Roman Stoica fulfils promise on biggest stage to win EPT Monte Carlo Main Event
It’s notoriously impossible to predict the winner of a large-field poker tournament, particularly one with the prestige of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event. But sometimes when you look at a new champion holding the trophy aloft, then check back to see their recent results, you realise this moment had actually been coming for a while.
Roman Stoica, who tonight won the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event for a spectacular €825,000 payday, has been knocking on this particular door. He won a big €1K side event in Barcelona last August, before two very deep Main Event runs in Malta and Prague served further notice.
And today in Monaco, the 31-year-old pro was able to rein in one of poker’s most prodigious young talents, Bernhard Binder, to take his own burgeoning career to the next level.
Binder, the chip leader for the best part of three days, was forced to settle for second and still has an EPT-shaped hole in his trophy cabinet.
Stoica, of course, was delighted to snatch this one from Binder’s grasp. “I’m very happy that I’ve become an EPT champion,” Stoica said, through an interpreter, at the end of the tournament. “This is the dream of every poker player…I’m feeling great — I just won €825,000 so how else can I feel!”
A ticker-tape end for Roman Stoica
STOICA’S SECRET
He said he had been working hard to achieve the success, but wouldn’t be hitting the tiles in Monte Carlo as fatigue was taking its toll.
“The secret to run as deep as I did is to play and practice as much as you can,” Stoica said. “It’s what brings you to the final table and to winning the tournament. I just want to go to bed now to get some rest. When I get home, I will celebrate.”
Binder had held the chip lead for a long time in this €5,300 buy-in Main Event, and was hotly tipped to add EPT glory to his recent victories in high buy-in events across the world. But both France’s David Djian and latterly Stoica showed that Binder was mortal after all, each occupying top spot during a fast-paced final.
Djian departed in third, leaving Stoica and Binder to play a brief heads-up battle. The tournament went from eight to a champion in less than four hours, with Stoica getting it done with the minimum of fuss. The man from Saint Petersburg, who also holds a Moldovan passport, becomes Russia’s ninth EPT champ.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
Through five gruelling days of play, the starting field of 1,011 entries reached its last eight during a marathon session on Saturday. But they played on another few levels in the hope and expectation of thinning the field to six for Sunday’s play.
It didn’t work like that, however, with a mixture of fatigue and ICM considerations slowing play to a halt. Chips slowly shifted positions for a couple of hours until bags came out, with the same eight therefore heading into the final, albeit with shorter stacks in relation to the blinds.
When they came back to play it out, the stacks were as follows.
Bernhard Binder – 7,200,000 (57 BBs)
Raul Mestre – 4,525,000 (36 BBs)
Samuel Ju – 4,000,000 (32 BBs)
David Djian – 3,675,000 (29 BBs)
Roman Stoica – 3,200,000 (25 BBs)
Oshri Lahmani – 2,950,000 (23 BBs)
Fan Longmao – 2,475,000 (19 BBs)
Jose Malpelli – 2,300,000 (18 BBs)
EPT Monte Carlo final table players (l-r): Oshri Lahmani, Longmao Fan, Jose Malpelli, Bernhard Binder, Raul Mestre, Roman Stoica, David Djian, Samuel Ju.
A BAD BEAT GETS THINGS STARTED
Now well rested, and looking at short stacks around the table, action was frantic from the start.
On only the third hand of final table play, David Djian looked at pocket eights in the cutoff and open-raised for the minimum. Oshri Lahmani on the button picked up J♠J♦ and jammed for 23 blinds from the button. The blinds folded, but Djian stated his intent with a call for all but eight blinds of his stack.
Lahmani was way ahead with his overpair, but there was disaster on the river for the Israeli player. After four innocuous cards, the 8♣ appeared to send Djian bellowing in delight and Lahmani, anguished, to the rail in eighth. He took €99,450 for eighth.
A tough beat early in the final for Oshri Lahmani
MESTRE BLASTS OFF AND OUT
After all the excitement, Djian settled back down to a significantly healthier stack. He then moved into the outright lead when he picked up a small pot from the previous leader Bernhard Binder on the very next hand.
