Thomas Eychenne Wins in Barcelona Again One Year Later

Thomas Eychenne Cruises to Victory in the €2,700 PS Open High Roller (€589K)

For a year after winning the EPT Barcelona Main Event, things didn’t really go Eychenne’s way. He made a couple of final tables and recorded six-figure scores, but finished 5th, 7th, or 8th every time.

Last Sunday, everything finally came together.

Eychenne started the final day as the chip leader and never dropped below the top two.

In 9th place, he eliminated Zdenek Zizka: 99 > ATs, 21 BB pot.

In 5th place, he eliminated Christian Kaufmann. On J 4 9 J 4 , both players checked the flop. Kaufmann fired two bluff bets on the turn and river with A 3 , and Eychenne called with K 4 .

In 4th place, Eychenne eliminated Marwan Salamoun: QQ > AJo. The three players checked the 39Q flop. On the turn, an ace appeared. Eychenne bet 5 BB into 7 BB, and Salamoun shoved. 40 BB pot.

In 3rd place, he eliminated Lars Tungel: 88 > A6o on 5684T board, 33 BB pot.

The winner was determined in a single hand: QQ > T9o, 25 BB pot on T5673.

EPT Barcelona High Roller Final Table Payouts (1,551 entries)

Place	Country	Player	Prize
1		Thomas Eychenne	€589,300
2		Virgile Turchi	€371,000
3		Lars Tungel	€265,400
4		Marwan Salamoun	€204,100
5		Christian Kaufmann	€156,700
6		Gilles Simon	€120,000
7		Hak-Hyeon Lee	€92,500
8		David Gian	€70,400
9		Zdenek Zizka	€54,100

Ottomar Ladva Shines in the One-Day High Rollers

Ottomar Ladva has the strongest record. The Estonian grandmaster reached three heads-up matches and earned more than €856K in total:

• €150,600 in the €20K NLHE — defeated Brock Wilson (€233.5K)
• €267,760* in the €25K NLHE — defeated Clemens Reuter. They made a heads-up deal, with Reuter ultimately receiving €1,730 less
• €437,600 in the €50K Super High Roller Second Chance — made an ICM deal with Niklas Astedt. Ladva was declared the winner, but Astedt received more in prize money (€522,840).

Tom Fuchs Wins the €100K Super High Roller With No Stream or Extra Attention (€1,126,540)

The tournament attracted 27 entries. It was scheduled to run for three days with a stream on Sunday, but the field was reduced to a winner in just two days. They finished well after midnight, with only Tom Fuchs, Kayhan Mokri, and the dealer left in the room.

It was the first trophy of Fuchs’ career and only his second live tournament victory overall.

Kayhan Mokri had already won this same tournament in Barcelona in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, he won the €50K event. This year, he is still looking for his first title.

Final Table Payouts

Place	Country	Player	Prize
1		Tom Fuchs	€1,126,540
2		Kayhan Mokri	€707,000
3		Jamie Dwann	€472,000
4		Byron Kaverman	€314,000

Jason Wheeler Wins the €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event and Sets a New Career-Best Score (€731K)

The tournament attracted 4,333 entries. Wheeler defeated Alexander Ivarsson (€457K) heads-up.

Wheeler is 49 years old and has been playing EPT events since 2010. His previous best result was a runner-up finish in the €5K PokerStars Championship Main Event Prague 2017 (€570K).

Wheeler’s lucky charm is his PokerStars Live ID card, issued in 2011. The cards are no longer needed, but Wheeler keeps his like a treasure. In one interview, he said he tries to take good care of his possessions. He also revealed that he still drives a 2009 Nissan Altima that he bought in 2009 with one of his poker winnings — and it has only 80K miles on it.

Maria Konnikova Loses Heads-Up for the Trophy in an Unusual-Format Tournament

The format will be familiar to anyone who has played satellites on GGPoker.

In the €550 – In the Money at 180,000, every player starts with a 30K stack and reaches the money as soon as they hit 180K. Their stack then carries over to Day 2.

That means there is no bubble in these tournaments, making the action extremely aggressive.

The organizers initially capped the tournament at 300 players but eventually had to remove the cap.

The tournament attracted 572 entries from 440 unique players. Sacha Cohen won €52K, defeating Maria Konnikova (€32.5K) heads-up.

Businessman Vinnie Lingham Wins the €30K Super High Roller Warm Up (€306,600)

The co-founder of crypto and money-market-focused hedge fund Praxos Capital won a tournament for the first time. The event attracted 21 entries.

Eelis Pärssinen finished runner-up (€184K), while Enrico Camosci took third (€122.7K).

Senior Vranken Gets Off to the Best Start of the Series

EPT Barcelona kicked off on August 16 with a Seniors event open to players aged 50 and over.

The €1,100 Senior’s attracted 280 entries. Antoine Vranken won €42.6K, while Timur Sattarov finished second for €34.7K.

The following day, the €3,250 Senior’s High Roller attracted 46 entries. Vranken finished runner-up for €28.7K, while Yves Thalmann won €43.5K.

Vranken has been playing poker since 2010. In 2021, he won the €1,650 NLHE/PLO Mix at WSOP Europe (€113K) — we covered that victory at the time.

Day 2 of the €5K Main Event Is Already Streaming

You can watch the action on YouTube and Twitch. The tournament attracted 1,823 entries, its lowest attendance since 2018.

The winner will take home €1,370,050. We will find out who it is on August 29.

Source of photo: PokerStars Blog.