Big Names Capture High Roller Titles At European Poker Tour Paris Series

The first-ever European Poker Tour Paris festival featured a total of 30 tournaments spread across 12 days of action at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile. A total of 11,278 entries were made across the festival, with €33,319,512 ($35,651,878 USD) in total prize money awarded along the way.

While the two largest top prizes of the series went to EPT Paris main event champion Razvan Belea and €50,000 buy-in super high roller winner Chris Brewer ($1,026,686), there were plenty of high-stakes side events that awarded big money in the city of lights in recent days. Below is a look at some of the most notable high-roller results from the series.

€25,000 Single-Day High Roller I

The first of six separate €25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em events held during the festival saw a total of 44 entries made, building a prize pool of $1,107,322. The fast-paced single-day affair played down to a winner in the early morning hours of Feb. 18 after starting on Feb. 17. In the end it was American high-stakes regular Chris Brewer who came away with the title, earning $382,183 for the win.

Brewer overcame a stacked final table, with the likes of Orpen Kisacikoglu (6th), two-time bracelet winner Nick Petrangelo (4th), bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress (3rd) all cashing. Brewer defeated Felipe Ketzer (2nd – $249,096) heads-up to secure the title, which was the ninth recorded tournament victory of his career. It didn’t take long for Brewer to secure his 10th title, as he topped a field of 68 entries in the €50,000 buy-in just a few days later to secure his first-ever seven-figure payday.

The former collegiate long-distance runner now has nearly $8.1 million in lifetime earnings. His two titles won in Paris saw him earn 1,032 total Card Player Player of the Year points, enough to move him inside the top 60 in the 2023 POY race standings sponsored by Global Poker.

€25,000 Single-Day High Roller II

The second single-day high roller of the series drew an even larger turnout than the first, with 51 entries creating a $1,283,486 final prize pool. As a result, the number of players that cashed grew to seven, with the largest share going to eventual champion Teun Mulder.

The Dutch player earned $417,161 for this win, the fifth-largest score of his career. He now has nearly $6.3 million in recorded earnings to his name.

Seth Davies notched the first of his two high-roller final table finishes of the series in this event, earning $186,127 as the third-place finisher. When combined with the $91,699 he added for a fourth-place showing later on in the series, Davies grew his haul for the festival to 448 points and nearly $278,000. The American has already made five POY-qualified final tables in 2023, with 1,440 total points and nearly $1.6 million in earnings accrued across those scores. As a result, he now sits in 28th place in the POY rankings.

€25,000 Single-Day High Roller III

The third €25,000 single-day high roller was won by World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour main event champion Michael Watson. The Canadian poker pro overcame a field of 40 total entries to capture the largest share of the seven-figure prize pool: $347,215.

This was Watson’s second final-table finish of the year, having placed fourth in the $100,000 buy-in at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $404,100 back in January. He now has more than $18.1 million in lifetime tournament earnings to his name.

After two-time bracelet winner Fedor Holz fell in third place ($156,006), Watson beat out another two-time bracelet winner in Aleksejs Ponakovs to secure the title. Ponakovs was awarded $226,519 as the runner-up finisher.

€25,000 Single-Day High Roller IV

Portuguese high-stakes tournament star Joao Vieira secured his first live title of 2023 by beating out a field of 37 entries in the fourth single-day €25,000 high roller of this EPT series.

The victory came with a spade trophy and $321,257 in prize money, growing Vieira’s recorded earnings to nearly $7.6 million in the process. He remains the leading poker tournament earner from his home country, ahead of recent PokerStars Players Championship final tablist Pedro Marques ($4,642,209) and Rui Ferrera ($3,422,055), who finished sixth in this event for $65,163.

Vieira had a couple of top-flight competitors to contend with down the stretch. Steve O’Dwyer finished third for $144,343, while two-time Card Player Player of the Year award winner Stephen Chidwick placed second for $209,506. O’Dwyer and Chidwick were far from done racking up big scores in Paris, though.

€25,000 Single-Day High Roller V

Just a day after that runner-up finish, Chidwick made it back to heads-up play in the fifth and final €25,000 single-day high roller of the festival. This time around, Chidwick came out on top. The 33-year-old British poker pro was the last player standing from a field of 31 entries, earning $296,411 for the win.

Chidwick defeated recent PCA $250,000 buy-in champion Sam Greenwood heads-up to secure his first title of the year.

Nick Petrangelo recorded his third final-table finish of the festival, placing fifth for $74,151, while Seth Davies added $91,699 to his annual total with a fourth-place showing.

€25,000 High Roller

Just a couple of days after his most recent win, Chidwick managed to come away with yet another title. He took down the final €25,000 high-roller event of the series, which ran from Feb. 25-26. Chidwick earned $347,215 for the win, bringing his total POY earnings haul for the series to more than $850,000.

With his three POY-qualified final-table finishes and two titles, Chidwick has already accumulated 1,036 POY points as he begins his run at a third POY title. As a result, he now sits in 56th place in the 2023 standings.

This was his 38th recorded tournament title. It brought his lifetime earnings to $45,795,073, the fourth-most of any player in poker history.

Four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos finished second for $225,519. This was already his fifth POY-qualified score of the year. With 1,480 points he has moved inside the top 30 on the leaderboard heading into March.

Steve O’Dwyer placed fifth for $90,629. This was his third final-table finish of the series, and fourth overall on the year.

€10,300 High Roller

The second largest prize pool of the series belonged to the €10,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller. With 431 entries, a total of $4,427,232 was paid out among the top 63 finishers. The largest share was captured by Diogo Coelho, who came away with the title and $867,235 as the winner.

This was by far the largest live score yet for the player from Portugal, blowing away the $33,800 he earned as the 38th-place finisher in this year’s PCA main event. He also secured 1,800 POY points for the win. With this and a small final-table finish in a $550 buy-in event at the PCA, Coelho now sits in 16th place in the POY standings with 1,821 total points.

2014 WSOP main event champion Martin Jacobson finished seventh for $135,355, bringing his lifetime earnings to just shy of $17.8 million.

Photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd., Danny Maxwell / Manuel Kovsca / Eloy Cabacas.