EPT Barcelona: Thomas Eychenne lands gold again; Ottomar Ladva’s hot streak continues

August 24, 2026

Poker

by Howard Swains

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Thomas Eychenne’s defence of his EPT Main Event title got off to a sluggish start in Barcelona on Sunday — but for the best possible reason. The Frenchman was only able to sit down in the Main Event field late on Day 1B because he was too busy winning the €2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller, which concluded on the same day.

Eychenne’s victory, over a field of 1,551 entries, earned him €589,395. He still had the time at the end of the day to hop into the EPT Main Event, chasing a repeat of last year’s glory, where his €1.2 million score was the biggest of his career.

Eychenne beat his countryman Virgile Turchi after only one hand of heads-up to claim his latest huge prize, getting pocket queens to hold up against Turchi’s 10♦9♥ on a ten-high board. Turchi took a career high €371,000.

The French pair were left alone after Marwan Salamoun went out in fourth and Lars Tungel fell in third. Former EPT Cyprus champion Gilles Simon also made the final, finishing sixth.

The ticker tape rains on Thomas Eychenne

AN AFFINITY WITH BARCELONA

“Amazing, very high up in emotions,” Eychenne said when asked how he was feeling at the end of the tournament. “Very grateful. It’s tough to describe. Amazing.”

Eychenne referenced his clear affinity with this particular destination, telling PokerStars’ Nick Walsh: “I was saying it before my EPT win, Barcelona was already back then one of my best stops. And obviously after those two wins, which are the sole wins of my career, it’s definitely my best stop.”

He said he had enjoyed a holiday in France before coming to Barcelona for this one “entirely rested to play my best game”. He continued: “There’s obviously variance. There’s huge fields. I could have busted many times in both the EPT and this tournament…[But] I think I played well and I was feeling good.”

After photographs and formalities, Eychenne was then free to hop into the Main Event and begin his title defence. “I wish I could start from the first level, but I’ll take it,” he said.

RESULTS

€2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller
Dates: August 21-23, 2026
Entries: 1,551 (inc. 632 re-entries)
Prize pool: €3,761,175

1 – Thomas Eychenne, France, €589,395
2 – Virgile Turchi, France, €371,000
3 – Lars Tungel, Sweden, €265,440
4 – Marwan Salamoun, Lebanon, €204,120
5 – Christian Kaufmann, Switzerland, €156,700
6 – Gilles Simon, Netherlands, €120,040
7 – Hak-Hyun Lee, Sweden, €92,540
8 – David Djian, France, €70,400

See full results

MORE LADVA BRILLIANCE; SIPILA WINS PLO

Elsewhere in Barcelona on Sunday, Estonia’s Ottomar Ladva continued his emergence as one to be feared on the high roller streets with victory over a field of 28 entries in the €50,000 Super High Roller Second Chance. Ladva got heads up with online megastar Niklas Astedt and the pair agreed a chop, with Astedt’s bigger stack earning him the larger chunk of €522,840.

However, Ladva was the man with his hands on the trophy, coupled with €437,600 of his own.

The former chess whiz continued an exceptional run of form in PokerStars-sponsored events over the past few years, particularly those held in Barcelona. Ladva won his first €25K buy-in event in Barcelona in 2023, also finishing fifth in another, and picked up a second €25K success precisely one year later. (Also another fifth placed finish.)

Ottomar Ladva is on a three-year winning streak

Last year in Barcelona he came third, fourth and sixth in tournaments with buy-ins of €20K+ and subsequently won one event and final-tabled two more at the BSOP Millions Super High Roller series in Sao Paulo in November.

Ladva then won the EPT Super High Roller in Paris in February and has come second in two previous €20K+ buy-in events in Barcelona on this trip. He is in ridiculous form.

Meanwhile, Finnish PLO specialist Samuli Sipila won the €25K PLO High Roller, defeating a field packed with four-card experts. Lautaro Guerra was second, Laszlo “OMAHA4ROLLZ” Bujtas was fourth and fellow Finns Sampo Ryynanen and Lauri Saaskilahti was third and fifth, respectively.

Sipila picked up €309,340 for beating a field of 34 entries.

See the results from all EPT Barcelona events