EPT Monte Carlo: High Roller builds on long legacy
There aren’t many €25K events on European soil that attract the kind of numbers we always get in Monaco.
When registration closed today on Day 2 of the EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller, tournament staff had taken buy-ins for 200 entries. There’s nearly €4.8 million in the prize pool and €1,014,500 for the winner.
At the time of writing, there are 57 players still in contention, including Aleks Ponakovs, Ben Heath, Juan Pardo, Joao Vieira, Isaac Haxton, and dozens of other crushers.
We’ll crown a champion tomorrow. Download the PokerStars Live app from the Apple iStore or Google Play for Android for the latest.
Follow all the action from Monte Carlo in our coverage hub
HIGH ROLLER HISTORY
It might be EPT Monte Carlo’s 21st birthday this year, but the High Roller event here has had only 14 previous iterations. It started back in 2009, when Vanessa Rousso beat a 79-entry field to a €532,500 first prize. That remained the biggest prize of Rousso’s decorated career, before she stepped away from the game about eight years later.
The list of former champions of the EPT Monte Carlo High Roller actually serves as something of a trip down memory lane, featuring a handful of players we never see anymore.
Tobias Reinkemeier was a beast back in the day
Rousso’s successor, Tobias Reinkemeier, was one of the brightest shining high-rolling superstars 15 years ago, but after taking career tournament earnings of $11 million, he became a psychotherapist instead.
He was so good as a reader of opponents’ intentions that he once famously got Roland de Wolfe to muck a winning hand, shipping a major pot to Reinkemeier despite the latter only calling De Wolfe’s bet. He’s using those skills in a therapist’s role now, and no doubt doing a world of good.
The next two champions, Steven Silverman and Philipp Gruissem, are only occasional poker players these days as well. Silverman, once known as “Zugwat” online, and Gruissem, aka “Philbort”, are now getting their kicks elsewhere. Gruissem’s social media profiles show him adopting meditative poses in various tranquil locations — similar, actually, to Charlie Carrel, who won the Monte Carlo high roller the following year.
LAST YEAR’S CHAMPION
In an era where Brazilian players dominate the online poker scene, gobbling up titles like a whale devouring krill, standing out is no small feat. Pedro Padilha, known online as “PadiLhA SP”, has long been recognised as one of Brazil’s elite tournament players, yet despite his online success, a major live title had eluded him.
Pedro Padilha took it down in 2025
That all changed in 2025 after a dominating final table performance in the 226-entry EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller saw him bank the biggest score of his career yet: €1,146,000. He took the chip lead in the final day’s early stages after a flurry of eliminations, and never gave it up, ultimately defeating French Super High Roller regular Thomas Santerne heads-up after a quickfire duel.
Padilha was a man of few words after his victory, but only because we can’t speak Portuguese. “I’m sorry, my English is so bad, bro!” he said. “This tournament has been amazing, and just look at that trophy, it’s beautiful.”
Read a full recap from last year’s High Roller here.
KEY 2026 STATS
EPT Monte Carlo €25K High Roller
Entries: 200
Prize pool: €4,802,000
First place: €1,014,500
Min-cash (31 places paid): €41,300
PREVIOUS EPT MONTE CARLO HIGH ROLLER WINNERS
2009: 79 entries, €1 975,000 prize pool, Vanessa Rousso (USA) for €532,500
2010: 113 entries, €2,825,000 prize pool, Tobias Reinkemeier (Germany) for €956,000
2012: 133 entries, €3,325,000 prize pool, Igor Kurganov (Russia) for €1,080,000
2013: 158 entries, €3,871,000 prize pool, Steven Silverman (USA) for €775,400
2014: 214 entries, €5,243,000 prize pool, Philipp Gruissem (Germany) for €993,963
2015: 215 entries, €5,267,500 prize pool, Charlie Carrel (UK) for €1,114,000
2016: 231 entries, €5,659,500 prize pool, Alexandru Papazian (Romania) for €1,197,000
2017: 187 entries, €4,581,500 prize pool, Julian Stuer (Germany) for €1,015,000*
2018: 119 entries, €2,828,035 prize pool, Albert Daher (Lebanon) for €595,386
2019: 142 entries, €3,374,630 prize pool, Benjamin Pollak (France) for €705,840
2022: 179 entries, €4,297,790 prize pool, Gianluca Speranza (Italy) for €853,000
2023: 211 entries, €5,066,110 prize pool, Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) for €938,042
2024: 247 entries, €5,930,470 prize pool, Luca Marki (Switzerland) for €1,085,970
2025: 226 entries, €5,426,260 prize pool, Pedro Padilha (Brazil) for €1,146,000
*held as PokerStars Championship in 2017
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