €166,100, along with the King's Resort Royal Scepter.