Raul Mestre, the most experienced player at the table, had, by default, now slipped down to third place. But even though he is now older and wiser than the young, aggressive talent who first dazzled the EPT in its early days, Mestre has entirely lost his energy. Holding K♦9♣, he tried to get things moving at this final with a huge four-bet jam against Binder, button versus big blind.
But though Binder has surely three-bet button opens from the big blind with junk before, Mestre had mistimed this one. Binder was at the top of his range with A♦K♥ and snap-called Mestre’s shove, setting up the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
Mestre’s shove was for more than 42 blinds, and after a board of K♣6♠2♦10♠5♦ they were all heading into the stack of Binder. Mestre, the last Team PokerStars Pro in the field, departed in seventh for €129,050. Eighteen years after his first EPT final table ended in an eighth-placed finish, Mestre still hunts that elusive title.
Raul Mestre made one aggressive move too many
TWO FLIPS ACCOUNT FOR FAN
The huge pot took Binder back to the tournament summit with 95 big blinds. And he carried out his chip-leader duties with appropriate alacrity, piling the pressure on all the others in less comfortable positions around the table.
The first chink appeared in his armour when he raised his button holding 9♥4♥ and went to a flop with Samuel Ju. Ju flopped bottom pair and turned two pair, check-calling Binder’s bets. Binder had a wheel draw on the turn, but missed. But he still applied maximum pressure with a shove on the river, forcing Ju to a big decision. The German player emerged with the correct call, however, to score a double.
To this point, Roman Stoica had kept out of everyone’s way, but it was time for him to get his chips in and begin what amounted to a surge up the counts. The first step was to win a big flip holding J♠J♦ against Fan Longmao A♦K♦.
Stoica was the effective stack with around 18 blinds and it was a button-versus-big-blind situation again. Stoica raised, Fan three-bet, Stoica jammed and Fan called. The board was dry and the jacks held. It was a big double for Stoica, with Fan now on the ropes.
Fan found a spot to get his last five blinds in. He shoved from UTG+1 with K♦7♦, but Binder looked him up in the small blind, with pocket sixes. It’s rare that any final table stacks can survive losing two flips in quick succession, and once again Fan couldn’t hit.
The London-based Chinese player was out in sixth for €167,850.
Fan Longmao perished in sixth
QUALIFIER MALPELLI’S ROI FUNRUN ENDS
The last remaining PokerStars qualifier Jose Malpelli was now the short stack, with around 16 blinds. He added to them when he won two pots in succession — shoving the small blind with 8♥7♥ and getting Binder to fold A♠4♠, then finding no resistance when he raised pocket eights. He added further when he flopped a set of sevens in the big blind.
But Malpelli’s good work all came unstuck when he became the latest player to be flipped out of the event. Malpelli found pocket nines in the big blind and saw Stoica open the button. Malpelli hammed for his last 18 blinds, putting Stoica to the test.
The Russian had A♦Q♣ and 30 blinds in his stack. He used two time extensions as he pondered whether this was a spot he had to take.
Stoica eventually decided to call, putting Malpelli at risk. And after the 4♥8♥4♣ flop and 5♥ turn changed nothing, the A♣ on the river was the killer blow for Malpelli. The Frenchman, who qualified online for only €250, nearly multiplied his investment by 1,000, but had to settle for €218,300 and a fifth-placed finish.
Qualifier Jose Malpelli had a sensational spin-up
STOICA SURGES AS JU’S RESISTANCE ENDS
Stoica now had some momentum going, and in a blind-vs.-blind hand, he picked off a Binder bluff on a board of K♥5♥5♣3♥3♣ to continue his positive motion. After neither player showed a whole lot of interest in the run-out, Binder bet the river holding only J♥2♦. He was representing the hand Stoica had, which was ace-high. Stoica called correctly and won a 2 million chip pot.
On the very next hand, Stoica was rewarded not only with a pair of kings in the small blind, but also with the sight of David Djian opening from under-the-gun holding A♠4♣. Stoica three-bet his big pair and Djian’s four-bet was music to Stoica’s ears.
