Roman Stoica Claims EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Title with €825,000 Prize

(AsiaGameHub) –   Roman Stoica has emerged victorious in the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event, claiming a prize of €825,000. He triumphed over a field of 1,011 participants on the French Riviera, ultimately defeating Austria’s Bernhard Binder in heads-up play to secure the title.

Stoica, a 31-year-old from St Petersburg, Russia, is now recognized as Russia’s ninth EPT champion. PokerStars noted that he follows in the footsteps of Aleksandr Shevliakov, who was named the 2025 EPT Monte Carlo champion. “I’m very happy that I’ve become an EPT champion,” Stoica stated. “This is the dream of every poker player. I’m feeling great – I just won €825,000, so how else can I feel! The secret to running as deep as I did is to play and practice as much as you can. It’s what brings you to the final table and to winning the tournament.”

The final table payouts for the Main Event, as released by PokerStars, were as follows: Stoica (€825,000), Binder (€515,000), David Djian (€368,750), Samuel Ju (€283,550), Jose Malpelli (€218,300), Longmao Fan (€167,850), Raul Mestre (€129,050), and Oshri Lahmani (€99,450).

In the high-roller events, PokerStars reported that the festival’s €250,000 Super High Roller was the highest buy-in event ever hosted at a PokerStars-branded event. Alex Kulev was the winner, earning €2,786,332 after defeating Bryn Kenney heads-up.

Additionally, the €100,000 High Roller for One Drop generated €228,000 for the One Drop Foundation, with PokerStars confirming that 3% of each €100,000 buy-in was donated. Albert Daher secured €2,055,000 after besting Stephen Chidwick heads-up. Jason Koon claimed victory in a €100,000 Sit & Go Invitational, taking home a winner-takes-all prize of €1 million, also after a heads-up match against Chidwick.

Following EPT Monte Carlo, PokerStars also announced updates to the PokerStars Live League standings. Juan Pardo is currently leading the High leaderboard, Julien Sitbon is at the top of the Medium leaderboard, and Danilo Donnini leads the Low leaderboard. According to PokerStars, a total of €157,500 in PokerStars LIVE credit will be distributed among the top three finishers in each leaderboard category.