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Matthieu Cartillier Wins First WSOP Circuit Ring in Aix-en-Provence Main Event (€150,000)
Arriving at the final table of the 2026 €1,500 WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence Main Event at the Pasino Grand Partouche, Matthieu Cartillier held the chip lead but faced tough opposition on his path to victory. Despite the challenge, Cartillier navigated his way to the title, emerging as the winner after a relatively short final table.
Out of a field of 783 entries, he secured his first WSOP Circuit ring, a $5,000 package for the next WSOP Paradise, and, above all €150,000, the largest share of the €1,014,768 prize pool, after defeating Michel Leibgorin (2nd - €107,000) in heads-up play. In his pursuit of an eighth ring, Sonny Franco finished in third place for €78,000.
2026 WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthieu Cartillier | France | €150,000 |
| 2 | Michel Leibgorin | France | €107,000 |
| 3 | Sonny Franco | France | €78,000 |
| 4 | Georgios Skarparis | Cyprus | €57,368 |
| 5 | Onni Huttunen | Finland | €42,500 |
| 6 | Anthony Apicella | France | €32,900 |
| 7 | Houssem Meftahi | Tunisia | €24,400 |
| 8 | Alexis Tremblay | Switzerland | €19,100 |
Winner's Reaction
“I’m very happy, really happy. I couldn’t really hope for it, but it was a pleasure. I’m just a random guy playing with randoms,” Cartillier joked while waiting for his ring ceremony.
It is true that out of the eight finalists, the 41-year-old accounting consultant was not the most renowned player, with just two live cashes officially recorded. But behind this relative discretion lies a former professional cash-game player.
“I used to be a pro player at the beginning of .fr poker. I remember playing live for the first time on August 10, 2007. I was doing well during that era, but I stepped away from poker about six or seven years ago. I had been doing it for 10 years and got tired of it,” he explained.
At the time, he met players like Franco, whom he faced again at the final table. Franco is also the reason he played the festival this week: “It started when the Pasino Grand sponsored Sonny. I saw videos on Facebook because of him and thought, ‘okay, cool, I’ll go to the casino.’ So I came here.”
This friendship ultimately led him to the title after a final table he enjoyed playing. “Honestly, it was a great final table. We were laughing the whole time. I didn’t look at anyone’s results at all but I’m not impressed by good players. I know you have to respect certain ranges and concepts, but the goal was more about choosing who you want to play big pots against. That’s what I try to do. And I also had the cards,” he said.
Despite this success, Cartillier is not planning to play more tournaments in the future, although he will head to the Bahamas in December thanks to his $5,000 package for WSOP Paradise. “That could be nice. I’ll have to see with my wife if she’s okay with going to the Bahamas,” he added.
But even before that, his festival is far from over, as he bagged a big stack for tomorrow’s Colossus Day 2, where he will try to win a second ring this week.
Final Table Action
With a 60 big blind average at the beginning of the final table, the day could have been very long but everything has been pretty straight forward all the way until the end, with just a few doubles up. The first casualty was last in chips Alexis Tremblay, who ran his sixes into queens to take €19,100 for his 8th place finish.
While Leibgorin and Onni Huttunen were taking the chip lead, Anthony Apicella flopped a straight to crack Huttunen's kings and double up. However these new hopes were short lived as he moved all-in a few hands later with jack-ten but faced Skarparis' kings. This time, the board changed nothing and he was sent to the rail in 6th place.
He gained one place however, as Houssem Meftahi was eliminated moments earlier. He found trips on the river and called when Huttunen moved all-in, but the Finnish player had already hit a straight on the turn, ending Meftahi’s tournament.
Now five-handed, Franco managed to double up with aces but unsuccessfully four-bet bluffed into ace-king in the next hands to keep one of the shortest stacks by the first break.
At the restart, Huttunen had an opportunity himself to double with aces, but Leibgorin found a straight on the turn to get closer to the ring. Georgios Skarparis with ace-jack eventually found Cartillier on his way with ace-jack and followed Huttunen at the cashier desk to take the €57,368 of his fourth place, leaving three French players in contention.
Franco closed the gap by doubling up for the second time with aces. However two hours later, he was the one at risk again facing the future winner Cartillier. Franco flopped a pair with ace-nine, but Cartillier with king-queen rivered a straight and Franco saw his eighth ring slipped through his fingers. "I've achieved my goal to be in the Top 3," he still said after he was eliminated.
After dinner break, Leibgorin and Cartillier came back at the table to play for ring but the heads-up was only one way with Cartillier hitting two pair, trips and a full house in just a few hands to eventually eliminate Leibgorin and be crowned as the new WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence champion.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of the WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence Main Event. Four more rings are up for grabs this Tuesday to close out the festival, including one online on PMU PLAY.
The next WSOP Circuit festival in Europe will take place in May in the Netherlands, before the circuit returns to France from September 1–12 at the brand new Partouche Casino Club, which will be inaugurated next month in Paris.