Breaking Down the Biggest 2025 EPT Poker Hands

€100,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller

Germany’s Leon Sturm conquered a field of 47 poker players willing to pony up €100,000 to partake in the biggest buy-in tournament of the EPT Barcelona series. Defeating David Coleman heads-up who started the day on a heater, and a star studded final table which included former WSOP Main Event Champ Espen Jorstad, Sturm added €1.45 million to his career winnings. 

The path to victory wasn’t easy though, as we see in some of the highlights from Days 2 and 3:

In level 15 with blinds at 10k and 25k with a 25k big blind ante, Jesse Lonis sat in the cutoff with just over a million in chips, while Sturm looked on from the big blind with a little over 2 million. 

Lonis raised it up to 55k and Sturm defended.  The flop brought a c-bet from Lonis for 45k, inducing another call from Sturm. The turn was passed over, but the river brought action from Sturm now to the tune of 145k.  Lonis responded with a raise up to 485k, to which Sturm called after burning a time bank.  Sturm quickly mucked after he saw Lonis’ hand.

Not much thought to Lonis’ hand here – he bet the draw; checked when it hit, and inducing a bet from Sturm on the river which is raised to try and get more value, which he did 

While we didn’t get Sturm’s hand, there are a lot of possibilities that could be in play – the flush isn’t likely, but a straight is. Seven-Five suited (not hearts) wouldn’t be crazy to defend from the big blind, and the call on the flop makes sense to try and chase the draw, and then betting & calling the river when both the straight & flush draws get there. 

He could have also played an Ace-Ace-Four, Ace-Six, Ace-Three and had two pairs going to the river (without seeing the action, I’d expect Ace-Queen to show itself more on the flop). It looks to have been a tough river for Strum, who ended day 2 heading lower, but turned that around on day 3 to eventually win the whole thing.

Four levels later, with blinds at 30k and 60k with a 60k big blind ante, and now on day 3, Sturm found himself sitting with 1.9 million in chips and on the small blind, while Jesse Lonis was on the button with 2.3 million, and David Coleman in the big blind with a hair under 4 million. 

After Lonis raised to 130k and Sturm three-bet to 440k. Coleman decided that a four-bet was in order and went up to 750k.  Lonis got out of the way, and Sturm decided it was now or never, pushing everything into the middle. Coleman called, and smiled at first, but by the river Strum became the chip leader. 

Is there any worse way to lose a massive pot at a huge final table than this?  Probably not, but why we picked this hand out was the raise Coleman may pre-flop. Facing a three-bet and holding Ace-King, his decision was to either four-bet or shove. His decision to min-four bet, sitting as the chip leader, looks suspect to some but he wasn’t going anywhere if he got five-bet, which he did. 

Given the stacks of his opponents, the argument can be made to just outright shove, or min-four bet and call off a five-bet shove – depends if you’re the type that plays Ace-King aggressively or not. Unfortunately for Coleman, the board ran out giving Sturm the flush on the turn and starting the reversal of fortunes at the final table for both Coleman, and Strum.

€5,300 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event

We now turn our attention to the main event that drew over 2,000 players to the Casino Barcelona in pursuit of the over 1 million Euro top prize. Thomas Eychenne had been playing poker for a long time, but had not yet notched a live tournament win – until now.  The French pro hoisted the trophy after playing over 7 days for his first ever live win – and the biggest score of his career, and now finds himself substantially richer. 

Let’s look back at a couple of hands where Ionita and Eychenne went to battle.

In level 34 with others at the table, Eychenne sat with just over 17 million and elected to limp to Ionita in the big blind who checked with a stack of around 12 million. The flop and turn saw no action, but Eychenne sent a 1 million bet on the river which Ionita tanked with, but correctly called.

Eychenne showed a bit of heart here by firing on the river into a pair of aces and three spades with two un-paired hearts, but Ionita was correctly able to figure out that Eychenne did not have the flush, nor did he have a hand that beat his. 

But like you’re about to see, Ionita took a conservative approach to the final table and it worked in this case. The bluff attempt from Eychenne was done purely out of a lack of action one has to think – he wasn’t winning by checking, so what else can one do but fire and hope? 

Ionita picked up on this, and bravely called with the top two pairs.  He had to seriously consider it – the river bet represented just under 10% of his stack, but as you’ll see next, his passiveness cost him what amounted to a bigger pot later.

Heads-up and in level 36 with blinds at 250k and 500k with a 500k big blind ante, Eychenne sat with just under 39 million, while Sebastian Ionita had just over 23 million in the big blind. Eychenne raised up to 1.25 million, garnering a call from Ionita.  Eychenne c-bet the flop for 600k, getting called again. The turn saw both players slow down, but the river saw Eychenne overbet the pot for 5 million. After sending a few time banks to the dealer, Ionita folded.

Ionita was put into a touch spot by playing his top two pairs as passively as he did. Eychenne played his overcard and gutshot straight draw very aggressively and got rewarded for it on the river. 

Ionita could have, and probably should have, attempted to put Eychenne to the test at some point in this hand post-flop – with all sorts of draws out there on the turn, his check let Eychenne catch-up and take the pot. A substantial bet there of at least half pot – 2 million plus – might have been able to induce a fold by Eychenne and get the pot. 

Instead, the freight train that Eychenne drove through the final table was unstoppable at this point as he rode that to victory.