At the start of the final table for the European Poker Tour’s Monte Carlo Main Event, it looked like nobody could top Austria’s Bernhard Binder. With a dominant chip lead, the railbirds in Sporting Monte-Carlo figured they were there for a coronation rather than a competition. As they say, however, that is why they play these things on an oval green baize; the Russian Federation’s Roman Stoica climbed from the middle of the pack to first challenge, then defeat, Binder, earning the 2026 EPT Monte Carlo championship.
Looking for Second Leg
Binder, who was the champion of the 2025 World Series of Poker Paradise Super Main Event back in December, was looking for the second leg of poker’s Triple Crown, an EPT title, when festivities began on Sunday. He had held the lead since Friday, coming to the table on Sunday with a massive 7.25 million chip stack. It vastly outpaced Spain’s Raul Mestre, who could only gather 4.525 million chips for battle, and it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Binder was on his way to another victory.
Reality has a way of bringing you back to Earth, however. After David Djian knocked off Oshri Lahmani in eighth place when he miraculously caught an eight to make a boat over Lahmani’s pocket Jacks, he would move into second place and immediately challenge Binder. Binder had shown some rather adventurous play in the lead-up to the final table, and it would not serve him well this time around.
After Djian raised the betting to 250K in the cutoff and Binder added in the chips to his big blind, the 10-9-8 flop brought several possibilities. Both men checked to see the plot thicken even more as a Queen came on the turn. Once again, Binder and Djian checked, only to see a second nine on the river. This woke Binder up with a 275K bet, and Djian beat him into the pot with the call; Binder showed a 9-5 for trip nines (and a missed flush draw), while Djian showed an A-J for a turned straight and took over the lead.
This seemed to wake up Binder as he went after his nemesis for the past couple of days, Mestre. The duo entered a raising war, until Mestre was all-in, and the cards went to their backs:
Binder (big blind): A-K
Mestre (button): K-9
Mestre had chosen the wrong day to try to bluff, as Binder was in a dominating position. It got even worse for Mestre when a King appeared in the window and, once the turn card was dealt, Mestre was drawing dead and out in seventh place. With Mestre’s healthy stack added to his own, Binder reassumed the lead as the only player over ten million chips (11.88 million, to be precise).
Binder continued to push around his tablemates, with varying degrees of success. He once again tried to bully Djian, to no avail, but he would knock off Longmao Fan in sixth. Meanwhile, Stoica began his climb up the leaderboard by winning a race against Jose Malpelli, Stoica’s A-Q catching an Ace on the river to top Malpelli’s pocket nines. Stoica would move to 7.75 million in chips as Malpelli departed in fifth place.
Stoica’s Charge Continues
Down to four players in the 2026 EPT Monte Carlo, Stoica continued to move up the leaderboard. He took a substantial chunk of chips from both Samuel Ju and Binder, and suddenly, Stoica was in second place in the tournament. Stoica’s march continued when he entered a raising battle with Djian, eventually getting Djian to fold his hand after he all-in four-bet him. Those hands pushed Stoica into the lead, a position that he would not leave for the rest of the night.
Although Binder took out Ju in fourth place, Stoica eliminated Djian in third to enter heads-up play against Binder with more than a 3:1 lead (22.925 million to 7.4 million). In the span of two hands, Stoica completed the stunning comeback; on the final hand, Stoica limped in from the button, and Binder popped the action to 800K, which Stoica called. A 4-7-7 flop hit the felt, which brought a check-call from Binder for Stoica’s 350K bet, and a nine fell on the turn. Stoica, after another Binder check, started to get serious with a bet of 1.1 million, and Binder once again made the call.
A Queen came on the river, with three spades on the board, and there was no hesitation when the action came to Stoica. Binder checked and, after Stoica moved all-in, Binder pondered his options before calling off his final chips. Stoica turned up a 7♥ 5♥ for trip sevens off the flop, while Binder could only muster K-Q for a rivered two pair, earning Roman Stoica the championship of the 2026 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event for his first major title.
1. Roman Stoica (Russian Federation), €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
