Only 48 players remain at the EPT Main Event in the ultra-luxurious Principality of Monaco, where a leading pack of previous champions is chasing the biggest pieces of a €4.9 million prize pool.
The field is led by 2025 EPT Barcelona Main Event champ Thomas Eychenne, who tops the list with 185 big blinds for Day 4. He's joined by fellow EPT Main champs Ognyan Dimov and Derk van Luijk in the top ten, along with 2023 Monte Carlo runner-up Leonard Maue and EPT regular Boris Kolev.
It's the usual lineup of regular EPT crushers in the final stretch of the flapship event in Monte Carlo, where Eychenne will look to win his second EPT in less than a year.
Stacked ten lead the way
Eychenne will have to get through a stellar lineup down the stretch. Van Luijk won this event in 2024, beating Boris Angelov for a cool 1M. Other top-ten finishers include Mehdi Chaoui, who is Morocco's top money winner, and old-school cash game crusher and coach Raul Mestre.
2026 EPT Main Event top ten Day 3 chip counts (Blinds: 6K/12K/12K)
- Thomas Eychenne - 1,846,000
- Mehdi Chaoui - 1,686,000
- Ognyan Dimov - 1,634,000
- Raul Mestre - 1,627,000
- Leonard Maue - 1,236,000
- Stanislav Anufriiev - 1,103,000
- Boris Kolev - 1,058,000
- Miroslav Rizov - 1,044,000
- Derk van Luijk - 963,000
- Longmao Fan - 935,000
Another EPT Main Event winner lurks further down the list, depending on who you might ask. Dimitar Danchev won the PCA Main Event in 2013, an era when most people included that as an EPT title. Either way, he returns with one of the short stacks and a lot of work to do.
No dice for David Lappin on Day 3. Other lurkers include Joao Vieira, who sits near the bottom, and Benny Glaser, who has plenty to work with while holding 28 big blinds. WSOP Super Main champ Bernhard Binder is still around, too.
Many more unlucky souls hit the rail on Thursday in Monaco, where 151 players returned safely beyond the money bubble for Day 2. It was moving day for some and moving-out day for others, starting with Day 2 chip leader Rodrigo Selouan. He would slide down the list throughout but find a spot near the bottom of the list for another shot on Day 4.
Players have each secured €16,100 and the next pay jump is still far ahead at 39th place. The big prize is €825,000 and the top-seven will make six figures.
Monaco is not a bad spot for some poker. EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Top 10 payouts
- €825,000
- €515,000
- €368,750
- €283,550
- €218,300
- €167,850
- €129,050
- €99,450
- €76,500
- €61,700
Everyone will get some rest on the French Riviera and return for Day 4 at noon local time. Blinds kick off fresh in Level 20 at 6K/12K/12K with five rounds of 90-minutes on tap. You can tune in all day long via livestream on the PokerStars YouTube channel.
Images courtesy of Jules Pochy/Danny Maxwell/Manuel Kovsca/Rational Intellectual Holdings, Inc.