He jammed, Djian folded, and that was another significant pot heading to Stoica. It put him in the chip lead for the first time.
At the other end of the ladder, Ju had only six blinds. He doubled once with a dominant ace after Stoica opened the button and called off, and he was then a spectator as Djian and Binder played a big one, with Djian flopping a set of fours and Binder’s A♥10♣ flopping an ace.
That significant pot went to Djian, whose stack hit seven figures and left Binder down in third.
Ju dwindled down to eight blinds again, but then suffered the coldest of cold decks to bust. After Binder raised his button holding A♠Q♥, Ju picked up pocket 10s and shoved the big blind. Binder called.
The J♣10♥2♠ flop gave Ju middle set. It was strong, but Binder had outs. The 5♥ turn was not one of them. The K♥ river was.
It was another gross river card at this final table, with Ju sent packing in fourth. He took €283,550.
Samuel Ju’s run ended in fourth
DJIAN NEXT TO FALL TO STOICA
Stoica was still ahead, and he extended the lead when he rivered a flush and over-bet, getting a call from Djian’s top pair. He then won more from Binder and ended with a stack three times each of his opponents’. There was still no clear indication that the three-handed impasse would end soon as, for once at the final, stacks were relatively deep. But another cooler, expertly exploited by Stoica, took us down to two.
Stoica found 10♦9♦ in the small blind, and just called to give Djian the option in the big blind. He checked his 10♠6♥ to see a flop of 6♦3♦8♣. Stoica checked and then raised after Djian bet his middle pair. Djian was a non-believer and called.
The A♦ on the turn hit Stoica and left Djian drawing dead. Stoica now led out for one third of the pot. In the commentary booth, Griffin Benger admired the sizing, and it did exactly what Stoica hoped in picking up a call from Djian. The pair then saw the 10♥ on the river, which Djian possibly thought he wanted to see. It was the complete opposite.
Stoica moved all in, comfortably covering Djian. The Frenchman took his time to make up his mind, but decided he couldn’t fold what was now two pair. Stoica tabled his flush and Djian got up for one last time.
He earned €368,750 for third. It wasn’t bad for a man who nearly didn’t play this tournament, only being persuaded by a friend at the last moment.
David Djian made his most of his moment in the sun
STOICA SHOWS NO MERCY
Stoica and Binder therefore now faced off. Binder is the hottest property in world poker at the moment, but in this tournament, Stoica was burning even brighter. Stoica had 114 blinds to Binder’s 37 and it was an uphill battle for the Austrian.
It didn’t get any better through a brief heads-up battle.
On what turned out to be the final hand, Stoica called from the small blind holding 7♥5♥. Binder had K♦Q♦ in the big blind and put in a raise. Stoica went nowhere.
The stubborness was rewarded immediately by the 4♠7♣7♦ flop and it seemed the writing was now on the wall. Binder check-called Stoica’s tiny bet, with the 9♠ appearing on the turn. Binder was now drawing dead. He checked again, and Stoica sized up to a third pot. Binder called once more.
The prodigious Bernhard Binder will need to try again on the EPT
The Q♠ on the river gave Binder top pair. But it only served as the last nail in the coffin. Binder checked again, but Stoica now bet for all of it, leaving Binder a decision for his tournament life.
He had less than the pot in his stack and made the call, with the stoic Stoica allowing himself a grin of jubilation as he got up to shake his opponent’s hand. Binder took €515,000 and continues to show what he is capable of.
But Stoica is your new EPT Monte Carlo champion, €825,000 better off.
RESULTS
EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event
Dates: May 4-10, 2026
Entries: 1,011 (inc. 309 re-entries)
Prize pool: €4,903,350
1 – Roman Stoica, Russia, €825,000
2 – Bernhard Binder, Austria, €515,000
3 – David Djian, France, €368,750
4 – Samuel Ju, Germany, €283,550
5 – Jose Malpelli, France, €218,300
6 – Longmao Fan, China, €167,850
7 – Raul Mestre, Spain, €129,050
8 – Oshri Lahmani, Israel, €99,450
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